About The Living Dark
This is an ongoing journal of creative, spiritual, and cultural inquiry. It gathers essays, reflections, notes, and exploratory pieces-in-progress on topics including religion, horror, creativity, consciousness, and culture.
The Living Dark is part of my ongoing life as a writer, extending back to the turn of the millennium. The three elements that defined my former blog, The Teeming Brain (2006–2022), remain in effect here: Read widely. See broadly. Think deeply.
Much of the material that became my book Writing at the Wellspring: Tapping the Source of Your Inner Genius first took shape here in conversation with readers and through sustained reflection over time. More books may emerge in the future.
Speaking of books, here are several that I have written or edited over the years.
What you’ll find here
These are the themes that keep coming up:
Religion, Nonduality, and Consciousness — Explorations of awakening, identity, and the nature of reality beyond the illusion of a separate self.
Creativity and the Daemon Muse — Reflections on writing, artistic calling, and the inner force that shapes and animates creative work.
Horror, the Weird, and the Imaginal — Encounters with the uncanny, the numinous, and the darkly revelatory corridors and dimensions of the imagination (in books, movies, and life).
Culture, Technology, and Collapse — Reflections on the ongoing metacrisis and how to live in it.
Reading and Reflections — Notes from a life of reading across books, articles, essays, and ideas.
I also share occasional piano performances (music has played a big part in my life since childhood), along with reflections from the vantage point of a writer, teacher, and college administrator.
From time to time, I engage in private, one-to-one dialogical work with writers and thinkers who are navigating difficult creative, philosophical, or spiritual terrain. Let me know if the mention of this sparks something for you.
For an overall orientation to this blog/newsletter, you can visit the Start Here page, featuring a selection of core Living Dark essays.
What critics have said
My books also been praised by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal, and more. Here are a few representative examples:
“[a] thinking-man’s book of the macabre” (Publishers Weekly on Dark Awakenings)
“a landmark collection” (Asimov’s Science Fiction on To Rouse Leviathan)
“a lyrical meditation on what it means to create from the depths of the soul” (BookLife on Writing at the Wellspring)
“epic and intimate, a portrait of a mind and a milieu” (BookLife on Journals, Volume 1)
And Thomas Ligotti’s observation that my work keeps “one eye on the black abyss and the other on an enlightened transcendence without denomination.”
What readers have said
Here are a few notes I’ve received from appreciative readers:
“So happy I found your newsletter. Your insights on the writing process resonated deeply with me.” — Jennifer Sablich
“Your work has very much connected with me, especially the elements covering existential dread, Ligotti (of course!), and how we writers/humans can curate our own ‘meaning’ without coming apart.” — William Grabowski
“I’m so glad I found you, just as I was about to totally give up. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge.” — V.
“You’re writing some of the freshest stuff on spiritual creativity I’ve seen since Julia Cameron and Natalie Goldberg.” — R. J.
“Your writing has helped me tap into parts of myself I feel very strongly but often struggle to articulate, particularly my relationship to spirituality, creativity, and what it means (or doesn’t mean) to be a person.” — Andrew Sanger
“Thank you for sharing your writing. It has been a tremendous help in shifting how I see creativity and ultimately life itself.” — J. B.
“I went through a challenging relationship with my writing, and your voice is helping me find my way out of that particular dark.” — M. Rickert
About me
I’m Matt Cardin, a writer, editor, pianist, and educator. My work over the past three decades has explored the intersection of religion, consciousness, creativity, and weird and cosmic horror. The latter is one of the areas where I’m still best known.
I’m a former professor of English and religion and a current college vice president, with a Ph.D. in leadership and an M.A. in religious studies.
You can read a more detailed bio at my author website.
The Living Dark is reader supported.
Most posts are freely available. Paid subscribers receive access to the full archive, along with additional material, including The Living Dark Reader, a curated PDF edition for slow, immersive reading.
If this all resonates with you, please know that your support helps to sustain and deepen it.
