“Stop talking, Daddy.”
– Paul’s two-year old daughter
If you are a regular listener to the Contemplify podcast, you might be scratching your head and wondering why I am pairing a drink with this conversation. Let me explain. My pal Mark Longhurst runs the top-notch website OrdinaryMystic.net reached out to me some time ago inquiring if I’d ever consider being interviewed on Contemplify so my fellow contemplatives could get a better sense of who I am. I agreed on the condition that Mark be the one to take interviewer reins. So today I am in the hot seat. My guest today…is me and Mark Longhurst is behind the microphone.
If you have ever wondered who is this fella that shovels the path to the Contemplify basecamp then this will be a good snapshot. Mark opens the space for me to share my own contemplative journey, answer my favorite interview questions, my fascination (which is the kind way of saying obsession) with a Norwegian author, and to land on my top 3 dream guests.
Learn more about Mark Longhurst at OrdinaryMystic.net and Paul Swanson here at Contemplify.com
Subscribe to Contemplify via iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, Overcast or Google Play
EPISODE SHOW NOTES
Resources by Paul Swanson and Mark Longhurst
- OrdinaryMystic.net by Mark Longhurst
- Contemplify.com by Paul Swanson
Resources Mentioned
- T.D. Mischke interview
- This World by Teddy Macker
- Teddy Macker Interview
- Barbara Holmes interview
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- The Practice of the Presence by Brother Lawrence
- New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
- Gillian Welch
- Further In by Greg Brown
- ‘Spring Wind’ by Greg Brown
- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
- My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard
- Joy Unspeakable by Barbara Holmes
- Race and the Cosmos by Barbara Holmes
- New York Times pieces by Karl Ove Knausgaard
- Kendrick Lamar at Grammys
- The Practices of the Wild by Gary Snyder
- Midlife by Kieran Setiya
Drinks Pairings
- Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
Highlights
- How did the idea of Contemplify come to be in the world?
- What does word ‘contemplative’ mean to you?
- How did you come to a deep ecumenical approach to creating Contemplify?
- Where are you from? Where are you now?
- Tell us about your work at the Center for Action for Contemplation?
- What have you learned from working with spiritual teachers like Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault and James Finley?
- If you were going to create a syllabus on the formation of Paul Swanson, what would be on it?
- Tell me more about your fascination with Karl Ove Knausgaard?
- What is it about Barbara Holmes that is speaking to contemplation today?
- You talk a lot about community and relationality, have these themes always been important to you?
- How has your relationship with nature been a part of your contemplative journey?
- What books are on your shelf now?
- If you could have any 3 people on Contemplify, who would you invite?
- If you were going to pair a drink with this conversation, what would it be?
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