Tag Archives: meditation
A Big Experiment
The Perennial Tradition A Big Experiment Friday, August 16, 2019 Rami Shapiro, a rabbi, teacher, and author on Judaism and spirituality reflects on the enriching, powerful experience of interspiritual dialogue initiated by Fr. Thomas Keating (1923–2018). In 1984 Father Thomas Keating invited a small group of contemplatives from eight different religious traditions—Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Islamic,… Continue Reading A Big Experiment
Dying to Ego’s Delusions
Dying Before You Die Dying to Ego’s Delusions Tuesday, April 2, 2019 Dying to the false self before our physical death allows us to be reborn as our more authentic and soulful selves. Today James Finley, one of CAC’s core faculty members, reflects on how hard it is for our ego to surrender to the… Continue Reading Dying to Ego’s Delusions
Jesus and the Cross: Weekly Summary
Jesus and the Cross Summary: Sunday, February 3-Friday, February 8, 2019 Unfortunately, with the widespread acceptance of the substitutionary atonement theory, salvation became a one-time transactional affair between Jesus and his Father, instead of an ongoing transformational lesson for the human soul and for all of history. (Sunday) Christianity’s vision of God was a radical… Continue Reading Jesus and the Cross: Weekly Summary
Sustaining Awareness
Contemplation: Week 2 Sustaining Awareness Thursday, December 20, 2018 As we saw yesterday, there are many forms of contemplative practice. CAC faculty member James Finley describes how meditation—another name for contemplation—is simply any practice that opens us up to Presence: There is something about simply sitting still, quietly attentive to your breathing, that tends to… Continue Reading Sustaining Awareness
Death and Resurrection: Week 1 Summary
Death and Resurrection: Week 1 Summary: Sunday, November 11-Friday, November 16, 2018 Death—whether one of many deaths to the false self or our physical dying—is simply returning to our spacious Ground of Being, to our foundation in Love. (Sunday) The life and death of a human being is so exquisitely calibrated as to automatically produce… Continue Reading Death and Resurrection: Week 1 Summary
Love: Week 1 Summary
Love: Week 1 Summary: Sunday, October 28-Friday, November 2, 2018 My hope, whenever I speak or write, is to help clear away the impediments to receiving, allowing, trusting, and participating in a foundational Love. (Sunday) The contemplative is not just aware of God’s Loving Presence, but trusts, allows, and delights in it. (Monday) For Jesus,… Continue Reading Love: Week 1 Summary
Knowing that We Don’t Know
Unknowing: Week 2 Knowing that We Don’t Know Monday, October 8, 2018 I encourage you, then, to make experience, not knowledge, your aim. Knowledge often leads to arrogance, but this humble feeling never lies to you. —Anonymous, Book of Privy Counsel [1] In meditation, we move beyond doctrines and dogmas to inner experience. When we move… Continue Reading Knowing that We Don’t Know
Renewal of Contemplative Christianity
Western Christianity Renewal of Contemplative Christianity Monday, September 17, 2018 In the 1950s and 1960s, Thomas Merton brought renewed interest to the contemplative tradition in the West. He became a Trappist monk and “left the world” for the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where he learned the lessons of contemplation and action. Merton was spiritual… Continue Reading Renewal of Contemplative Christianity
Perennial Tradition: Weekly Summary
Perennial Tradition Summary: Sunday, July 29-Friday, August 3, 2018 The underlying messages that different religions and denominations use are often in strong agreement, but they use different metaphors to communicate their own experience of union with God. (Sunday) One way to summarize the substance of perennial wisdom (paraphrasing Aldous Huxley) is: There is a Divine… Continue Reading Perennial Tradition: Weekly Summary
Gender and Sexuality: Week 2 Summary
Gender and Sexuality: Week 2 Summary: Sunday, April 22-Friday, April 27, 2018 Gender seems to be a very deep archetype in the psyche. As long as we read reality in a non-contemplative, dualistic way, any gender identity that doesn’t follow our binary “norm” will invariably be challenging and usually resisted. (Sunday) Even as we acknowledge… Continue Reading Gender and Sexuality: Week 2 Summary
