This episode introduces the premise and possibilities of the Contemplify podcast. Contemplify kindles the examined life for contemplatives in the world through musings and interviews with scholars, creatives, and practitioners.

Visit us at Contemplify.com

Amy Frykholm (@AmyFrykholm) joins Contemplify in conversation on visionary 13th century contemplative and mystic Julian of Norwich. Bring some mead to the table because we cover a lot of ground here; the near death experience of Julian that catapulted her writing (by the by, Julian was the first woman to write a book in English), Amy's life-altering encounter with Julian, a Noble prize winning contemplative geneticist who listened to corn, drink recommendations for a conversation on Julian of Norwich and much more. Amy Frykholm is an author, poet, contributor and editor at The Christian Century (@ChristianCent).

Donald Worster ( @TheWorster1979 ) connects with Contemplify to traverse the life and passion of John Muir. The American icon who combined intelligence and curiosity with a grounded love for the wilderness. Muir held a natural contemplative bent that married an abiding sense of purpose.  The landscape of John Muir's life is pretty well documented, in my conversation with Donald we focus on the unique character of John Muir, the life lessons the current generations could learn from him and the connecting with the spirit of John Muir and his predecessors. Find something stiff to drink, a night sky full of stars and go for a walk as you listen to this conversation. Donald Worster is an author, scholar and professor at Renmin University of China.

Eric O. Springsted spends some time with Contemplify to explore the life and attention of Simone Weil.  The French philosopher, mystic and activist dared to imagine an authentic life based on the attention and practice of love for all of humanity. Weil came into her own through a contemplative stance hard-won through affliction and openness.  Springsted has spent his entire career drawing from the deep well of wisdom that is Simone Weil.  In our conversation we focus on what Simone Weil might say about the current education system, her freedom of thought, how poetry transformed Weil's life and Springsted's own story of connecting to Weil's work. Pay close attention to all that is at hand, make Weil proud. 

Morgan Atkinson has documented the life of Thomas Merton over two films. The poetic contemplative Thomas Merton lived an ever expanding and continual openness to God's love and Atkinson beautifully captures this on film. In this episode discover Thomas Merton as the rescuer of the contemplative tradition in Christianity, the middle-aged monk who fell ass over heels in love with a student nurse, and open dialogues with other religious traditions through the depth of each's contemplative stream. Atkinson has produced multiple documentaries on Thomas Merton, John Howard Griffin, Anna and Harlan Hubbard among many others. In our conversation we focus on what life lessons from Thomas Merton, his life as an artist and monk, what his students thought of him, and his ongoing legacy in the contemplative communities. Merton is a hero of mine, for his humor, humility, deep sense of wonder and of course for the quote that begins episode one of Contemplify, "I drink beer whenever I can lay my hands on any. I love beer, and by that very fact, the world."

"Each day is valuable...Do not compare it with a dragon's bright pearl. A dragon's pearl may be found. But this one day out of a hundred years cannot be retrieved once it is lost." - Zen Master Dogen

This quote easily tripped off the lips of author, editor, illustrator and brush painter Toinette Lippe. An artist of many pursuits, Lippe had a distinguished publishing career at Simon and Schuster (under Robert Gottlieb, who later became editor of The New Yorker), Knopf and then as the editorial director of Bell Tower where she published 72 books from such luminaries as Ram Dass, Frederick Franck, Thomas Berry, Mirabai Starr, Stephen Levine, Rabbi Rami Shapiro and many others. Lippe has authored two of her own books, Nothing Left Over: A Plain and Simple Life (2002) and Caught in the Act: Reflections on Being, Knowing and Doing (reissued 2016) and an illustrator of the upcoming book On the Wing: Lyrical Moments (to be published December 2016). In this conversation, Toinette and I dive into the themes of harmonizing work and play (and if it is actually possible), ease of being a teacher and difficulty of being a student, lessons learned along the twists of life, and most beautifully, Toinette's life philosophy that came to her unexpectedly and under book deadline.

Dar Williams (@DarWilliamsTour), "one of America's very best singer-songwriters." (The New Yorker), is thoughtful and charming as she tells stories about her local community, but don't let her laid back delivery fool you, she is passionate about community life and the revitalization of small towns everywhere. Known for her songwriting chops, Dar takes us down another avenue to talk about "positive proximity", the focus of her forthcoming book.

In this episode, Dar dives into the themes of social capital, the joys and trials of truly knowing your community, and learning the art of eavesdropping.

Andrew Gingerich embraces a prophetic, contemplative lifestyle. Of course he would object to this description, because his pursuit is internally driven and extrinsic validation does not go far with him. At times he speaks like a modern-day Desert Father (in our conversation he unknowingly paraphrases one of the most famous lines by Abba Moses), with the winsome nature of Thoreau and the delivery of The Dude from The Big Lebowski. In this episode, I sit in Andy’s shack during a soft rain to talk about his years of minimalist living and the intention behind it, the integration of human imagination and material goods, the meaning of literally sleeping in your values, and unexpected lessons about community, neighborhood that only come from living in a shack.