Music composed by Daniele Dinaro
All right reserved.

Venere

Dan Carillo - guitars, percussion
Jason Rigby - soprano saxophone
John Patitucci - basses

Temple Music is a composition that unfolds over a relatively long time scale.  The composed portion of the music is played up to a point of departure for collective improvisation.  After each improvisation, the written material is played again from the beginning to a further point which serves as a point of departure for the next improvisation.  Miniatures composed for bass choir separate the end of the improvised sections from the next successive thematic statement.  A reprise of the fully composed piece, in a duet setting for acoustic guitar and bass, is played as a single continuity to close the piece.

First and foremost, Temple Music is conceived as a piece of collective improvisational music and the performance is offered as an artistic expression in the purest sense of the term.  However, the title is also a reference to the meditative, contemplative, prayerful nature of the piece, and to the influences of worship practices of many cultures.  Whether one chooses to worship God, Yahweh, Allah, the Creator, the Higher Power, the Universe, Krisha, etc., or chooses to worship in a Gothic cathedral, an Eastern Orthodox church, a mosque, a Buddhist meditation center, the courtyard of a Hindu temple, a store front neighborhood church, a synagogue, a megachurch campus, or in the great expanse of nature, Temple Music will encourage a state of peace and tranquility, and open pathways for contemplative prayer and meditation. 

Recorded at Solid Sounds Studio, Cornwall NY
Recording engineers - Lucas Carillo, Dan Carillo
Mixed by Lou Holtzman at East Side Sound Studio, NYC

Temple Music

“Christian life is not a life divided between times for action and times for contemplation. No. Real social action is a way of contemplation, and real contemplation is the core of social action.” Henri Nouwen

Continuing our series on Action & Contemplation, Phileena Heuertz talks about contemplation. How do contemplation and action work together? Why are practices of reflection and contemplative prayer essential to meaningful impact in the world?

Phileena Heuertz spent 20 years working as an activist in some of the worlds toughest places. And then she had a crisis of faith. 

"I really needed a practice that could hold me. Before, it was me holding my faith. But I needed my faith to hold me. I needed to let go. I needed to be held by God."

Today, Phileena is a spiritual director and teacher of contemplative prayer. She helps other activists and ministry leaders deepen their relationships with God, discern their unconscious motivations for service and cultivate practices of stillness, silence and solitude. 

“Solitude teaches us to be present. Silence teaches us to listen. Stillness teaches us what appropriate engagement looks like.” - Phileena Heuertz

Phileena’s new book Mindful Silence examines these three contemplative themes. She asks how we can offer a different kind of presence in the world that activates redemptive impact?

Phileena Heuertz is the author of Pilgrimage of the Soul and her new book Mindful Silence: The Heart of Christian Contemplation. She is a spiritual director and founding partner of Gravity, a center for contemplative activism in Omaha Nebraska where she lives with her husband Chris.

"There are unconscious motivations that drive us into service that may appear to be selfless and altruistic but upon deeper introspective may be self-serving. And it’s that self-serving aspect of activism that perpetuates exploitation of others." - Phileena Heuertz

Listen to Part 1 with Kathy Khang. Kathy talks about Action and her new book Raise your Voice: Why we Stay Silent and How to Speak Up! 

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26 Phileena Heuertz on Mindful Silence (Action & Contemplation P 2)

The Betwixt podcast explores the liminal space where faith and culture converge. Conversations with fascinating guests coax us from ideological trenches with betwixting stories from the middle space.

26 Phileena Heuertz on Mindful Silence (Action & Contemplation P 2)

Betwixt Podcast

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