Reflections

Sojourners has an important interview this month with Cynthia Bourgeault. Here are four excerpts from the interview. But the whole thing is well worth reading.

We would like to share with you a this wonderfully descriptive poem by recent Wisdom School participant Faye Cox,  that so creatively captures our Teacher, Cynthia Bourgeault.   Red Hat’s in Town   Careful, you might miss her in a crowd neither tall nor fashionable obvious, imposing – in no way whatsoever. A small force, a trim tab with the impact of a mighty wind stirred by a butterfly wing. Shifting the foundations of empire is not an easy job  –  given, not taken, received

This is the season of holy waiting as we prepare to celebrate the coming of the Christ Light – the season of mystery as the infinite touches the finite. I am writing this from a little waterfront cabin not far from Sooke. Tomorrow I will be joined by 11 others for a TCS sponsored 5-day Meditation Intensive.

From my many years in the Gurdjieff Work, I knew that the enneagram is primarily about lines of force (much more than about personality typing), and specifically, about the subtle but profound interaction of the Law of Seven and the Law of Three.

Excerpt: The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three: Discovering the Radical Truth at the Heart of Christianity – By Cynthia Bourgeault Published by  Shambhala Publications , July 9 2013. Introduction: My first challenge in writing this book will be to persuade you that there is anything here worth considering at all. With so many urgent practical issues facing spiritual humanity, why waste time with the Trinity, a doctrine that most of the world (and even much of Christianity) re

The role of a conscious human being is to provide the phenomenal earth world with energies which otherwise would not be effectively transmitted to the creations and units which make up our world. Just as right balance and interaction of energies bring unity, Being appears when harmony and equilibrium replace chaotic imbalance. Being is the universe under God’s eye.

Two weeks before our long-awaited Calgary Wisdom School last April, Mother Nature surprised us with a challenging gift: two feet of heavy, thick Alberta snow!

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.

This post was originally published in Christopher Page’s blog, In A Spacious Place. Additionally, this was originally posted at 10 seperate reflections from the retreat. During our site migration, we have condensed these posts into one for ease of reading and use.

Cynthia Bourgeault Commenting on Kabir Helminski’s Living Presence – chapter 7 – “Voluntary Attention”

As we celebrate this season of mystery, and at the end of a year which seems to have dissolved into tragic chaos, it is good to reaffirm the spiritual reality in which we journey. Here are words from Cynthia Bourgeault’s Sounds True Audio Learning Course “Encountering the Wisdom Jesus,” 2005 in which she calls us back to the heart of the spiritual life.

The horror of Friday, December 14, 2012 stands as yet one more reminder, if we need reminding, that there are forces at work in the world over which we have no control. Terrible things happen to people who have done nothing to deserve the devastation that has invaded their lives.

This poem was written in honor of Reverend Cynthia Bourgeault, Episcopal priest and mystic… Original posting on Becky’s blog .    On the last day of a week-long Wisdom School with Cynthia in Valle Crucis, North Carolina, we celebrated the Eucharist in an apple barn. Our time in Wisdom School was modeled after the Benedictine Monastic order, and we spent our days praying and working alone and together and honoring the sacred silence in the evenings. The retreat center at Valle

The Wisdom School with Cynthia Bourgeault was an experience I will be integrating for the rest of my life. While I can’t begin to articulate the full scope of the spiritual terrain traversed during the week spent with her and others from around the country, I do want to share the framework for the week that proved so valuable.

An interview with Cynthia Bourgeault by Keely Bays, a teacher and devoted practicioner of the contemplative path in Victoria, BC.

You know there’s a buzz out there when 100 emails come into your box all bearing identical links to the New York Times article responsible for the stir. I click on the link and voilà! There before me is a photo of a small papyrus fragment from the fourth century and distinguished Harvard scholar Karen King explaining how this recently recovered and certified authentic Coptic fragment unmistakably has Jesus referring to Mary Magdalene as “my wife.”

Seven years ago this month, Brother Roger, beloved founder of the Taizé Community, was slain during community prayer by a mentally disturbed assailant. He was ninety years old. The attack, witnessed by thousands of worshippers (many of them teenagers), shocked and saddened the world.

We are told that we have to balance our budget; whether in Washington or at home. On the other hand, we are also told to love your neighbor as yourself. Which self? The budget-balancing self? The self-preserving self? How many would risk safety to help others? Who would give all to the needy?

This post comes to alert you to an extraordinary learning opportunity, which I hope you will find as exciting as I do. Richard Rohr, James Finley, and I are teaming up as core faculty for what Richard is calling his “Living School”, a two-year program of cognitive learning and spiritual formation in the best of the Christian mystical tradition.

I thought you might be interested in this unique link, which will lead you to Marty Schmidt’s blog account of our Assisi teaching.