Turning to the Mystics with James Finley

This is the sixth session that focuses on the mystic, Teresa of Avila. In the tenor of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, James Finley begins with a passage from the seventh mansion of Teresa’s The Interior Castle, and reflects on the qualitative essence of the spirit of this text, and finishes with a meditative practice. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action...

This is the fifth session that focuses on the mystic, Teresa of Avila. In the tenor of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, James Finley begins with a passage from the sixth mansion of Teresa’s The Interior Castle, and reflects on the qualitative essence of the spirit of this text, and finishes with a meditative practice. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action an...

Before we venture into the 6th and 7th mansions, we wanted to pause and air this bonus episode in which Jim, Kirsten, and special guest Mirabai Starr explore the life story of Teresa of Avila, and what it means for us today. Mirabai is a scholar, a translator, a teacher, and a bereavement counselor who has led many retreats—including several with Jim—and an award-winning author of multiple books,...

In this episode, Jim and Kirsten have a dialogue around the fifth mansion of Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle and discuss the path it provides for spiritual transformation. In this episode, Kirsten references a translation of the Interior Castle by Mirabai Starr. You can get it here. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more about...

This is the fourth session that focuses on the mystic, Teresa of Avila. In the tenor of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, James Finley begins with a passage from the fifth mansion of Teresa’s The Interior Castle, and reflects on the qualitative essence of the spirit of this text, and finishes with a meditative practice. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action a...

In this episode, Jim and Kirsten have a dialogue around the fourth mansion of Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle and discuss the path it provides for spiritual transformation. In this episode, Kirsten references a translation of the Interior Castle by Mirabai Starr. You can get it here. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more abou...

This is the third session that focuses on the mystic, Teresa of Avila. In the tenor of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, James Finley begins with a passage from the fourth mansion of Teresa's The Interior Castle, and reflects on the qualitative essence of the spirit of this text, and finishes with a meditative practice. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action a...

On this episode, Jim and Kirsten have a dialogue around the second mansion of Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle and discuss the path it provides for spiritual transformation. In this episode, Kirsten references a translation of the Interior Castle by Mirabai Starr. You can get it here. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more abou...

In this episode, Jim and Kirsten have a dialogue around the first mansion of Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle and discuss the path it provides for spiritual transformation. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more about Jim, visit jamesfinley.org   The transcript for this episode can be found here. The book being used for this se...

This is the second session that focuses on the mystic, Teresa of Avila. In the tenor of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, James Finley begins with a passage from the second mansion of Teresa's The Interior Castle, and reflects on the qualitative essence of the spirit of this text, and finishes with a meditative practice. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action...

This is the first session that focuses on the mystic, Teresa of Avila. In the tenor of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, James Finley begins with a passage from Teresa's The Interior Castle, and reflects on the qualitative essence of the spirit of this text, and finishes with a meditative practice. Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To l...

Welcome to Season 2 of Turning to the Mystics. In this episode, Kirsten Oates and James Finley turning to Teresa of Avila and discovering how one might integrate her teachings into our daily lives. By the end of this episode, you will have a robust understanding of the life and work of Teresa of Avila and her impact on Jim Finley.  Resources: Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for A...

On this bonus episode, Jim and Kirsten are offering a reflection on what it means to turn to the mystics during this time of increasing awareness of the evils of systemic racism within our culture. Afterwards, there is a silent meditation for 8:46 to honor the life of George Floyd. To learn about the history of systemic racism in the United States, please visit this link. For listeners who are new...

This is a mini-episode to round out our series on Thomas Merton. A common request we received during the airing of Turning to Thomas Merton was for further reading and additional resources. Jim and Kirsten put together this mini episode to give you just that. We'll see you very soon for Turning to Teresa of Avila.

On this episode, Jim and Kirsten answer questions about spiritual practices that were submitted by the listeners during the airing of the 1st season. The transcript for this episode can be found here. To learn more about James Finley, visit jamesfinley.org  Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. We'd love to hear your thoughts, comments or feedback. To do s...

On this episode, Jim and Kirsten answer questions about Thomas Merton that were submitted by the listeners during the airing of the 1st season. The transcript for this episode can be found here. To learn more about James Finley, visit jamesfinley.org  Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. We'd love to hear your thoughts, comments or feedback. To do so, ema...

This is the eighth and final episode in this series that focuses on the mystic, Thomas Merton. In this episode, Jim revisits our explorations of Thomas Merton by singling out themes or aspects of his teachings, and how those can be found in the broader Christian Contemplative Traditions. For the transcript to this podcast, you can find it here.  To learn more about James Finley, visit jamesfinley....

This is the seventh episode of eight that focuses on the mystic, Thomas Merton. In the spirit of Lectio Divina, James Finley draws from Thomas Merton’s The Inner Experience teaching from some of Thomas Merton's 11 points of infused contemplation. For the transcript to this podcast, you can find it here.  To learn more about James Finley, visit jamesfinley.org  Turning to the Mystics is a podcast b...

In this bonus episode of Turning to The Mystics, as we enter Eastertide, Jim and Kirsten are focusing on an Easter message that will help us reflect on the truth of life and resurrection so that we might ground ourselves in that story during a time such as this with the ongoing pandemic. The transcript for this bonus episode can be found here. To learn more about James Finley, visit jamesfinley.or...

This is the sixth episode of eight that focuses on the mystic, Thomas Merton. In the spirit of Lectio Divina, James Finley draws from Thoms Merton’s The Seven Story Mountain and James Finley’s own Merton’s Palace of Nowhere to helps us respond to God’s presence in our lives, and show us which aspects need to be purified in order to realize the union with God that we long for.   For the transcript...

In this bonus episode of Turning to The Mystics, Jim and Kirsten are focusing on Holy Week and discussing what this ritual can offer us as we continue to process and navigate our way through this pandemic. The transcript for this bonus episode can be found here. To learn more about James Finley, visit jamesfinley.org  Turning to the Mystics is a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation....

This is the fifth episode of eight that focuses on the mystic, Thomas Merton. In the spirit of Lectio Divina, James Finley looks at a contemplative prayer from Thomas Merton’s Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. In this session, Jim moves from a reflective prayer in the previous episode to contemplative prayer. Using wordless communion, Jim shares a series of paradoxes to help us not fall into refl...

In this special episode of Turning to the Mystics, James Finley is joined by Kirsten Oates to pause and reflect on this timely moment we are all in with the world facing the pandemic, COVID-19. James grounds his mystical teaching in light of the suffering world and offers guidance on how this contemplative grounding heightens our response to that suffering. In addition to that, they are answering...

This is the fourth episode of eight that focuses on the mystic, Thomas Merton. In the spirit of Lectio Divina, James Finley re-visits Thomas Merton’s prayer from Thoughts in Solitude that he touched on in Session 2. In this session, Jim turns it into a reflective prayer and guides us into better ways of understanding ourselves, our lives in the presence of God, and how God sustains and guides us a...

In this special episode of Turning to the Mystics, James Finley is joined by Kirsten Oates to pause and reflect on this timely moment we are all in with the world facing the pandemic, COVID-19. James grounds his mystical teaching in light of the suffering world and offers guidance on how this contemplative grounding heightens our response to that suffering. In his inimitable poetic voice, James gu...