Introductory Wisdom School Southeast with Cynthia Bourgeault

November 15 @ 6:00 pm - November 20 @ 12:00 pm

• Tuition: $1,100 for double occupancy

• Tuition: $1,400 for single occupancy

• Tuition includes housing, meals, program, and materials

• Place: Kanuga Conference Center, Hendersonville, North Carolina

  
  

Wisdom Schools have two purposes. The first is to make available to Christians the breadth and depth of their own Christian heritage, paying particular attention to new resources and insights that come to us from the Near East and our own Western mystical tradition. In a growing network of North American Wisdom Schools, we have delved deeply into Thomas Merton, Jacob Boehme, The Gospel of Thomas and Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Meditations on the Tarot, and The Cloud of Unknowing. We have also explored modern classics such as Jacques Lusseryran’s And There was Light and Jim Marion’s Putting on the Mind of Christ. A core textbook has been The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement.

Our goal has been to recover the true catholicity of the Christian tradition by returning to our own wellsprings. The wider tradition is unanimous, however, in its assertion that the deeper Christianity cannot be known by the mind alone; it requires a transformation of the entire being. That is our second—and in fact, primary—purpose. From time immemorial there have been wisdom schools to raise human consciousness and transform society, and we work with the core practices that sustain the transformation of consciousness: meditation, contemplative prayer, lectio divina, the language of sacred gesture, and the daily practices of mindfulness, inner observation and surrender.

For Frequently Asked Questions concerning the Wisdom School, click here.

An established Centering Prayer practice is a prerequisite to be considered for this Wisdom School.

Required Texts

• Bourgeault, Cynthia, The Wisdom Way of Knowing

• Bourgeault, Cynthia, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity

• Bauman, Lynn, ed. The Gospel of Thomas

• Marion, Jim, Putting on the Mind of Christ

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Recommended Texts

• Bourgeault, Cynthia, Encountering the Wisdom Jesus (CD series)

• Clement, Olivier, The Roots of Christian Mysticism

If you have questions about the program, contact Robbin Whittington, host, Wisdom Schools Southeast: 828-274-2681, robbin@thecsr.org

Faculty

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault is a retreat and conference leader, teacher of prayer, writer on the spiritual life, Episcopal priest, and part-time hermit, spending part of each year in solitude on Eagle Island in Maine. She is passionately committed to the recovery of the Christian contemplative path and has worked closely with Fr. Thomas Keating and others as a teacher of centering prayer, as well as in Sufism and the Christian inner traditions. She is the author of Chanting the Psalms, Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Love is Stronger Than Death, The Wisdom Jesus, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, and many articles and audio tapes on the contemplative life. She is a past Fellow of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural research at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville MN, and an oblate of New Camaldoli Monastery in Big Sur, California. Most recently, she is the 2014 Recipient of Shalem Institute’s Contemplative Voices Award (for more info on this award, click here).

Darlene Franz will bring her inspired teaching and her inquiry into “Singing and Conscious Attention” to the week. As Cynthia has described her contribution: “Not quite singing lessons, not quite mindfulness training, but a magical blend of both, it helps us to relax, embody, chant more confidently and musically, and cruise the updrafts of vibration (both personal and collective) “in which all things hold together.” It is amazing to watch people get used to a different sort of attunement, not just of the mind, but of energy fields as well, and to watch the level of attention held by the group become finer and more sensitive. Since Wisdom is not knowing more but knowing DEEPER—knowing with more of ourselves engaged—it is a pleasure to team up with Darlene to incorporate her groundbreaking work into the standard Wisdom School curriculum.”

The Rev. Bill Redfield recently retired as rector of Trinity Church, Fayetteville, New York, after nearly 20 years. Besides being an Episcopal priest, he is also a licensed clinical social worker and has worked in private practice in Central New York and Maine. He has had a lifelong interest in the intersection of the spirituality and the inner life. He is the creative force behind the birth of Wisdom House, Fayetteville, New York. Bill was introduced to Centering Prayer by Cynthia Bourgeault over 23 years ago and has been an advanced student of hers for the last eight years. To learn more, visit: http://www.wisdomswork.com

Sister Lois Barton, a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet, holds basic and advanced certificates from the Spiritual Direction Mentoring Program of the Spiritual Renewal Center in Syracuse, NY, and a Master’s Certificate in Pastoral Ministry from the Loyola Institute for Ministry Extension Program of Loyola University, New Orleans. Sister Lois is an experienced teacher and spiritual director. Along with Bill, Lois has a long-established practice of Centering Prayer and also has been an advanced student of Cynthia Bourgeault for the past eight years. She is the program director of The Sophia Center in Binghamton, NY. She lives in community at the Spiritual Center in Windsor, New York. To learn more, visit: http://www.wisdomswork.com

PLEASE NOTE: This Wisdom School is currently full. If you are interested in being on the waiting list, please fill out the form below.