CBD 2026: “Brief as an Atom”: The Cloud’s and the Friar’s “Easy” Contemplative Practices for Befriending Joy in an Age of AI Rage with Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD

In an age of AI rage, many are turning to the wisdom of the Christian contemplative tradition to find ways to befriend joy, cultivate self-compassion, and strengthen our compassion for each other, all creatures, and the earth. With Anonymous, author of the fourteenth-century contemplative classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, we explore how contemplation is not, as “[s]ome people believe,” a “time-consuming” activity, but instead “takes less time than anything else you’ll ever do.” In fact, “It’s as brief as an atom,” he says. Sharing his experiences as a seasoned contemplative, likely as a Carthusian monk, Anonymous demystifies Christian mysticism: “You were made for contemplation, and everything in the universe conspires to help you with it. And contemplation will heal you. . . . [I]t’s an easy sort of work…which is love…at its best.” Anonymous is an encouraging teacher: “If you’ll open yourself up to God, he’ll teach you [contemplative practices] in ways tailor-made for you. God’s pedagogy is always personal. He wants only the best for you. If you are his student and he is your teacher, then you’re also his friend. He knows the contour of your abilities and can teach you about love.” Also with the seventeenth-century Discalced Carmelite friar Brother Lawrence, we explore how “facile” contemplation is: “In the middle of your tasks you can comfort yourself with Love as often as you can.” We learn more about The Cloud of Unknowing as the wellspring for the Centering Prayer movement and see how it and Brother Lawrence’s practice of the presence are grounded in the practical ancient practice of lectio divina, or steeping in sacred texts, and Psalter chanting, balm for brain rot. Q&R will be included at the end of the presentation. Award-winning translator, author, poet, teacher, and contemplative workshop leader, Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD, is core faculty and Dean at the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC), founded by Father Richard Rohr. Her translation for Shambhala Publications of The Cloud of Unknowing received a 46th Georgia Author of the Year Award. Martin Laird calls her translation of Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence “the new standard,” and it was selected for the Spirituality & Practice Best Books List. At the University of Georgia she earned an MA and a PhD in Medieval Studies, and as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of London, she worked with monastic manuscripts in London and Oxbridge libraries and translated homilies by the tenth-century Benedictine abbot, Ælfric of Eynsham, published as God of Mercy: Ælfric’s Sermons and Theology (Mercer University Press). Carmen has been interviewed on the BBC World Service The Compass, NPR Morning Edition, Center for Action and Contemplation’s Everything Belongs, Learning How To See, and Turning to the Mystics, and many other podcasts. She teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, in the College Writing Programs, she is on Substack with her friends James Finley and Brian McLaren at the CAC's Letters From Outside the Camp, and she is often found in the marsh chanting Psalm 46:10 in Old English. This session is part of the FREE Contemplation by Design Summit, Oct. 14-25, 2026. This keynote is part one of a two-part series with Carmen Butcher in the Contemplation by Design Summit. To extend the knowledge and skills you develop during this keynote please consider attending Carmen Butcher's iPause Guided Practice titled, Lectio Divina (Becoming Chanting), Dental Floss, and AI: How Contemplation Happens and Why It Matters When Your Intelligence Is Not Artificial, on Monday, Oct. 19 from 7:30-8:15am. You are welcome to join one of both of Carmen's sessions in the Contemplation by Design Summit. The full summit schedule is posted at: https://med.stanford.edu/contemplation/summit.html.