I posted on Simon Carey Holt’s wonderful book Heaven All Around Us a few weeks ago. Here are some striking quotes from the book.
- A good spiritual practice names the presence of God already with us. In whatever form a spiritual discipline takes, it proceeds on the assumption that the possibility of God is as real where we are as anywhere. Simon Carey Holt (p39)
- To contemplate is to look deeply into something in order to discern its truth. That something is life itself, its objects, contexts, routines, and encounters. The true contemplative is not a person of a particular personality but one who chooses to approach life assuming its sacredness and truth. Simon Carey Holt (p42)
- I have often noticed that in meetings where refreshments are served, it is the same people over and over who instinctively move to the kitchen sink once the meeting is over. Equally, it is the same people who don’t. Domestic acts of service shape our instincts. We are formed in the doing. Simon Carey Holt (p61)
- The idea that cooking can be a spiritual practice is not a stretch of the imagination; not if you think about it for any length of time. Only one who doesn’t comprehend food’s centrality to our lives – physically, culturally, socially, spiritually – could dismiss it as less. Regardless, as with all spiritual practices, to embrace the act of cooking in this way still requires intention and choice on our part. Simon Carey Holt (p76)
As always, nice chatting…
