The Outpatient Monk

Be the Burn You Want to See in the World: The way the week before Burning Flipside makes me want to change the world.

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Doug Harrison | 2 Comments

(dedicated to my dear friends from RedCamp)

This year will be my eighth year at Burning Flipside. While I certainly have a lot of amazing memories and moments (like, I dunno, burning a two story hula dancer for example?) my favorite time at flipside is always the hours right at

dusk. Things quiet down just a little as people return to their camps to get a little grub, cover themselves in paint, fetch their poi for fire dancing, grab all the fabulous they can fit in a fanny pack, and rinse the cup to carry with them. It is a moment of both frantic scrambling around and wild anticipation. Adventure lies ahead. Continue reading →

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Posted in The Burner life, Uncategorized

Tagged AIDS, Austin, Austin Texas, burning flipside, burning man, Community, Fire dancing, gift economy, giftedness, gifts, God

When the Bough Breaks: A fallen limb in a friendship is not a dead tree.

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Doug Harrison | 1 Comment

Its is the second worst storm I endured since I moved to Texas, making it the second worst storm of my life. I had been praying, trying to center, and needing to be present. The storm hit my house exactly within the first five minutes of sitting down with someone for spiritual direction. The wind was rattling the windows and tossing bits of the back yard around. The whole house chilled. I considered ending our time together because I was able to give the moment only 99% of my attention. I was being tugged away by one haunting thought. Will the tree hold? Continue reading →

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Posted in The Impossible Will Take A little While.

Tagged Arts, Asclepias tuberosa, bough, Easter, Eastertide, fallen limb, fallen tree, friendship, garden, grace, hope, love, repentance, Spiritual direction, storm, tree, trust

How to Kill a Moment of Grace with Two Quarters and a Pack of Gum.

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Doug Harrison | 5 Comments

I am almost never disappointed by a ride on the bus in Austin. To try to explain why is as hard as to try to explain what is amazing at Burning Man or Burning Flipside. There are too many un-photographable moments and too many unrealistic stories you have to experience to make you a believer. But this particular story has bugged me for days, and keeps changing the way I see relationships. Now to be fair, I was already cranky. I spent one and a half hours each way on the bus for an errand that should have taken a half hour and took three. Even so, this seemingly insignificant moment was heartbreaking. It was kindness turned against itself. It was a moment turned against grace. And it was executed with two quarters and a pack of Big Red gum. Continue reading →

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Posted in The Burner life, Tohu-Bohu

Tagged big red, burning man, bus, gift economy, giftedness, gifts, grace, gum, Hollywood, Narrative, thank you, Walgreens, welcome

End of the Story: Most of the truths we live by are things we cannot prove. Beauty is just one of them. (Faith for Reasons)

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Doug Harrison | 1 Comment

The Creation of Adam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We live in a moment in history in which truth is only found in this fairly new thing we reinvented called a ‘fact.’ ”This is a table,” we say. It is a fact that the thing I just set my cup on is a “table.” Ta-da! End of story… It is an idea that seems pretty hard to argue with until all of a sudden I take that same table apart and plan to build a flower bed out of it. Fairly quickly it becomes lumber. So it is now not a table after all. Er… right? That is the case until I decide without making any changes to the pile, to burn it in a fire. Without moving an inch, by mere planning in my head, it becomes fuel. This pile of wood is fuel for my fire, end of story. …Or perhpas this is where the importance of ‘story’ just begins. Continue reading →

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Posted in Faith for Reasons.

Tagged apologetics, Arts, beauty, Christ, Christianity, creation, creationism, creationist, Evangelism, Fiction, God, hope, Human, kingdom of God, Narrative, narrative theology, Plato, Religion and Spirituality, Story, trust, Truth, violence

Is a Train Trip to Dallas Considered a Religious Experience? Faith for Reasons…

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Doug Harrison | Leave a comment

Austin Amtrack station (Texas, USA) Français : La gare Amtrak d'Austin (Texas, États-Unis) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am on a train, the whistle just blew the wheels have begun to turn. I am watching the backside of downtown Austin and it feels very much like I am on a ride at Disneyland or on a tour of a movie studio where I, for one second, get to peek around a corner and see how the magic happens. Trains, I am guessing, are quite heavy and the wheels, as they say, have been put in motion. Like it or not, I am going somewhere.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Faith for Reasons.

Tagged apologetics, Christianity, Evangelism, moments, Narrative, Religion, Story, train

Welcome. Let us Work Toward a Hard Goodbye. — Living well in the discovery and the loss of friendships.

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Doug Harrison | 1 Comment

“Well,” Fr. Francis said, “That is a relationship and relationships go through transitions.” Of all of the things I have been mulling over in trying to make sense of a painful friendship, this one made the difference. It was so simple, and apparently truthful because it made my gut ache. Continue reading →

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Posted in Tohu-Bohu

Tagged Arche, Benedict, burning flipside, children, Christian, Christianity, Community, death, disability, Doug, friendship, gifts, God, grace, hope, L'Arche, love, Religion and Spirituality, welcome, wheelchair

How my relationship with Jesus is, and is not, personal.

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Doug Harrison | Leave a comment

When I was young I would go to camp or a youth service where I was told that what I needed was a personal relationship with Jesus. It made a kind of sense as a lot of things do for children because I was still relying on other people to teach me how to make sense of things. So I agreed, with no regrets.

Buddy Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

However, I happen to be the kind of person, and have been since childhood, to throw myself headlong into the task at hand whatever it may be. So I was bound and determined to have the most personal relationship with Jesus a person could have. This is a dangerous prayer. The trouble began when I took it so seriously it started to take my life in some surprising if not shocking directions that none of my youth pastors had anticipated. Continue reading →

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Posted in Faith for Reasons.

Tagged Accept Jesus, accepting Jesus, apologetics, Bible, Christian, Christian theology, Christianity, Church, Evangelism, First Epistle of John, God, Interpersonal relationship, jesus, John, John 4, kingdom of God, love, personal relationship, trust, works of mercy

Reasons for my Faith. …from someone who has nothing to prove

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Doug Harrison | 5 Comments

J. Douglas Harrison. The Patient

In the next few weeks I will occasionally be posting some reflections on what it can mean to have faith in a time when the Christian faith may seem, at least to many people, quite unreasonable.

I won’t try to provide irrefutable evidence in favor of the Christian faith. I will not be presenting argumentative ‘facts’ or try to show that Christianity is obviously intellectually superior to everything else as others may have tried to do. I have nothing here to prove. I have nothing here to buy or sell. Instead, I believe there are different genres by which we come to see what moves people to live as they do. Continue reading →

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Posted in Faith for Reasons.

Tagged apologetics, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Evangelism, faith, God, grace, jesus, Religion & Spirituality

“Put a Sock-Puppet in It,” Ancient wisdom that it is better to make a sock puppet than to be one.

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Doug Harrison | 2 Comments

This is a guest post of mine on an otherwise lovley and insightful blog, “Knitting Benedict: The Rule…by hand.” This is one of my favorite blogs to regular. There is hardly a better way, than I can imgaine, to glean wisdom an ancient book of instruction than by taking small bites of it and chewing slowly while working with your hands on small stuff. ”Work and pray,” says saint Benedict.

I am in the middle of forging a batch of sock puppets. As I do I cannot help but see the contrasts between the kinds of toys I am fashioning and a stern bit of advice from Benedict’s rule: don’t speak unless spoken to. Continue reading →

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Posted in Tohu-Bohu

Tagged Arts, Arts and Entertainment, Benedict, benedict. Saint benedict, Benedictine, gifts, God, good impressions, impression, impressions, listening, love, mouths, prayer, Puppet, Puppetry, silence, Sock puppet, tongues

“No Wonder the Door Won’t Open, Silly. I am Already Inside.” -Three things about being a misfit in communities of grace that I keep having to re-learn.

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Doug Harrison | 10 Comments

Clearly I write from a position of someone who sits near the exit. I love church, but sometimes I find it exhausting. I love my weirdo burner friends, and sometimes they can be a little harsh on my faith. I long to be in Christian community, yet, depending on the community, I find myself itching to get out. I am finding that there are hidden moments of grace ready for the taking in all kinds of communities. And when I am willing to exercise a little humility and receive it, I find that that grace goes further than the edges of my life, and often finds its way into the open wild. Continue reading →

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Posted in The Impossible Will Take A little While.

Tagged Bible Study, burning flipside, burning man, Christ, Christian, Christian Church, Christianity, Community, Easter, Evangelism, fear, God, grace, hope, kingdom of God, misfit, Religion and Spirituality, thank you, trust, welcome

The Outpatient Monk

Be the Burn You Want to See in the World: The way the week before Burning Flipside makes me want to change the world.

When the Bough Breaks: A fallen limb in a friendship is not a dead tree.

How to Kill a Moment of Grace with Two Quarters and a Pack of Gum.

End of the Story: Most of the truths we live by are things we cannot prove. Beauty is just one of them. (Faith for Reasons)

Is a Train Trip to Dallas Considered a Religious Experience? Faith for Reasons…

Welcome. Let us Work Toward a Hard Goodbye. — Living well in the discovery and the loss of friendships.

How my relationship with Jesus is, and is not, personal.

Reasons for my Faith. …from someone who has nothing to prove

“Put a Sock-Puppet in It,” Ancient wisdom that it is better to make a sock puppet than to be one.

“No Wonder the Door Won’t Open, Silly. I am Already Inside.” -Three things about being a misfit in communities of grace that I keep having to re-learn.

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