Dr. Howell’s Reflections
Everyday, Dr. Howell writes a reflection, inquiry prompt, and a prayer.
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Thin Places Part 7
August 2, 2025
We live only one block from a neighborhood park, where children always play. I took my kids to this park and remember the different worlds they entered while freely playing on the monkey bars, swings, and sliding boards.
Thin Places Part 6
August 1, 2025
Sai and Nanette Mudiam took Lark and me on several pilgrimages while we were in India. Our time at the Heartfulness ashram was unforgettable because it was a thin place, as the Celts called sacred places, where the veils between heaven and earth lift. Our next holy journey in India was to the small town of Bodh Gaya. This is where Prince Siddhartha (born 563 BC) became the Buddha.
Thin Places Part 5
July 31, 2025
About four years ago, our dear friends Nanette and Sai Mudiam, led us on a pilgrimage to India. Sai, a native of Hyderabad, India, immigrated to the United States when he was in college. While we were in India, Nanette and Sai led us to several thin places, including the ashram, Kanha Shanti Vanam, near Hyderabad. We felt the veils lift as soon as we drove through the gates of this worldwide center for spiritual study and meditation, now called Heartfulness.
Thin Places Part 4
July 30, 2025
An uncle once told me he used dousing rods to locate water underground on his farm. He said, “The rods showed me where to dig for the dwell, and sure'nuf it was 75 feet down; that’s where I drilled and the water is cold and pure.”
Thin Places Part 3
July 29, 2025
In slashing rain, we ICB pilgrims followed the ancient path that pilgrims had been traveling for centuries. We trekked to the ruins of a nunnery, which for centuries was a priory and worship center. Clonmacnoise was out of the way, but our experienced pilgrimage guide, Phil Cousineau, knew that sacred ground by heart.
Thin Places Part 2
July 28, 2025
A thin place is where the veils that cover their numinous qualities are transparent or gone.
As we reflected on yesterday, a "thin place" is a concept primarily used in Celtic Christian traditions. It refers to geographical locations, times, or movements in which the veils between heaven and earth are thinner or lifted. Thin places allow an awareness of the transcendent Divine obscured by the ego and distractions. A thin place gives us more access to the Divine within and without ourselves.
Thin Places Part 1
July 27, 2025
When I made it through the barbed wire fence and into the forest, I was in a different territory. Instead of my mother knowing exactly where I was, here in the woods, I was free. Instead of the predictable, this was a land of discoveries and special places. The smells of the wild foliage filled my lungs, and the sound of chirping crickets and birds filled my ears.