In May and October of 1968, Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton offered two extended conferences at Our Lady of the Redwoods Abbey, a Cistercian women’s community in Northern California. Comprising over twenty-six hours of previously unpublished material, Thomas Merton in California covers a variety of topics including ecology and consciousness, yoga and Hinduism, Native American ritual and rites of passage, Sufi spirituality, and inter-religious dialogue, along with extended discussions on prayer and the contemplative life. Practical and applicable, as well as searching and inspired, Thomas Merton in California is essential for Merton readers and scholars, and all those interested in deepening their spiritual lives.
"Merton in California gives readers the privilege to sense for themselves the formidable creative charge of those encounters as if they were there. What higher praise could there be for this book?”
~ Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB, monk, author, co-founder of grateful.org
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A New Gnosis: Comic Books, Comparative Mythology, and Depth Psychology
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Mysticism & the Margins: From the Hip-Hop Underground to the Psychedelic Reformation (forthcoming)
Praise for Merton & Hinduism:
"This will be the standard source book for future studies on Merton and Hinduism.... a beauty and bounty not to be missed." ~ Ron Dart, The Merton Journal
VOCATUS
The wider frame and developmental background of my work emerges from a decades-long personal journey that incorporates aspects of contemplative Christianity and embodied spiritual practice with formal academic training in religious studies, theology, and Jungian depth psychology. My dissertation, completed through the California Institute of Integral Studies (2015), offered a comparative approach to mystical texts from eastern and western Christianity in dialogue with select yoga traditions. Post-doctoral training in Trauma Studies further informs my scholarly lens. My academic teaching and scholarship intersect the areas of depth psychology, comparative mysticism, and the life and writings of 20th c. Trappist monk and inter-religious pioneer, Thomas Merton. I presently serve as Associate Professor and Chair of the Psychology, Religion, and Consciousness MA/PhD program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, California, where I teach the following courses:​​
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Psychology, Religion, and Consciousness in Context
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Contemplative Spirituality
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Comparative Mysticism
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Christian Mysticism & the Medieval Imagination
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I additionally serve on the Board of Directors for the International Thomas Merton Society and as Co-Chair of the Mysticism Unit for the American Academy of Religion.
"Come Holy Spirit: Help Us Forget Who We Are" (min. 36:00)
A Sermon delivered at Christ Episcopal Church, Eureka, CA
May 19, 2024