About
This retreat was recorded live in April 2013 on Pender Island, BC, Canada. This purchase includes an MP3 audio download with a total running time of approximately 8 hours and 35 minutes. In this teaching, Cynthia Bourgeault explores how ancient contemplative wisdom can address some of today’s most pressing challenges, particularly the cycles of violence and alienation in our world. Drawing on Sr. Constance FitzGerald’s groundbreaking article From Impasse to Prophetic Hope: Crisis of Memory, Cynthia examines memory and its relationship to selfhood, hope, and the future. She shows how contemplative practice can open a new sense of identity beyond the ego, allowing healing and reconciliation to emerge from what she calls “the prayer of no experience.” Key themes include the Dark Night of the Spirit, ego and contemplative operating systems, memory and dislocation, forgiveness, victim identity, prophetic hope, vertical and horizontal remembering, and the Gospel of Thomas logia as windows into transformed selfhood. Participants are invited to discover how contemplative practices retrain memory, open the heart, and free us for radical hope and belonging. Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern-day mystic, Episcopal priest, and internationally known retreat leader. She is the author of numerous books, including The Wisdom Jesus and Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, and is recognized for her pioneering work in integrating the Christian contemplative path with other global streams of wisdom.