Resources featuring Cynthia Bourgeault
Click on headings to explore online material featuring Cynthia Bourgeault.
Contemplate This!
Tom Bushlack is dedicated to exploring contemplative practices and compassionate social action. He has recently started a podcast, with his first interview taking on CAC’s Richard Rohr. His second interview features Cynthia Bourgeault, and she describes it as “one of the better interviews I’ve had the honor to participate in. Journey with Tom and Cynthia through old stories and new material.
Chichester Cathedral Sermon
On November 5, 2017, Cynthia Bourgeault gave an inspiring sermon to the full congregation at Chichester Cathedral in West Sussex, UK. For more on the Fall Triduum, see Cynthia’s blog post on the subject.
Buddha at the Gas Pump
This heartful interview begins with Cynthia Bourgeualt’s biography, then dives deep into her wealth of spiritual wisdom drawn from her personal contemplative practice and study of the Christian Wisdom path.
The Wisdom Teachings of Jesus: Beyond Belief and Into Practice
Ever since the time of Jesus, people have debated what he really taught and what his intentions actually were. In this podcast by Sounds True, Cynthia Bourgeault brings a unique realness and excitement to the idea that Jesus’s vision for humanity is fully alive and accessible right now.
Friends of Silence
A variety of audio files are available from the Friends of Silence who have recorded their events with Cynthia Bourgeault.
The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three – 2014 (please see our audio teaching for a production of higher quality)
Three-Centered Knowing: A Wisdom and Sacred Movement School – 2016
Wisdom Ingathering in Stonington, ME (on Teilhard de Chardin) – 2016
Enneagram in Motion (the “co-teaching” files feature Cynthia) – 2017
The Power Of Contemplative Prayer: Christian Nonduality And Attention Of The Heart
Recorded at St. James Priory, the oldest church in Bristol, UK on November 8, 2016. This event was organised by the World Community for Christian Meditation.
Interview with Rev. John Paul Roach from World Spirituality on Love is Stronger Than Death
A wonderful interview with Cynthia Bourgeault discussing her book Love is Stronger Than Death, recently re-released in a 20th anniversary edition. “Life breaks us open…and out of that brokenness comes the most beautiful flavor of divine compassion and healing, if we can stay with the underlying trust…”
Interview with Terry Patten – The Eye of the Needle and the Cave of the Heart: Cultivating a Pure and Single Heart in a World Stuffed Full of Way-Too-Muchness
Their dialogue was illuminating and lively, and the recording is now available for those who missed it. Many have commented on the depth of this exchange and especially were appreciative of the useful and simple practice for making wise, non-reactive choices about life that Cynthia shared in the course of the conversation.
Scroll down the page to stream or download the audio interview.
Terry Patten also provides his
Interview with Terry Patten: Encountering the Integral Christ in Evolutionary Dialogue
Beyond Awakening host, Terry Patten, also offers a blog post in appreciation of the wonderful dialogue that unfolded, including a discussion of the Trinity as a transformational metaphor and “mystical mandala”, and a nuanced conversation about how radically non-dual consciousness expresses itself equally in deep contemplative silence, profound heart-devotion, and muscular, engaged activism and service in the world.
Scroll down the page to stream or download the audio interview.
St. Matthew-in-the-City talk with Cynthia Bourgeault
This is an edited version of the talk Cynthia gave at St. Matthew-in-the-City.
Interview with Patricia Albere and Cynthia Bourgeault – The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity
“We are recovering in general from the spirituality of the ’80s and ’90s that had a kind of narcissistic preoccupation to it…to one that has a much more and deeper diaphanous solidarity — that we are here on this beloved planet to serve, and what Love really does in this quest of service is it erases boundaries, allowing us to form higher collective units. But we have to keep coming back to a sense of sobriety when we are dealing with the intoxicating language of Love — if we lose we our bearings we can get swept over the waterfall of Eros.” ~ Cynthia Bourgeault
Interview with Patricia Albere and Cynthia Bourgeault – Love is Stronger than Death: The Mystical Union of Two Souls
“True love expresses the sacred promise that love is stronger than death,” Cynthia Bourgeault says in her book. What kind of ‘soulwork’ can continue in a relationship that expresses ‘true love’? Join author and Episcopal Priest Cynthia Bourgeault and Patricia Albere as they explore the reality of sacred union.
Interview with Tami Simon and Cynthia Bourgeault – When Two Become One: Love Beyond Death
Sounds True founder Tami Simon and Cynthia speak about new insights on the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and the concept of the “abler soul”—when two souls come together to form something greater.
Interview with Tami Simon – Encountering the Wisdom Jesus
Sounds True founder and interviewer Tami Simon recently spoke with Cynthia about kenosis and Jesus’ life understood as a sacrament, the Welcoming Practice, and a number of other enlightening topics.
Cynthia’s beautiful and bold sermon delivered on Palm Sunday, 2011
As Cynthia starts her sermon she refers to the congregation having just heard the traditional reading of the passion narrative, and invites us to consider an alternative message – one that places the mystery of love at the center of the Easter story. (Recorded April 17, 2011 at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, BC Canada.)
Jean Ferca with Cynthia Bourgeault discussing The Meaning of Mary Magdalene
Jean Feraca from Wisconsin Public Radio, interviews Cynthia about her newest book. As Cynthia asserts in the conversation, “to reclaim Mary Magdalene is to reclaim Christianity.”
Radiant Intimacy of the Heart
At 2018’s Science and Nonduality conference, Cynthia Bourgeault gave a brief talk on the “higher” knowledge cultivated in contemplative practice and what it means to connect the mind with the heart, the nondual organ of perception.
Welcome and Introduction – Mega-Wisdom School B: The Divine Exchange
This introduction to the second part of a two-part Mega Introductory Wisdom School serves to both introduce the topic of the Wisdom school and to introduce new contemplatives to the model of Wisdom Schools in general. (This Wisdom School took place March 11-16, 2018 in Kanuga, NC.)
Buddha at the Gas Pump
This heartful interview begins with Cynthia Bourgeualt’s biography, then dives deep into her wealth of spiritual wisdom drawn from her personal contemplative practice and study of the Christian Wisdom path.
Festival of Faiths
Cynthia Bourgeault was part of the 22nd Festival of Faiths held in Louisville, KY, an interfaith event of music, poetry, art, and dialogue with internationally renowned spiritual leaders, thinkers, and practitioners. This year’s theme was “Compassion: Shining Like the Sun”. Below, Cynthia speaks to this topic, as well as teaches the practice of Centering Prayer.
The Heart of Compassion (Cynthia Bourgeault)
The Heart of Compassion (full program)
The Heart of Centering Prayer
As the year changed from 2016 to 2017, Aspen Chapel hosted Cynthia Bourgeault for a one-day workshop on her new book, The Heart of Centering Prayer: Christian Nonduality in Theory and Practice. Watch the videos they recorded during her time with them.
The Welcoming Practice and Waking Up
Produced by The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Cynthia outlines what the Welcoming Practice is, how to use it, and what it can do for us as a tool for transformation in daily life.
The Cost of True Love: A Conversation with Cynthia Bourgeault and Ilia Delio
Produced by The Wisdom Way of Knowing from the Tuscon Wisdom School (“Teilhard: Living in an Unfinished Universe”) in January 2017, Cynthia and Ilia discuss Teilhardian love, God as personal, and what it means to live from the depth of our own integrity.
My Relationship to Jesus
Posted by Integral Life, a community dedicated to serving others by working on their own growth and evolution, Cynthia discusses her relationship to Jesus. Starting with her “First Communion”, she divulges what Jesus means to her and how this relationship, as guru-student, has impacted her life’s work.
The Heart of Centering Prayer: Christian Nonduality in Theory and Practice
Recorded on October 15, 2016 at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA (co-sponsored with Contepmlative Outreach Boston). Cynthia proposes that The Cloud of Unknowing‘s anonymous author describes the transition to unitive or nondual consciousness, and explains why Centering Prayer is so essential to the process.
Seeing With the Eyes of the Heart
Interviewed by Renate McNay of Conscious.TV, Cynthia Bourgeault explains how she came to search for the missing message in Christianity. Her search led her to teachers such as Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, and the wisdom to bare suffering, God’s love, solitude, and silence.
Wisdom’s Hour: A reflection following the 2016 US election
In addition to Cynthia’s post-election blog post, she recorded a video for the Center for Action and Contemplation responding to the 2016 presidential election in the United Sates: “Now that the shake-up has occurred, it is our calling to use our heads and hearts in a broader, Teilhardian sort of way…”
Wisdom and the Church
A one-hour conversation on Wisdom Christianity featuring three Anglican/Episcopalian priests and a Baptist pastor: Cynthia Bourgeault (Wisdom Teacher), Porter Taylor (Episcopal Bishop), Matthew Wright (Episcopal Priest), and Mahan Siler (Retired Baptist Pastor).
Contemplative Journal interview – Non-dual Compassion
In this short video series, five great teachers discuss how the future of humanity lies at the intersection of
contemplation and compassion. Cynthia Bourgeault discusses non-dual compassion: “… you are one undivided sphere of interchangeable consciousness in love … a concept which is really only accessible to the non-dual mind…”
StillPoint with Cynthia Bourgeault
“A Universe Haunted with Thou-ness”
Centering Prayer and the Foundations of Non-dual Awareness
At the 2012 Science and Nonduality Conference, Cynthia Bourgeault speaks on Centering Prayer and the contribution it has to bring to the growing body of data confirming the neurological underpinnings of non-dual consciousness. What Christian mystics have long known as the practice of surrender, powerfully encapsulated in Centering Prayer’s distinctive method of meditation, proves itself to be a powerful foundation for the movement beyond the dualistic perception (with the subect/object dichotomy as its drive-shaft) into a unified — i.e., non-dual — field of perception.
“The Gate of Heaven Is Everywhere”
In this remarkable and well-produced little thirteen minute video, Cynthia Bourgeault discusses how contemplative spiritual practice can be integrated into the contemporary educational program of young people in the Hong Kong International School. With clarity and insight, Cynthia presents principles that apply to many areas of life and illustrate the profound interface that can exist between spirituality and practical daily living.
The Ways of the Heart: Kenosis, Abundance, Singleness
Recorded on September 3, 2011, at Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, MA (produced and edited by Robert A. Jonas, Ed.D., www.emptybell.com).
Part 1 – Overview of the foundations and method of Centering Prayer
Part 2 – Attention of the heart
Part 3 – Putting the mind in the heart
Shalem Institute director interviews Cynthia on The Meaning of Mary Magdalene
Carole Crumley, Shalem’s Senior Program Director talks with Cynthia about Mary Magdalene in relation to her three primary roles as apostle, intimate friend of Jesus, and purveyor of wisdom. When these three roles are put together the implications for Christianity are profound and transformative.
Seeking the Divine host interviews Cynthia on The Meaning of Mary Magdalene
Dr. Patricia Ann Hill from Seeking The Divine TV show interviews Cynthia on “The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity”.
Download the full interview on Grass Roots Community Network’s website.
Seeking the Divine host interviews Cynthia on The Wisdom Way of Knowing
Dr. Patricia Ann Hill from Seeking The Divine TV show interviews Cynthia on “The Wisdom Way of Knowing”. Cynthia discusses her understanding of the meaning of Wisdom, including the differences between information, knowledge and Wisdom, and Wisdom as an integration of mind, body, and spirit.
Download the full interview on Grass Roots Community Network’s website.
Seeking the Divine’s Conversations with Cynthia Bourgeault
Dr. Patricia Ann Hill and Lexie Potamkin from the Seeking The Divine TV show interviews Cynthia Bourgeault.
Download parts 2-8 on Grass Roots Community Network’s website (part 1 is missing).
Consciousness NOW TV with Cynthia Bourgeault on Raising Consciousness
Co-founder of Raising Consciousness NOW Veronika Tracy-Smith, PhD talks with Cynthia about Christian mysticism, releasing the go in daily life, becoming an agent of change, and raising consciousness.
Early Christian Desert Communities
Cynthia reflects on the nature of the early Christian communities: the role women played, how they informed the formation of the great monasteries of Europe, and what happened when only men were allowed to become priests and couldn’t marry.
Shambhala Publications’ senior editor with Cynthia Bourgeault
Dave O’Neil, of Cynthia’s home publisher, interviews Cynthia Bourgeault.
Part 2 – The future of Christianity
Teilhard de Chardin and The Cloud of Unknowing
The Center for Action and Contemplation’s daily meditations in October 2017 feature Cynthia Bourgeault’s teachings on Teilhard de Chardin and The Cloud of Unknowing. See below for the weekly summary, and explore the other six articles.
Teilhard for Troubled Times
The Omega Center features a three-part series by Cynthia Bourgeault titled, “Teilhard for Troubled Times”. Under this umbrella, she explores the subjects of Deep Hope Flows Over Deep Time; Don’t Co-exist, Coalesce!; and The Living Reality of Omega. In response, longtime student of Cynthia’s, Marty Schmidt, shares his reflection as a teacher at the Hong Kong International School working with students struggling with the “people-planet divide”.
Teilhard for Troubled Times (scroll to bottom for next post)
Teaching Teilhardian Hope in Hong Kong
The Beatitudes
The Center for Action and Contemplation’s daily meditations in April 2017 feature Cynthia Bourgeault’s teachings on The Beatitudes. See below for the weekly summary, and explore the other six articles.
The Wisdom Jesus
The Center for Action and Contemplation’s daily meditations in April 2017 feature Cynthia Bourgeault’s teachings on The Wisdom Jesus. See below for the weekly summary, and explore the other six articles.
Law of Three
The Center for Action and Contemplation’s daily meditations in March 2017 feature Cynthia Bourgeault’s teachings on the Law of Three. See below for the weekly summaries, and explore the other ten articles.
Christian Nonduality
In advance of their retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault, the Garrison Institute interviewed Cynthia on the subject of nonduality and what it means to experience it in a Christian framework.
Centering Prayer
The Center for Action and Contemplation’s daily meditations in February 2017 feature Cynthia Bourgeault’s teachings on Centering Prayer. See below for the weekly summary, and explore the other six articles.
The Way of the Heart
The Spring 2017 issue of Parabola Magazine features an article by Cynthia Bourgeault on the topic of “putting the mind in the heart” from the perspective of the Christian contemplative tradition, and what that means for today’s contemplatives.
Ask Cynthia
Explore thoughts and issues of other members of the contemplative community, and Cynthia’s responses, as they navigate their journey, or ask your own question!
“Being” Mary Magdalene – A young woman shares her profound and personal experience of being touched by the Magdalenic energy while “being Mary” at a recent anointing service with Cynthia
“As the entire congregation chanted over and over in beautiful melody, it felt obvious that opening as love requires no knowledge of scripture, no baptism, no earning of anything, especially worthiness. It didn’t matter that I don’t know the full story of Mary Magdalene because I was not doing anything. All that was required of me was to open in love.”
Sojourners online interview with Cynthia Bourgeault – In Pursuit of Wholeness
Sojourners’ resident contemplative and web technologist Bob Sabath talks with Cynthia Bourgeault about why it is vital to integrate spirituality and prophetic witness.
The Egoic System and the Nurture of the Heart
In this article from Sacred Web, Cynthia explores the tension between self-worth and recognition, and spiritual progress, and how one might reconcile the two.
Conscious Love: The Power of Revelation (transcript)
Hosted by Sounds True founder Tami Simon, Cynthia Bourgeault and A.H. Almaas (creator of The Diamond Approach) explore how certain forms of human relationship can function as conduits to the secrets of Being. Visit Sounds True to purchase the audio version.
Introductory Wisdom School e-Course
Filmed during a five-day Wisdom School in North Carolina in November 2015, this 30-session e-course is carefully crafted for easy access while preserving the daily rhythm and structure of the live event. Offered by Wisdom Way of Knowing, you will receive a full transcript of the sessions with a companion guide, course videos and audio, and complementary materials in addition to access to a private moderated forum and online community for support. This e-course qualifies as the requisite Wisdom School to participating in more advanced Wisdom Schools.
For a sample video and more information, please click the link above. You will also receive a $100 USD discount on purchases made through December 31, 2017.
Spirituality and Practice e-Courses
Offering insights into centering prayer and the contemplative life, an interfaith understanding and appreciation of the wisdom tradition, and thoughtful and inspiring approaches to spiritual transformation. Other resources are also available on Cynthia’s Living Spiritual Teachers Project page.
Four Voices Method of Discernment – updated June 2016
Materials from this groundbreaking class (held May 11 to June 5, 2015) are available on-demand for study. Learn Cynthia Bourgeault’s method of inner listening which incorporates many facets of our being as we make decisions both large and small. Help bring each part of your being, even when they seem diametrically opposed, together in harmonious solidarity.
