Community of Fellow Travelers

Next Community Zoom 9/23/25 at Noon Mountain Time. 

Below you will see the community we are building, and notes from the three zooms we have had so far. Find the Zoom Link here.

In our next zoom, we will dialog about the post Contemplative Practice: Prayer of the Heart. In a new project, I have started writing a Contemplative Daily Devotion. Here is one based on this post:

Mind in the Heart

Email introduction

Dear friends,

In much of our modern world, we think of the “heart” as a place of emotions and the “mind” as a place of reason. But in the ancient Christian tradition, the heart was seen as the center of the person, the organ of spiritual perception where God’s Spirit could dwell. To “put the mind in the heart” is to allow intellect, reason, and will to descend into the deeper place of communion with God.

Gregg’s Reflection

I first came across the phrase “put the mind in the heart” not by reading the Philokalia itself, but by encountering it in the writings of those who had been shaped by it. The teaching startled me, because it challenged my modern assumption that the heart is merely the seat of emotions. For the early church, the heart was the place where God and humanity meet.

The longer I have lived, the more I have discovered the limits of living only in my head. My thoughts, while useful, can become circular, anxious, or self-protective. When I allow them to rest in the heart—where God’s presence is already at home—my thinking becomes clearer, quieter, and more aligned with love.

This movement is not about shutting down reason, but about uniting reason with prayer. It is about a deeper integration: intellect and emotion rooted in a center more profound than either, where God’s Spirit breathes. To put the mind in the heart is to live from the wholeness of being, rather than from fragments of thought or feeling.

Scripture

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

— Proverbs 4:23

Ancient Writings

My heart was deafened by the din of my mind.

St. Augustine

Dealing with spiritual thoughts in prayer: You’ll find thoughts seducing you. For example, a thought may remind you of the many times God has been kind to you and how he is amazingly sweet and loving, full of grace and mercy. It likes nothing better than to grab your attention, and once it knows you’re listening, the thought will start rambling. It will chatter on about Christ’s Passion, drawing you in more and more, and then it will show you God’s miraculous, sacrificial kindness. The thought loves you when you listen to it… and before you know it, your mind is scattered all over the place. How did this happen? You listened to the thought. You answered it, embraced it, and set it free. (The hardest thing for me was to learn to let go of divine thoughts and inspirations during my contemplative sit.)”

The Cloud of Unknowing, Ch. 7,

God may be reached and held close by love, but by means of thought never.

Cloud of Unknowing, Ira Progoff, p. 72

The mind must be united with the heart, and prayer must be unceasing. For when the mind descends into the heart, grace abides there, and the whole person is illumined.

Philokalia, Vol. 1, On Prayer of the Heart

Modern Writings

One must descend with the mind into the heart, and there stand before the face of the Lord, ever present, all seeing within you. The prayer takes a firm and steadfast hold, when a small fire begins to burn in the heart. Try not to quench this fire, and it will become established in such a way that the prayer repeats itself; and then you will have within you a small murmuring stream.

Theophan the Recluse

When the presence of God emerges from our inmost being into our faculties, whether we walk down the street or drink a cup of soup, divine life is pouring into the world.

Thomas Keating, Open Mind, Open Heart, p. 112

Like a storm tossed lake, our own waves and agitation get in the way of a clear picture. Training in wisdom has to do with purifying the heart and polishing the mirror of awareness, by gradually freeing it from domination by the small self ego. As the heart becomes undivided, a still and accurately reflecting mirror, it begins to be able to see and swim in the deeper waters of the Divine coming into form.

Cynthia Bourgeault, Wisdom Way of Knowing, p. 87-88

Journaling Prompts

What does it mean to you that “everything you do flows from the heart”?

Where in your life do you notice yourself living mostly “in your head”?

What practices help you bring your thoughts into the deeper awareness of God’s presence in your heart?

An Invitation to God’s Faint Path fellow travelers

Over the past years, I’ve been walking what I call God’s Faint Path—a quiet trail of spiritual seeking shaped by wilderness, silence, scripture, and the voices of saints and mystics across the ages. I’ve shared reflections along the way, not as a teacher with answers, but as a fellow pilgrim wondering aloud.

But here’s what I know: the faint path can be a lonely road.

James Finley once wrote of Thomas Merton, his beloved friend and spiritual guide as “an elder brother on the lonely road to God.” I’ve often felt the ache and gift of that truth. And like many of you, I’ve longed for the company of kindred souls—those who hunger not for religious performance, but for depth, transformation, and union with the Living God.

So I’m extending an invitation:

Would you like to journey together in a small circle of fellow travelers?

I’m imagining something simple:
• A space for shared reflections and spiritual conversation
• Periodic Zoom gatherings rooted in presence, silence, and honest sharing
• Occasional audio meditations or contemplative teachings
• An online hub for encouragement and soul friendship

Community Zoom 8/19/25

Today, we held a dialog about the post Union/Unity/Theosis. We began with what Howard Thurman, mentor to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr said:

I work at preparing my mind, my spirit for the moment when God comes to himself in me. When it happens, I experience His presence. In it, I hear His voice in my own tongue. The center is God coming to Himself. At these moments, it may easily seem to me that all there is, is God. 

Three Minutes of Silence.

Then we discussed how we prepare ourselves for ‘God coming to Himself.’

Then we talked through the Scripture and quotes from this devotional.

Union with God: The Endpoint of Mysticism

Gregg’s Reflection

I asked Richard Rohr why I had never heard a sermon on Theosis,

He said, “This idea was lost to much of the Western church for a thousand years, but the Eastern Orthodox church never lost this powerful theology.”

— Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation teaching

When I first heard the phrase “union with God,” I assumed it was reserved for saints, mystics, and spiritual elites. But over the years, I’ve come to see that it is not an achievement for the few—it is the birthright of all God’s children. I remember sitting in silence one morning, coffee cooling beside me, when the thought came: “God is not out there, somewhere distant. God is right here, closer than my breath.” It wasn’t a theological conclusion; it was a knowing that settled deep in my bones.

This kind of union doesn’t erase my humanity—it deepens it. I still wrestle with distractions, ego, and self-will, but more and more I catch glimpses of life lived with God rather than merely for God. Moments in nature, conversations with friends, even quiet drives have become doorways into awareness that we are not separate. The mystics call this theosis—sharing in the divine nature—and it’s less about striving and more about surrender.

I’ve also learned that union with God isn’t a one-time arrival. It’s a continual deepening, an ever-closer abiding. Some days I feel that connection strongly; other days it seems hidden. But the truth remains—God is always here, and the more I live from that reality, the more love flows through me to others. This, I believe, is the true goal of the spiritual life.

Scripture

I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.

John 17:23

Anyone united to the Lord becomes one Spirit with Him.

1 Corinthians 6:17

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Galatians 2:20

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.

2 Peter 1:4

Ancient Quotes

God became man so that man might become God.

Athanasius of Alexandria

We awaken in Christ’s body, as Christ awakens our bodies, and my poor hand is Christ. He enters my foot, and is infinitely me. I move my hand, and wonderfully it becomes Christ, becomes all of Him. I move my foot, and at once He appears like a flash of lightning.

Symeon the New Theologian, Hymn 15

Modern Quotes

The Christian mystical life consists of three stages: purification, illumination, and union… Finally comes union: the insight that God is not ‘elsewhere,’ that we are not separate from God, that we are ‘partakers of the Divine Nature.’

Carl McColman, Christian Mystics, p. 197-198

Mysticism begins when the transcendent image of God recedes and there’s a deepening sense of God as immanent, present, here, now, safe, and even within me. St Catherine of Genoa said, ‘My deepest me is God.’

Richard Rohr, Yes, and, p. 109

Journaling Prompts

• How does Theosis differ from the way salvation is commonly taught in Western Christianity?
• When have you experienced God as “closer than your breath,” not distant but present within and around you?
• How does the idea of theosis—participating in the divine nature—reshape the way you see your spiritual journey?
• In what ways can you practice surrender, rather than striving, to deepen your union with God?
• What ordinary moments (in nature, in conversation, in silence) have become doorways into awareness of God’s presence?
• How might remembering that union with God is a continual deepening—not a one-time arrival—bring you peace and patience on your journey?

Community of Fellow Travelers Zoom 7/22/25

Welcome and opening prayer. Begin with a reading from Praisesong

After intros. Reading and prayer, read these quotes and then 3 minutes

Look at the animals roaming the forest: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the birds flying across the sky: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the tiny insects crawling in the grass: God’s spirit dwells within them. . . . Look too at the great trees of the forest; look at the wild flowers and the grass in the fields; look even at your crops. God’s spirit is present within all plants as well. The presence of God’s spirit in all living things is what makes them beautiful; and if we look with God’s eyes, nothing on the earth is ugly. 

The Letters of Pelagius

God sleeps in the rocks, dreams in the plants, is awake in animals and knows He is awake in humans. 

Harvey Cheatham, esoteric teaching

Pose these questions: 

Did anything surprise you about the Pelagius quote?

What moved you about this post? 

What questions arose upon reading it? 

What does Divine Indwelling mean to you? 

Who taught you about Divine Indwelling?

I found this quote using the AI chat bubble I’ve embedded in the website. 

Christ’s soul and our soul are like an everlasting knot. The deeper we move in our own being, the nearer we come to Christ. And the nearer we come to Christ’s soul, the closer we move to the heart of another.” — Julian of Norwich

I was taught that the Holy Spirit came to us when we first believed. Yet, scripture tells us that we were Made in the Image of God. That happened long before I believed. I had experiences of Spirit long before I became a believer. James Finley said to us in the Living School one time that God is holding up every element of the universe with love. If he quit holding us for one second we would disappear.

Much of the preaching I’ve heard made it sound like the story started with Genesis 3, the fall. Original goodness came before Original Sin. I could believe I was flawed, that I was broken, that I was not good enough. Divine Spark? No way. I was just glad the Holy Spirit could use me as a broken person. The gradual dawning of the idea that I was made in the image of God, and had a spark of the divine within, brought me great relief, and some measure of joy.

Biblical Foundations:

1. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

—-Genesis 1:31 (Original Goodness came before Original Sin)

2. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
   
    — 1 Corinthians 3:16
   
3. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
   
    — Galatians 2:20
   
4. “The kingdom of God is within you.”
   
    — Luke 17:21 (KJV)
   
5. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit since the Spirit of God dwells within you.

— Romans 8:11-13

Mystical Perspective:

Christian mystics often speak of the indwelling presence as:

• The “spark of the soul” (Meister Eckhart)
  
  
• “The place where God and the soul meet” (St. Teresa of Ávila)
  
  
• “A mirror of the Trinity” (Catherine of Genoa)
  

“God is more intimate to me than I am to myself.”

— St. Augustine, Confessions, Book III

“What we are looking for is already where we are looking from.”

— St. Francis of Assisi (attributed)

Richard Rohr on Divine Indwelling:

“The Divine Indwelling is the unshakable goodness of God at the center of your being. It is not earned. It is not attained. It is simply received and unveiled.”

— *Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance, 2016

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Inaugural community of fellow travelers Zoom 6/23/25

Introductions all around

Sangha as Spiritual Community

At its heart, Sangha refers to a community of fellow travelers committed to the spiritual path. In this broader, more inclusive sense, it’s not limited to monastics or awakened beings, but includes any group of people practicing together with shared intention.

This is sometimes called the “kalyāṇa-mitta” network—spiritual friends walking the path together.

🕯️ Thich Nhat Hanh on Sangha:

“It is very difficult to practice without a Sangha. The Sangha is our body, and the Sangha is our refuge. It is only in the Sangha that we can build our collective energy of mindfulness and concentration.”

“The next Buddha may take the form of a Sangha, a community practicing understanding and loving-kindness.”

Ned Breslin shared a reading from his poetry book. We had quite a conversation about how one finds Thin Places in a war zone. Find Ned’s Book here.

We entered into a difficult season of discernment last November. I had just written a post last October on Intuition & Discernment. I added a piece from Robert Fritz where he quotes Candice Carpenter’s book Chapters, talking about the profound cycles of change a life can take. This quote hit hard and helped us discern it was time to let go of our off grid log cabin and move closer to civilization.

The first stage she calls The Gig is Up. You know that what you have been doing is over. When you try and hold on, change will be thrust upon you with greater and greater force until you let go. The more you try to hold on, the more the intensity of the tornado that is pulling you out of the present unworkable situation

The next stage is Falling: disengaged, disidentified and disenchanted, we fall into disorientation

Then comes A Walk in the Desert in which you reflect on the most existential issues of your life

Next comes Stirrings: all the threads of your past ultimately will be woven together into a new path forward.

This stage is followed by A Stake in the Ground: you begin to focus and then commit yourself to your new way of life.

Change is often a death followed by resurrection. To create something new, something old must end. Die to it well, my friend.

Let’s spend 3 minutes in silence contemplating where we have had an experience like this……..