Since 2001, The Contemplative Society has been publishing Cynthia Bourgeault’s reflections online. The TCS blog, launched by Cynthia in 2011, has since grown to include the voices of other writers in our contemplative community. In this section of the archive, you will find her early writings to the contemplative community, most often in the form of letters. Any pieces not originally written for The Contemplative Society are clearly noted and are included here because they were shared on our site to support and amplify Cynthia’s ministry. Alongside our own blog posts, we also feature Cynthia’s column for Beliefnet, where she published thirteen reflections between 2000 and 2001 that were highlighted on The Contemplative Society website during that period.
2.a.i. The Contemplative Society Blog
2.a.ii. "Boehme For Beginners", Gnosis Magazine (1997)
2.a.iii. Beliefnet Columnist (2000-2001)
2.a.iv. " The Egoic System and the Nurture of the Heart", Sacred Web (2009)
2.a.v. "The Way of the Heart", Parabola Magazine (January 2017)
2.a.vii. "Introducing the Imaginal", Northeast Wisdom (November - December 2018)
2.a.ii. "Boehme For Beginners", Gnosis Magazine (1997)
"It was in deep contemplative stillness that this German shoemaker, gazing at a pewter dish sparkling in the sun light, was suddenly swept up in such a firestorm of unitive vision that "in one quarter of an hour I saw and knew more than if I had been many years together at a university." Twelve years passed before he was able to fashion his cosmic revelation into words; even then they are — to borrow from e.e. cummings — "such great writhing words, as uttering overmuch, stand helplessly before the spirit at bay."
GNOSIS: A JOURNAL OF THE WESTERN INNER TRADITIONS was a quarterly magazine that was published in print form between 1985 and 1999.
It was founded by Jay Kinney, its editor in chief and publisher, and was issued under the auspices of the nonprofit Lumen Foundation. Its offices were in San Francisco. Richard Smoley served as editor from 1990 to the magazine’s closing in 1999. GNOSIS was designed as a wide-ranging, broad-minded forum for the exploration of the Western mystical, occult, and esoteric traditions (including but not limited to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.) It was nonsectarian and published articles and authors from a wide variety of perspective.
2.b.iii. Beliefnet Columnist
Lesson 13: The Yoga of Choir Aug 14, 2001
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson 12: Silence and Psalmody Jul 27, 2001
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson 11: Should We Clean Up Ancient Prayers? Jul 2, 2001
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson 10: The Emotional Range of the Psalms Jun 12, 2001
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson Six: Chant Notation May 22, 2001
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson Nine: Living the Psalms Mar 27, 2001
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson Eight: Thinking With the Heart Jan 23, 2001
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson Four: Antiphons as Psalm Sandwiches Oct 12, 2000
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson Five: Putting It All Together Oct 12, 2000
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson Seven: The Hidden Wisdom of Psalmody Oct 12, 2000
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson Three: The Four Foundations of Psalmody Jul 17, 2000
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson Two: 'Suzuki' Psalmody Jun 29, 2000
Learning to sing the psalms.
Lesson 1: The Bare Essentials Jun 13, 2000
Learning to sing the psalms.
Introduction: Praying the Prayers Jesus Prayed Apr 5, 2000
Learning to sing the psalms.
Come, Follow Us Mar 21, 2000
The Benedictine path speaks to the hunger of today's spiritual seekers.
2.a.iv. " The Egoic System and the Nurture of the Heart", Sacred Web (2009)
"In a world shaped by the humanism of the Enlightenment, the human self has become central. For traditional metaphysics, however, the true nature of human selfhood is revealed only is the circumferential position of the personal ego circling around the axis mundi, which is its mystery. The path of spiritual progression is a return to the Center away from the self, and the search for the roots of our peripheral existence in God at the Center."
Sacred Web was founded in 1998 by M. Ali Lakhani, Sacred Web is a biannual journal dedicated to exploring traditional metaphysical principles from the world's faith and wisdom traditions, and their application to the contingent circumstances of modernity. Through articles spanning 50 print form volumes published over 25 years (1998-2023), Sacred Web has explored the relevance of universal and perennial wisdom to the challenges of modern life. In 2023, Sacred Web moved to its present digital platform to make the journal more accessible and its content available in more formats than the book medium allowed. We hope you will appreciate this, and we welcome your comments.
2.a.v. "The Way of the Heart", Parabola Magazine (January 2017)
"Part of the problem as this ancient teaching falls on contemporary ears is that we will inevitably be hearing it through a modern filter that does not serve it well. In our own times the word “heart” has come to be associated primarily with the emotions (as opposed to the mental operations of the mind), and so the instruction will be inevitably heard as “get out of your mind and into your emotions”—which is, alas, pretty close to 180 degrees from what the instruction is actually saying."
Parabola, also known as Parabola: The Search for Meaning, was a Manhattan-based quarterly magazine on the subjects of mythology and the world's religious and cultural traditions. Founder and editor Dorothea M. Dooling began publishing in 1976. It was published by The Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition, a not-for-profit organization... On April 4, 2025, the editors of Parabola announced that the journal was being discontinued, saying "The financial challenges posed by today’s publishing environment have proven insurmountable." Stephen Schiff, Chairman of the Board of the Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition, wrote "We are a casualty of the market forces to which so many other periodicals have succumbed."[9] The website remained active until the end of April 2025 and subscribers were allowed to download an unlimited number of PDF back issues free of charge. The Society then closed the website, which has been taken over by Études Architectural Solutions. - Wikipedia
2.a.vi. "Teilhard For Troubled Times" (series), Parts 1-3 & "Hope In Hong Kong", Center for Christogenesis (April - May 2017)
Part 1: Deep Hope Flows Over Deep Time | View PDF
Part 2: Don’t Co-exist, Coalesce! | View PDF
Part 3: The Living Reality of Omega | View PDF
Hope in Hong Kong | View PDF
Center for Christogenesis, founded by Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD, is still an active organization. We have provided the PDF's to this series in this archive with long-term longevity in mind of a shifting digital landscape. Please visit https://christogenesis.org/ for more content.
2.a.vii. "Introducing the Imaginal", Northeast Wisdom (November - December 2018)
Part 1: Introducing the Imaginal | View PDF
Part 2: “Where” is The Imaginal Realm Located | View PDF
Part 3: Is The Imaginal Realm Real | View PDF
Northeast Wisdom was the origin of what became Wisdom Waypoints. According to the digital footprint, it ceased to exist in 2021. These articles are provided with the help of the Wayback Machine, and as a result of the "print to PDF" feature, formatting is imperfect. You can view the original website of Northeast Wisdom here.
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