“The human soul is still the image of God and no matter how far it travels away from Him into the regions of unreality it never becomes so completely unreal that our original destiny can cease to torment it with a need to return to itself in God and become once again, real.”  [The New Man by Thomas Merton]

It is all about turkeys

There is an old story told about a staretz (a Russian holy man) who was criticized by his fellow monks for spending too much time with an old widow giving her advice about her turkeys. “You don’t understand”, he said, “her whole life is about those turkeys!”

In this sense, ‘spirituality’ is about our whole life in its depth, meaning, anxiety, triumphs and turkeys. It is probably more helpful for us not to talk about “religious experience”, as if some human experience is more privileged than others, but rather to talk about “the religious dimension of experience”. To talk this way means that we try to say the very most that we possibly can about our life’s experience, including the turkey parts, without being absurd or silly. It is a matter of paying attention, noticing, practicing the presence of God in life.

Worshipping, learning and acting with others are obvious ways of practicing the presence of God. However, we often benefit from solitary, individual action. We may not be natural ‘joiners’. We may prefer or even need to work alone before joining in. Whatever the reason, this part of the web site will attempt, in the coming months, to provide support and some direction for you as you work to practice the presence of God in your life.  We expect that it will take some time to develop this material, but stay tuned!

Last edit 2010 11 29