United States
Camilla is passionate about memoir as an agent for radical social change. She is in the process of revising her memoir, TREETOPS AND THE BUDDHIST MONKS ACROSS THE ROAD: A Memoir of Interspirituality. Her engaging story subversively weaves in spiritual ideas from both Eastern and Western world faith traditions. She is also the author of: The Mini Book of Mindfulness (Running Press/Hachette, 2016).
The central questions infusing her writing are:
HOW DOES ONE LIVE THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE AS A SPIRITUAL BEING (without getting hung up on religious dogma) and HOW DOES ONE TRANSMUTE ADVERSITY INTO SPIRITUAL GROWTH?
Her own spiritual yearning for mystical unity, along with a lack of interest in what she observed in religious institutions—crumbling patriarchal hierarchies, dogma, hypocrisy, deadly earnestness, judgmental attitudes—inspired her to read deeply.
Her most significant influences include the work of: interfaith minister, Reverend Doctor Stephanie Rutt; Tosha Silver, astrologer and author of 'Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead,' and 'It's Not Your Money'; Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chodron; vulnerability and shame researcher Brené Brown; and Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn.
Serendipitously, Camilla was led to study world religions with Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt at Tree of Life Interfaith Temple. Rev. Dr. Rutt asked for a commitment to a daily spiritual practice, or sadhana, for the two-year duration of the interfaith seminary program, advising this to be the most important aspect of any spiritual journey. Camilla found her sadhana to be life-transforming.
This two-year study of world religions included a deep dive into the ancient Hindu sacred text, The Bhagavad Gita. Camilla was so inspired by her study of the Gita, she acquired seven different translations and compared sections side-by-side to gain deeper insights. By reading select verses in multiple translations, each spiritual principle is reiterated in a slightly different way, providing deeper understanding. She now refers to herself with a grin, as a Gita nerd.
Dharma is one of the essential concepts in the Bhagavad Gita (different from the Buddhist definition of the same word.) We do not even have an exact equivalent English word for the Hindu concept of dharma, but it centers around the idea of our “sacred duty,” or “the great work of our lives,” or our “personal legend” as Paulo Coelho puts it in The Alchemist, or as the poet Mary Oliver writes, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
From Hinduism, the world’s oldest religion with a recorded written text, to Shamanism—one of the world’s oldest indigenous spiritual practices, the Aboriginal Dreamtime being even older—to Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism, native American Indian spirituality, and more. The perennial wisdom, found in ALL faith traditions, points towards how an evolution of human consciousness is possible, perhaps even necessary, for our planet to survive. Camilla’s writing and stories embody the energy of mindfulness and speak to one's inner divinity.
After becoming an ordained an interfaith minister, Camilla now also works as guide for the Tree of Life interfaith seminary program. If you feel called to embark upon this transformative spiritual journey, she would feel both privileged and delighted to be your guide. https://www.tolinterfaithtemple.org/overview.html
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Born and raised in Australia, during her early twenties to early forties, Camilla worked in the publishing industry while living in Greenwich Village, New York City with her American husband Jamie Jones.
In 2011, after Jamie recovered from cancer, they both quit their jobs and lives in Manhattan and moved to TreeTops, a log cabin in the woods of Southern New Hampshire.
In November 2014, a Thai Forest Buddhist monastery happened to take root on 250 acres of land across the road, bringing much loved Buddhist principles, ideas, and practices into the local community: http://forestmonastery.org/
In response to feeling called to write, Camilla continues to practice the art and craft of writing. She also teaches 'Writing Personal Essay and Memoir as a Spiritual Practice' through Tree of Life Interfaith Temple.
Jamie creates hand-crafted maple syrup, and connects with his own spirituality in nature and through friendships with our Buddhist monk neighbors.
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While Camilla perceives money as simply another energy to be used wisely, and believes that conscious capitalism is possible, she also believes our planet needs more people interested in an evolution of consciousness and living a creative life, versus the endemic consumerism inherent in "The American Dream" which often creates endless suffering and is killing our planet.
After exploring sacred texts in a variety of the world's faith traditions, Camilla's intention is to INSPIRE and BE INSPIRED to collectively:
*cultivate the courage to be true to who we authentically are -
knowing we need both our gifts and our muck,
and like the lotus flower we blossom not in spite of, but because of our muck
*strengthen our connection with our soul
*cultivate resilience by transmuting adversity into spiritual growth
*reinvigorate our connection with our own inner divinity, inner authority, intuition and creativity, and
*practice the art of extreme self care, radical self-acceptance, deep compassion, forgiveness, and infinite impersonal love.
Working from home as a writer, I was already social distancing and physical distancing. My husband also works from home. We live in a log cabin in the woods so we don't get many visitors, except from a few friendly Buddhist monks from a monastery that took root across the road five years ago, and some Buddhist friends we've made through the monastery.
PDF Excerpt of only Sanderson's pages
by Camilla Sanderson: a 10,000 word mini-book published by Running Press
I write because I need to. I spent two years studying world religions in interfaith seminary school, where Reverend Stephanie Rutt advised us that a daily spiritual practice was the most important element in the program.
My older sister Penny saw The Spice Trip on SBS, an Australian TV show that featured chili in Mexico. She especially loved watching the Mexican kids-she said that they loved hot chili.
I want to know If you contemplate death- Not in a morbid way, But in a way that determines how you will live your life.
This began as an apology epistle to my husband, which he was happy to read. I shared it with my older sister too and her response was "Apt." Huh! My ego didn't like that.
But I find my daily spiritual practice is like the keel of a boat---it helps me right myself and find my center again after being blown over in the wind. The inner work required for spiritual growth and evolution of consciousness is not easy, but the rewards of the work are profound and have led me to the blissful experience of Divine Love.
We are all called. Some hear and hesitate. Some hear yet turn away unable to imagine the possibility. Sadly, some never hear. And then, there are the few who hear and answer, "Yes!" This program...
Laughter is a dividend of forgiveness. I confess I stole the title for this piece from a recent talk I attended by the author Steve Almond. It's a subject I love, and the talk was fun.
Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that in 2014, a Thai Forest Buddhist Monastery would take root on the 250 acres literally across the street from us in Temple. My husband's family bought Treetops, a log cabin in the woods of Temple, in the 1980s as a retreat they could escape to for family holidays - most often Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Why do we believe we need to hide aspects of our true, whole selves to be loved? As a woman, throughout my 20s, 30s, and 40s, why did I feel it necessary to hide my intelligence to get along with people and be accepted by them?
I recently engaged in a debate with a Buddhist monk friend who was visiting the Thai Forest Buddhist monastery on 250 acres across the road from us here at Treetops, our log cabin home in Southern New Hampshire.
I think it vital for every world citizen to have an understanding of our world religions and where they came from and how they evolved.
I've become wary of telling people I'm an interfaith minister or a reverend. If I do, it's as though an unspoken expectation is hatched that I must then be this "perfect" role model of a human being. Does a "perfect human" even exist?
When my husband and I gave up our 20-year stretch of corporate-working-lives in Manhattan In April 2011, and moved to a place of soulful-wilderness-living in a log cabin set among the trees in Temple, I began to read an endless number of books on spirituality.
I hadn't even heard of Aramaic before I studied world religions, but I learned that Aramaic is the ancient and metaphoric language in which the the Lord's Prayer was originally written, before it was translated to Greek and then to English.
Before I studied world religions for two years in interfaith seminary, I hadn't really spent any time contemplating exactly what a spiritual practice is, nor what its purpose may be. But very early on in our program, our spiritual mentor advised us that a daily spiritual practice was the most important element of any seminary program.
Joining a CSA can be a spiritual experience- After submitting our name to a waiting list several years ago, late last month I received an email from Anthony Graham of the Temple-Wilton Community Farm to say they were taking in new members for their CSA, and to contact him if my husband and I...
"There are many paths to the top of the mountain but the view from the top is the same." I love the truth in this sentiment, and I think of interfaith in the same way. There are many spiritual truths and profound wisdom in all of the world's religions.
I recently engaged in a debate with a Buddhist monk friend who was visiting the Thai Forest Buddhist monastery on 250 acres across the road from us here at Treetops, our log cabin home in Southern New Hampshire.
When we lived in New York City for 20 years, being able to visit the Monadnock region provided the opportunity for my husband and me to get a much needed nature fix at various points in our lives. I didn't fully understand it then, but our time in nature was much needed food for our souls.
Thanksgiving is not only an opportunity to celebrate the practice of gratitude. It's also an opportunity for personal growth and learning about projection, all of which are food for nourishing our spiritual natures. When my husband and I moved from living and working in New York City for 20 years to our log cabin in the woods of Temple, I felt drawn to take some spiritual classes.
When cancer came knocking, Camilla Sanderson and her husband gave up lucrative NYC careers for a life of simplicity and love. Here is a guy who swapped a Manhattan high-rise corporate office, and an 1890′s parlor level brownstone apartment with high ceilings and a wood burning fireplace located on the gold coast of Greenwich Village, New York City; for a maple sugar shack, a barn, a tractor, and a log cabin all located in the wilderness of New Hampshire.
But all pasta, as with human beings, is made from the same ingredients-in the case of noodles, flour and water.
Before moving to our log cabin here in the woods of New Hampshire, I lived and worked in Manhattan for 20 years. I had direct experience with toxic corporate hierarchical leadership, which was mainly dominated by men.
With all my gifts, and all my muck, knowing that like the lotus flower, I will blossom because of, not in spite of my muck. No mud, no lotus.
Spiritual Life consists of: Showing up, Paying attention, Telling the truth, and Remaining detached from outcomes. So does writing.
I worked in the publishing industry in Manhattan for twenty years before I found the courage to write. And I would not have known how to cultivate that courage, had I not studied world religions for two years first.
Via Camilla Sanderson on Oct 13, 2017 get elephant's newsletter Author's Note: This was written in response to Elephant Journal's founder, Waylon Lewis' note in a recent newsletter. To get Waylon's daily note of inspiration (free), sign up here: www.elephantjournal.com/best "The most important question in the world isn't how to be happy.
My husband and I have conversed in depth on the difference between observing versus being judgmental. A few years ago, we counted our blessings when a Buddhist monastery took root on 250 acres across the road. The community of Thai forest Buddhist monks practice the art of observing without being judgmental.
get elephant's newsletter These synchronicities occur when I remember to surrender and swim with the flow, instead of constantly pushing upstream, and when surrender into the energy of how the divine beloved intends for it all to unfold. It's not up to me. However, my ego might like to think it is.
Ever since I moved to this country from where I grew up in Australia, I've looked forward to the winter solstice on Dec. 21 to 22, as it signifies the days will begin to lengthen again, slowly providing more light each day.
Michael Pollan is a fine investigative journalist who writes musical prose. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, he writes about the danger of ridiculing something that is not necessarily measurable with the scientific method...
Thank you Jeroen Langendam for writing this ej article about the trials and tribulations of writing personal essays: https://www.elephantjournal.com/2018/09/i-havent-written-for-elephant-journal-in-two-years-heres-why/ This is so true: "sensitive topic + personal story = vulnerability = scary" I also adore Brené Brown's work.
When Camilla Sanderson read that the Pope decided to embrace homosexuals, female priests and atheists, she was shocked but hopeful. - This article below came to my attention recently. "For the last six months, Catholic cardinals, bishops and theologians have been deliberating in Vatican City, discussing the future of the church and redefining long-held Catholic doctrines and dogmas.