Clark Haaland

Father Symeon should have the last word, I think, because I have written too many already:

‘Spiritual work happens secretly in the heart. Externally, let everything else threaten us. Like the sea: The wind blows, waves rise. But deep down it’s all quiet, peaceful, serene.

This is how a man who trusts in God lives. There might be a wild rage out

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In his little book Do You Know Yourself? 7, a collection of talks on Christianity and psychology, the late Fr Symeon Kragiopoulos, a Greek Bishop with a reputation as a ‘profound anatomist of the soul’, anatomises those of us who have what he calls ‘complications’ within: a description which I would guess applies to most modern people, and perhaps... See more

Most of us will never get the opportunity to live in the bole of a hollow tree, and probably wouldn't much like it if we did. But it is possible to be distracted by outward appearances. If you live in the middle of a city, a desert or a forest may seem an attractive haven of peace, but of course it is possible to flee to the wilderness and take... See more

If anyone wants to learn the will of God’ said the Russian Orthodox priest Father Alexander Men, in one of his Lenten sermons1, ‘let him seek silence.’ Christians have known this forever

The candle is a symbol of Our Lord, the Light of the World. Candles were lit in the church and carried home, a symbol of the Gospel being carried out into the world. The very composition of the candle itself is symbolic - the pure wax, made from virginal bees, is a symbol of the pure flesh of the Savior produced from the immaculate womb of Blessed... See more

an aphorism attributed to T Bone Burnett from this experimental era: “You can write songs about the Light or you can write songs about what you see from the Light.”

Essay

The Annual Arc: Your Year as a Story, Not as a Scorecard

Most people approach Annual Reviews like accountants — auditing wins and losses, tallying completed goals against abandoned ones. But this transactional lens obscures something crucial: your year wasn’t a list of discrete events. It was part of an unfolding narrative, a chapter in who

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The most assuring thing about life is that we can change, that things can change, that they are always changing. The most maddening is that despite living in a universe that is one constant transmutation of energy and matter, despite living in bodies and minds whose cells and ideas are constantly being replaced, we so vehemently resist change, too

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From the Inner Compass deck guidebook by Neel van Lierop, under ‘Open Doors’: “Do not try and open doors with sheer willpower, go for the ones that are already ajar. You do not need to struggle to get what belongs to you. When you recognize situations that enter your life effortlessly, without any force or resistance, you can trust that they guide

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