Kirsten’s Reading List

The New Saints by Lama Rod Owens

On the Turning to the Mystics Podcast, Dr. James Finley tells a story about Thomas Merton meeting the Dalai Lama. I remember him saying that mystics of different wisdom traditions often have more in common than they do with others inside of their own traditions.*

When I heard Lama Rod Owens talk with Thomas Huebl at The Collective Trauma Summit earlier this year, the quote came back to me. As I’ve been reading and listening to Owens’ book The New Saints, which was released last week, I’ve been experiencing deep soul resonance alongside rich learning and invitations to deepen my practice. I don’t consider myself a Buddhist, but there’s a familiar fragrance I sense in Lama Rod’s work.

I’ll leave you with a quote about the two practices of a “New Saint”:

“The first practice is the expression of what I call awakened care: an expression of love and compassion for themselves and others, an expression of joy all grounded in clarity. The most profound care we and others can experience is to be free from suffering and all the causes and conditions of suffering.

The second practice is the development of the capacity to disrupt habitual reactivity to everything that arises for us by choosing to experience what arises for us, which helps us transition into a place of responsiveness. Experiencing and then choosing how to respond with care is an expression of liberation. The New Saint can choose the most beneficial way to respond to anything.

Together, these two practices offer the New Saint the most profound way to reduce harm and violence, while cultivating transformative care with the goal of helping all beings get free.

Moreover, this magic makes it possible for the New Saint to do four primary activities: give a shit (about everyone’s liberation), figure out their work (what they are supposed to do), do that work, and return to that work, again and again.”

-Lama Rod Owens

Interested in chatting about The New Saints? Drop me a line if you’d like to gather with me and a few others for a book discussion.

*I can’t find Finley’s exact quote, so I’ve paraphrased it.

Would you like some company or gentle guidance as you listen for wisdom and explore new ways of engaging with your soul? Kirsten offers spacious accompaniment and trauma-informed spiritual direction. I’d love to hear what’s stirring in you and meet with you for a free exploration session.