Our 2023 Annual Fundraising Appeal

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A Letter from Cynthia Bourgeault

Dear Wisdom friends:

As I add my own greetings to our annual Fundraising Appeal for Wisdom Waypoints, I am just coming off a rich teaching week at Bonneveaux Abbey in France. In an engaging week of meditation, teaching, and thoughtful conversation, those of us there collectively pushed further into a truth that is becoming intuitively evident to many (and explicitly so to those of you who have waded through my Gebser teaching), that we are at a major planetary tipping point—culturally, intellectually, politically, and ecologically.

The founding vision of Wisdom Waypoints was simple: meld contemplative prayer, the rich Benedictine tradition, and the Gurdjieffian fragrance of mindfulness and conscious presence to create a powerful new vessel for nurturing conscious, thoughtful, prayerful human beings who can act with agency, rootedness, and compassionate impartiality.

During the past several years we realized the need to supplement these traditional spiritual pathways with enhanced online teaching and resource-sharing. With your support, we completely rebuilt our website as a “Virtual Wisdom University.” In the three years now since we first rolled it out, it has done astonishing work toward facilitating and growing our worldwide wisdom community—groups of people gathering from all over the world to meditate together, participate in book circles, take online courses, practice Gurdjieff exercises and chanting, as we collectively hone our skills to stay present and be a force of stabilitas in a world rocking on its heels.

I can site some wonderfully rewarding statistics documenting how steadily our usership has grown, along with deep appreciation for the quality of the content and the amazing strength of the emerging next generation of teachers. Usership and participation have almost doubled from last year, book practice circles are full, practice days are well attended, and the four new e-courses launched this year are clicking along at full capacity.

My own spiritual teachings on evil, building second body, and holding our planet during this time of momentous transition are beginning to percolate a bit more widely among the movers and shakers of this world. I am daily surprised by the kinds of invitations that seem to be arriving on my doorstep these days. The Wisdom message is finally getting out.

But amidst all this whirl of spiritual generativity, the symbol of all this remains for me our Wisdom Solstice Celebrations, spontaneously created by members of Wisdom Waypoints network. At those primordial turning points—midwinter and midsummer—we gather, mark, celebrate, and stand in solidarity with our planet, our struggling but courageous mother earth, one another, and God. As the new wineskin slowly takes shape, sturdy enough to hold the ferment of our times, the ever-flowing wine which is the blood of Christ, the nurturing life of the world, pours out into our world. We hold the post as best we can.

Our theme this year—uniting my teaching and our annual fundraising appeal, is “Finding Our Feet, Holding Our Planet.” I write to you in great gratitude for your support in former years that has helped birth this newwineskin, and for your continued support that we can keep this wondrous wine flowing!

Thank you and blessings,

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A Letter from Our Wisdom Board

Beloved Friends in our Wisdom Community,

My heart is full of gratitude as I write this letter to you, an integral part of our Wisdom Web. Each of you have held a post this year as we continue to grow together in connection with one another, deepening and widening our collective participation in holding our planet within the field of Mercy, the “infallible link of love that holds the created and uncreated realms together” (from Cynthia in Mystical Hope).

Many of us are feeling drawn into deeper Presence, a three-centered, eyes open, boots on the ground attention to how we participate and share in the conditions of our world from deep Being, for the common good. We come together at this time of year to share our resources so that we continue supporting one another in our common work.

During this past year, perhaps you were able to pray with the daily Holy Week Libretto offerings in April, or maybe you joined one of our daily meditation groups. You may also have found yourself coming to our website to look for resources or courses for local groups that you host. Each of you are a “Wisdom Waypoint”, an integral partner in our collective work. Your donations at this time of year support our daily gatherings, seasonal offerings and resource development for the year to come.

In whatever way you are tapping into our hub of offerings, we are grateful for your involvement, and we ask you to consider contributing to Wisdom Waypoints with a donation through our Annual Appeal so that we can continue to partner in this important work.

There is also an option for you to become a monthly donor, as we understand gifting smaller amounts regularly can be more manageable than a larger amount all at once. Of course, any gift is helpful for our programming and resource development.

In many Wisdom Schools and online small groups we close our time together sharing in the three bows from the Gurdjieff lineage. Our first bow is on behalf of the individual work we do as we seek to surrender into the Mystery. Our second bow is on behalf of the work of the group, knowing we need one another to do the Work. Our third bow is on behalf of the Great Work, that mysterious work that we cannot know or see, yet we trust and honor.

It is with great gratitude that I bow to each of you in your individual seeking. I bow to our group work and the many groups supported by Wisdom Waypoints. I bow to the Great Work, the Source and Mystery of All.

With a full heart,

Jeanine Siler Jones
President of Wisdom Waypoints Board

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