Exploring Contemplation + Mysticism Through a Queer Lens
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Queering Attention
Attention is the undistracted self, willing to truly look, deeply understand, and release attachment to moments before or after what is present. Attention is not concerned with naming, capturing, or solving— because attention’s primary concern is presence, love, and being. For the contemplative, attention is an inner posture of presence. A posture of surrender. Read more
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Queering the Desert
But the desert also invites us to remain and feel, to be still, root, grow, heal, and understand. And as the desert monastics suggest, the only way through the deserts of life is to remain in the practice of examining the self, to stay in the Divine’s presence as we unveil ourselves, to truly see… Read more
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I Kissed a Tree and I liked it
I knew I needed to reawaken this connectivity to the trees and mountains. So as soon as I could find some time in my work schedule, I took myself to the nearest mountain range. Saturated in solitude at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains, I steeped myself in a time of rituals, pauses, fires,… Read more
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Chasing What Is Known
What is known within me? I ask myself. What can I take home from this place, this encounter, this knowing amid all the unknown? Is our only real ground groundlessness? Is the only ground temporary ground? Read more
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Allowing Ourselves to Unfold & The Freedom Found in Ritual
Everyone carries their own true self in their own way, in their own words, and in their own time. And that is also beautifully queer. My true self is the queer way I rest my ear to the chest of a tree, listening for its heartbeat. Read more
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Queering Contemplation: Excerpt + Events + Interviews + Reviews
Queer is the way I tilt my head to look at the world. Queerness, in my life, has been not only about sexuality but also about expanse, curiosity, openness, pleasure, weirdness, love, oddity, and liberation Read more
What would it mean to queer contemplation? To disentangle contemplative spirituality from heteronormativity, patriarchy, and Eurocentricity, and instead engage with openness, curiosity, and a little weirdness?
Queering Contemplation: Finding Queerness in the Roots and Future of Contemplative Spirituality
Contemplation
Contemplation as a daily practice of reflection + action.
Mysticism
Mysticism as an accessible encounter of interconnection to self + others + the Divine.
Activism
Social Justice activism as the pursuit of love + liberation for all.
“Many poets are not poets for the same reason that many religious people are not saints: they never succeed in being themselves…”
— Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
Dr. Cassidy Hall, DMin, MDiv, MTS, MA 