Michael Morrell

7 Jan 2025

Welcoming all the digital refugees and new connections here! Whether we're meeting for the first time or getting reacquainted...hi. I'm Michael, a practical mystic and writer from the God-haunted American South, collaborating author of the bestseller 'The Divine Dance' with Richard Rohr.

Thanks, y’all. I’m humbled that you keep reading. 🙏🏼 genuinemichael.substack.com

Michael Morrell reposted

I'm proud of the work Fr. Richard Rohr and I did on 'The Divine Dance' a decade ago. We open the book boldly: “Whatever is going on in God is a flow, a radical relatedness, a perfect communion between Three — a circle dance of love. And God is not just a dancer; God is the dance itself.”

But the world has changed since 2016, and so have I. Reflecting on my lived experience and some honest push-back I've heard from some friendly (and not-so-friendly) critics, there are a couple elements of our book I'd gently amend today.

genuinemichael.substack.comA Holy Mishearing:What We Got Right, and What I'd Change | The Divine Dance at Ten

I get into it in today's reflection, a continued celebration of 'The Divine Dance' at Ten, and where this wild journey with Trinity has taken me. Read on if you want to know: genuinemichael.substack.com/p/a-holy-mis...

We see this in political corruption, ecological devastation, war and violence, fearing and even hating each other because of our differences, whether race, religion, or sexual orientation. Our world needs to be reminded of our interdependence and our inherent union with what is.

"[We] believe the Trinity can teach us how to live in creative collaboration, valuing and honoring our differences while also serving each other with humility and compassion. The Divine Dance is a meditation on how we can begin to live into a new reality..."

And we give an incisive diagnosis of the human condition: “The greatest dis-ease facing humanity right now is our profound and painful sense of disconnection—disconnection from God, certainly, but also from ourselves (our bodies and True Selves), from each other, and from creation...."

Michael Morrell reposted

Replying to @genuinemichael.bsky.social

And that’s something I’ve come to appreciate about Kim: She *shows up.* For Asheville. For conscience. For our common humanity — even when doing so isn’t convenient or popular. When Hurricane Helene tore through our beloved mountains, upending so much of what we took for granted, Kim was there

This photo was taken on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2023. A group of us had gathered in Asheville to sing and pray for a ceasefire in Gaza—at a time when calling for an end to the bloodshed wasn’t nearly as popular as it has since become. @KimRoney.bsky.social showed up.

buncombenc.govEarly Voting | Buncombe County, NCEarly voting allows any registered voter to cast an absentee ballot in person on select days prior to Election Day.

Please don't wait — vote now! Early voting is underway in North Carolina through Saturday, October 31, with Election Day on Tuesday, November 3. I hope everyone eligible will take the time to vote — and give thoughtful attention to the entire ballot, especially our local races.

Because Asheville's future isn't something that happens to us. It's something we create, together. Let's keep showing up for one another. ❤️

wlos.comKnow your candidate: Kim Roney for Asheville mayorKim Roney, a member of the Asheville City Council, is running for mayor against incumbent Esther Manheimer.

We sometimes treat local elections as the opening act for the supposedly real drama of national politics. But the decisions made at City Hall shape the texture of our everyday lives...

theurbannews.comAsheville Mayoral Candidates Outline Visions for City's FutureManheimer emphasizes experience and collaboration; Roney calls for greater transparency, affordability, and community-centered leadership.

Like whether we can afford to stay here, how we're treated by public institutions, how we care for our most vulnerable neighbors, and what kind of community we're becoming.

bpr.orgIn mayoral rematch, Kim Roney attempts to unseat Esther Manheimer, one door knock at a timeIn her campaign for Asheville’s next mayor, council member Kim Roney says she is knocking on thousands of doors and pushing for new ideas around policing and government transparency.

I wish I could say the same for her opponent, but her record speaks otherwise. For these reasons, I’m joyfully supporting Kim Roney for Asheville Mayor.

mountainx.comLetter: Roney offers needed change, transparency – Mountain Xpress

I don't expect to agree with any elected official about everything. But I value someone willing to listen, question the status quo, make hard decisions, and keep showing up when the headlines — and the crowds — have moved on.

wlos.comProposed Asheville Costco moves forward after unanimous rezoning votePlans for a Costco in Asheville are one step closer to becoming a reality.

And yes, even bringing Costco to WNC! (Because human flourishing includes affordable groceries and gas, too. 😄)

kimroney4asheville.comHome - Kim Roney for MayorFriends & Neighbors, I’m running for mayor because I love our community! I worked side-by-side with you through Hurricane Helene, and I believe we can take better care of each other and our mountain h...

Underlying these seemingly disparate priorities, I see a common conviction: Asheville should be a place where ordinary people can build a life, belong to a community, and flourish — not merely a picturesque destination for visitors or an investment opportunity for people who live elsewhere.

She’s challenged invasive mass-surveillance technology — helping end Asheville’s Flock camera contract while continuing to raise the alarm about Axon and the wider surveillance apparatus while the inbumbent mayor rolls over for Big Tech.

Kim has advocated for housing people can actually afford, protections against displacement, living wages, accountable government, stronger neighborhood resilience, and an economy that actually works for those of us who actually live and work here, not just tourists.

Kim was helping coordinate emergency response and getting practical assistance and information to neighbors who needed it. As I wrote in those first bewildering days, something extraordinary happened amid the devastation: We rediscovered one another.

What if that quality of mutual care across difference became our ordinary way of living together, rather than something we reserve for catastrophes? I see Kim asking this very same question every day through her work on City Council.

@bettyfriedansfree.bsky.social

Michael Morrell reposted

KimRoneyforAsheville

@kimroney.bsky.social

This election will be close, but we can win the mayor’s seat! Sign up for a couple shifts before October 31st and on Election Day, Nov. 3rd: m.signupgenius.com#!/showSignUp... Let’s do this! #KimRoneyforAsheville #KimRoneyforMayor #achangewilldoyougood #Asheville

Michael Morrell reposted

Betty Friedan’s Free!

Replying to @bettyfriedansfree.bsky.social

That is all she was saying. She was never a battle axe. She loved men and her sisters, her young boys and daughter. Propaganda made her beautiful vision opaque since it energized individuality and creativity, which does not support capitalism like conformity and sterility. bsky.app/profile/genu...

Michael Morrell@genuinemichael.bsky.social

So let’s talk again, among ourselves. This isn’t going to be easy, but we can’t flinch away and pretend this isn’t our problem. It is: genuinemichael.substack.com/p/an-open-le...

genuinemichael.substack.comAn Open Letter to My BrothersChoosing authentic masculinity in an era of Epstein and the Cornell Seven

Michael Morrell reposted

Climate Crisis Info & Progressive Politics (by Bryan Godbe)

@bryangodbe.bsky.social

CLIMATE CRISIS “Cutting GHGs by 18% by 2030 & by 45% by 2035, would yield a good chance of limiting temperature rises to 1.7C above preindustrial levels.” However, record heatwaves would still occur, but this could help prevent them from being drastically worse. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.comWorld must cut emissions by 18% in four years ‘to find our way back’, UN saysAction needed to avoid disastrous overshoot of climate targets, according to organisation’s environment body

Michael Morrell reposted

Dear Brothers: Nine years ago this week, I wrote you a letter. I’d recently moved to the mountains of Asheville, #MeToo was cresting across our every feed, and I suggested we were entering a sea-change:

The stories of the last two years won’t let us off that easy. They’re about husbands and neighbors, strangers in chatrooms, influencers with millions of teenage followers, & college guys on a group text. They’re about ordinary men, and other ordinary men who knew what was happening and said nothing.

genuinemichael.substack.comAn Open Letter to My BrothersChoosing authentic masculinity in an era of Epstein and the Cornell Seven

So let’s talk again, among ourselves. This isn’t going to be easy, but we can’t flinch away and pretend this isn’t our problem. It is: genuinemichael.substack.com/p/an-open-le...

She gave me permission to share this here. And so it’s for her – and countless other friends, lovers, and partners like her – that I write to you again. Because in 2017 the tide did turn, brothers. And when it went out, it exposed what had been lying on the seabed all along.

Back then, the headlines belonged to men with obvious power: moguls, anchors, a film producer, and politicians from both sides of the aisle. It was easy to file the problem under them – rich, famous men with assistants and NDAs.

And the #Cornell7 was cresting across her every feed, as it had mine. “I haven’t even looked into what this Cornell frat stuff is all about,” she told me between sobs and angry silences. “I just see all these people going on and on about it on social media, wringing their hands..."

genuinemichael.substack.comAn Open Letter to My BrothersChoosing authentic masculinity in an era of Epstein and the Cornell Seven

"Talking is not going to do a damn thing to make women safer; it never does. It isn’t safe for us to exist, and it isn’t fair that we’re left holding the bag, expected to ‘heal’ and go on like nothing happened. I feel like my best years have been stolen from me.”

genuinemichael.substack.comAn Open Letter to My BrothersChoosing authentic masculinity in an era of Epstein and the Cornell Seven

You shared that letter more than 20,000 times in its first month. Some of you wrote back. A few of you found your way into transformative men’s work because of it, which I’m so grateful for.

I’d been thinking of those words when I spoke on the phone with someone dear to me recently; she could barely speak on the other end. She was a bundle of rage, grief, incredulity, and weariness. One of her rapists was just appointed to a position of authority, where he’d have access to young women.

open.substack.com12 Million Uninsured: A Deep Dive into GOP Health Care Cuts Before the MidtermsAnd this is before the worst provisions of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill kick into effect.

for generations, our unconscious actions and ways of being toward women had gone unnoticed, been accepted by default, or even celebrated. But the tide was finally turning.

Michael Morrell reposted

The Tennessee Holler

@thetnholler.bsky.social

Kinda wild that there have been wild protests going on in Albania for months set off by a corrupt Kushner luxury resort project and there has been barely coverage of it here 🇺🇸 and Trump never gets asked about it.

Michael Morrell reposted

Dennis "dejay" Koch

@dennisjkoch.bsky.social

12 Million Uninsured: A Deep Dive into GOP Health Care Cuts Before the Midterms And this is before the worst provisions of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill kick into effect. @charlesgaba.com #USA #Trump #uspoli open.substack.com/pub/lincolns...

Walkin' with you down through Echo Park The ghosts fillin' the trees The fire never understands the spark The way it is with you and me — Joseph Arthur (words & art)

Truer words… Chicago-bound! Soularize here I come!

You like me; you really like me 🥹 Truly: thank you for the love, y'all. I'm glad you're digging the new Substack; if you keep reading, I promise to keep writing: practices, parables, and provocations for us in these bone-weary times.

genuinemichael.substack.comOpti-Mystic Ways that Work — with Michael Morrell & Friends | SubstackPractices, parables, & provocations for weary travelers re-sprouting faith from the compost up—where the mystic, the neighbor, & the organizer turn out to live inside us all. Cultivating Jesus' four-...

Get in, champ: We're re-sprouting faith from the compost up! 🌱 genuinemichael.substack.com