Contemplify
Paul Swanson | Contemplative Shoveler
The Contemplify podcast kindles the examined life for contemplatives in the world. Through artful musings & conversations with scholars, creatives, and master teachers each episode delivers a subtly intoxicating* exchange on the contemplative lifestyle with practical takeaways to emulate in daily life.
Host, Paul Swanson, is a husband, father and contemplative educator at the Center for Action and Contemplation and co-host of Another Name for Every Thing with Richard Rohr**.
*Contemplify is best served with a pint in hand. Please listen responsibly.
** All shenanigans, tom foolery and bally-hoo posted on Contemplify are my own. Contemplify is not representative of the Center for Action and Contemplation or Richard Rohr on any matter.
Host, Paul Swanson, is a husband, father and contemplative educator at the Center for Action and Contemplation and co-host of Another Name for Every Thing with Richard Rohr**.
*Contemplify is best served with a pint in hand. Please listen responsibly.
** All shenanigans, tom foolery and bally-hoo posted on Contemplify are my own. Contemplify is not representative of the Center for Action and Contemplation or Richard Rohr on any matter.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Nov 13, 2019 • 59min
Building Character that Bends Towards Mystery with Christian Miller
"Christian Miller teaches us that the road to virtue lies in humility about our own virtue and an acceptance that others are struggling with their flaws. This is a very valuable book at a moment when our society could use a dose of openness and a sense of forgiveness." - E.J. Dionne Jr., Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture, Georgetown University visit Contemplify.com for drink pairing and other goodies
Oct 15, 2019 • 8min
Manifesto Contemplatio
"Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection." Wendell Berry, Manifesto: Mad Farmer Liberation Front In this episode, we'll explore the God of tree trimmers and the souvenir of deep breathing.
Oct 2, 2019 • 11min
Birthday Questions (39 Laps Around the Sun)
Birthdays are akin to over-excited neighbors. You either appreciate their intrusions or avoid them like Homer Simpson does Ned Flanders. I treat birthdays like Flanders. I love a good party, cake, and sing-song version of 'Happy Birthday', but I am slow to allow the spotlight to turn squarely onto my face. A strange confession for a guy with a podcast. But I do love the birthday questions...
Sep 12, 2019 • 53min
Absorbing this World Fully with Todd Davis (Of the Invisible #5)
"Many poets feel that they know the natural world, Todd Davis has absorbed this world fully into his heart and mind. He is a fine, rare poet." - Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall
Jul 25, 2019 • 1h 16min
Maurice Manning on the Symbolic & Actual (Of the Invisible #4)
"Although Manning has been lauded throughout the country for his work — garnering accolades from some of the major poets of our time, like W.S. Merwin, in addition to the numerous awards he has received — he has found his place in this literary life, wearing it now as effortlessly as the patterned chambray shirts he favors. He is a man of the people, intent on bringing poetry and scenes of rural beauty to them, words of the past, but also the present — the poetry of preservation, of all of us." —Jason Howard, Leo Weekly
Jun 15, 2019 • 44min
Jericho Brown (Of the Invisible #3)
"In that larger tradition of transcendent art, if we let them into our hearts, these new poems from Jericho Brown will awe and unsettle us." - Frederick Speers, New York Journal of Books
Jun 8, 2019 • 42min
Chris Dombrowski: Part Two (Of the Invisible #2)
I hoped for some last gesture beyond a handshake, writes Chris Dombrowski in Ragged Anthem, a soulful book of longing that is as comic as it is reflective. These poems sing of humankind in need of something it can only seem to get from the natural world, and of how we won t get it until we begin to understand ourselves as natural as any tree or river. Or as Dombrowski himself says, Again / I took daybreak for granted, easy / as mistaking pinecone for wasp nest, / wasp nest for shed antler, antler / for branch. Here, these so-called mistakes make for discovery that approaches the magic of revelation.. –Jericho Brown, author of The Tradition
Jun 1, 2019 • 43min
Chris Dombrowski: Part One (Of the Invisible | Poetry Series #1)
"Chris Dombrowski has proven himself to be among the best poets of his generation. As one of those readers who admired and enjoyed his first two books — better put, who has gone to the poems for spiritual sustenance, for wisdom, and for the magic of being transported to the landscapes where the poet makes his life—I'm happy to report that Ragged Anthem continues to sing those essential songs in beautiful and unexpected ways." – Todd Davis, author of Native Species and Winterkill
May 25, 2019 • 7min
Of the Invisible (Poetry Series Trailer)
This series will introduce you to two poets who help me circle the mystery: Chris Dombrowski and Jericho Brown. My hope is that through these conversations you'll get a taste of poetry as a contemplative gateway. Poetry has played that role for me as a contemplative practice; seeing reality from an angle that I had not yet noticed. Clear enough to see and yet cloudy enough to draw me closer, to engage all of my faculties in this new perception of reality. This practice of poetry drops me into the depth of my self, into the depth of Mystery. In this trailer Chris Dombrowski reads, 'The Hunt' from his latest collection Ragged Anthem and Jericho Brown reads, "Of My Fury" from his latest collection The Tradition
Mar 18, 2019 • 11min
Cultivating Contemplation & Mysticism of Rhythm (Life of a Day Finale)
This final episode of the Life of a Day series is all about you. It is about offering a reframing of your day with a new way of seeing, a new way of showing up as a contemplative in the world.
