Beauty, Wonder and Belonging ...

Cross over the threshold of mystery into an unknown yet numinous destiny. Viewing our lives within the cosmic narrative, we understand that each of us is shaped and formed by that beginning moment of our Universe. Through our quiet reflections we realize that our lives are enveloped in mystery and that each lived moment is a sacred encounter with the divine. When we arrive at that sacred place of beauty, wonder and belonging, we are prepared to engage in the Great Work of this defining moment in human history. To paraphrase Clarissa Pinkola Estes, we are made for these times.

This newest book by James Conlon provides a context in which to integrate humanity’s emerging vision of the world of beauty, wonder and belonging with the practice of every day engagement in life. Framed within the sacred and transitional moments of dawn and dusk, the reader is invited to face the glory of the day’s transforming first light and the mysteries embedded in the early blush of night. As each person ponders their destiny, this book helps them prepare to enter the portal of each new moment with the curiosity of a child, the heart of a mystic and the voice of a prophet.

The framework of Beauty, Wonder and Belonging addresses(particular transformative daily themes from Sunday through Saturday: The Universe Story, Mystery, The Sacred, The Human, This Moment, Struggle and Fulfillment, and Cultural Therapy.

Each day focuses on dawn and dusk with brief reflections on the following distinct components: Theme of the Day, Reflection on the Theme, Threshold Thoughts—poetic reflections, Story, Prophetic Voices, A Moment of Silence and Response. Each morning and evening we are offered the opportunity to experience a more expansive context for our spiritual journey.

PRAISES FOR BEAUTY, WONDER AND BELONGING

"Beauty, Wonder and Belonging …Conlon invites the reader to explore the wider horizons of human experience which he has traversed – soul-scapes both intimate and vast – aided by the revelatory maps and wise orienteers that have been his guides as he, now, becomes ours…"
Kathleen Deignan, CND, Ph.D

Jim Conlon writes like a pilgrim weaving a loom, threading a pathway, enveloping a membrane, leaving for the rest of us traces of a new mysticism, a more engaging spiritual wisdom for our time. Adopting the liminal images of dawn and dusk, he draws us into a more reflective engagement, centered upon the ups and downs of daily life, consistently embellished with the vision of the new cosmic story.
Diarmuid O’Murchu, MSC, Ph.D Author of Quantum Theology, Evolutionary Faith, and Ancestral Grace

 

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In this moment of history, humankind’s urgent task is to live out of a unitive consciousness that honors the connectedness of all life – to become “cosmological persons.” Living from such a transpersonal orientation requires that we avail ourselves to Mystery, the creative spirit who is the source of all being. In Beauty, Wonder and Belonging Jim Conlon invites us into the practice of “engaged cosmology,” providing a space in which cosmology, tradition and person story bring us to the brink of Mystery. Written a book of hours, the reflections, poetry and quotations in Membranes of Mystery: A Cosmic Book of Hours invites us into a place where we begin to grow in the awareness of who we really are, cosmological beings to all that is. Allow this book to companion you, to lead you to the brink of Mystery – and then let go!
Judy Cannato, Ph.D. Author of Radical Amazement: Contemplative Lessons from Black Holes, Supernovas and Other Wonders of the Universe

This book is a treasure designed to accompany meditative reflections on daily life.
Rosemary Radford Ruether, Ph.D.

Jim Conlon’s Book of Hours speaks to a deep hunger. It not only proclaims the sacredness of all life, it offers practices for doing that ourselves every single, ordinary day. With this book we discover that the world is our cloister
Joanna Macy, Author of World as Lover, World as Self

Throughout the ages the entire planetary community, both human and “otherkind,” has responded to the mystical moments of dawn and dusk when the numinous dimension of the universe opens and reveals itself with special intimacy.
Thomas Berry, OP

Beauty, Wonder and Belonging calls us – during these critical and often disconcerting times – to remember and honor the magic, the mystery and sacredness of our unfolding evolutionary journey. It provides an important and much needed lens of hope and possibility.
Belvie Rooks, Carrie Productions, Inc.

Jim Conlon celebrates his week of dawns and dusks in a monastery without walls. The tone of his poetry is largely optimistic, and his optimism is eschatologically verified; “All manner of thins shall be well” as all hopeful mystics sing, looking through time into eternity. But a true mystic is also “A troubadour of hope / Trumpeting / On an ocean / Of despair.” (Sunday Dusk) Should a night of eco-catastrophe come upon us, the poetry and prayers of Jim Conlon will help us hope in a dawn of new heavens and a new earth, sure to come.
Thomas Matus, OSB, Cam.