On Monday December 21, 2020 Cynthia Bourgeault sat down with Marcella Kraybill-Greggo on zoom to have a conversation about the work of Jean Gebser. This conversation came into being through […]
Sometimes I wish we could all just declare a temporary moratorium on the term “Integral!!!” What Gebser intended when he chose that name for his emerging fifth structure of consciousness […]
Dear Wisdom Friends, As we enter this Feast of Epiphany, celebrating the arrival of Holy Wisdom at the stable, I invite you all to join me over the next twenty-four […]
I invite you into this read as an invitation to action and a stronger commitment to practice: including the Epiphany practice recently invited by Cynthia, which is posted on the […]
Gebser names his book The Ever Present Origin, and Origin is indeed the center point around which everything else in his in his magisterial teaching revolves. But his vision of Origin […]
As one’s level of being increases, receptivity to higher meaning increases. As one’s level of being decreases, the old meanings return. ~Maurice Nicoll Dear Wisdom Seekers, The age-old debate, […]
The Baton Has Been Passed. Can We Now Run With It? No, dear friends, I didn’t send you off on a wild goose chase to immerse yourself in 450 pages […]
As we continue on in the season of Epiphany, the veil still thin, we are invited to bring the gifts of Wisdom to that which is springing forth and desiring […]
“As one’s level of being increases, receptivity to higher meaning increases. As one’s level of being decreases, the old meanings return” ~Maurice Nicoll These past several weeks have brought an […]
It occurred to me that people may want a little guidance as to how to pick and choose among the sudden embarrassment of riches of Cynthia Bourgeault online course options […]
In my last post I invited us all to begin thinking more specifically in terms of the gifts and strengths contributed to the whole by the magic and mythic structures […]
In Beelzebub’s Tales, in the chapter on Beelzebub’s Fourth Sojourn on the Planet Earth, Gurdjieff describes the founding of the original Wisdom School in Atlantis, under the inspired conscience of Belcultassi. […]
By the skin of her teeth (the way she always seems to do things), Cynthia has made it onto the prestigious Watkins List, honoring the hundred most spiritually influential people […]
It seems fitting that Abdul Aziz Said should have passed at a time when our nation cries out for an elusive unity. Professor Said affected thousands as an educator. For […]
Our friend Bill Espinosa considered Abdul Aziz Said to be his spiritual teacher for many years. In honor of his recent passing, Bill has shared his remembrance, “Peace and Unity” […]
Whatever you may take Gebser’s Integral structure of consciousness to be, its most striking characteristic is that it entails a radically different approach to time. Time presents in a strikingly […]
Thanks to a prompt from Cynthia, I have been looking again at Gurdjieff’s notion of the horse, carriage, driver and Master. In fact, it appears that this metaphor is much […]
There are two other things you should know about Gebser’s “aperspectival” time: it is non-exclusionary, and it is purposive. Linear or perspectival time, the time we’re used to, is exclusionary. Its linear, unidirectional […]
As we curate life from the food in our atmospheres… Earlier in Lent, I set the stage for one of the greatest rites of Jesus’ initiation—the Transfiguration—by mentioning the gospel […]
Are you a good listener? I confess that I am not. In conversation I get excited and barge in with a comment; or I get distracted and forget what the […]
The following update was recently posted by friends at The Contemplative Society, and provides a great summary of my recent and upcoming activities. What’s new with our Principal Teacher Cynthia […]
In stillness nailed to hold all time, all change, all circumstance in and to love’s embrace Beloved One, creation longs to be held in the great hands of your heart; […]
Take Off Your Shoesby Adwoa Lewis-Wilson Take off your shoes,In fact, remove all your coverings –The cloak of achievement, adornments of knowledge, Every false veil of ‘self’.For the place you […]
We see that at Christ’s death the whole world entered upon a cosmic spring the harvest of which will be the remaking of our universes in newness and splendor. At […]
All of nature with its forms and creatures exist together and are interwoven with each other. They will be resolved back to their own proper origin, for the compositions of […]
Part I, Holy Week 2021, Maundy Thursday. Absence mills around the body like a guard dog pacing the fence line. Rigidly keeping off the night creatures, jealously defending its property. […]
Part II, Holy Week 2021, Easter Sunday I throw open the gate to rushing wind and creaking branches. Not knowing what lays ahead, I step into the forest with my […]
Dear wisdom friends, By now the word is out that I am officially stepping back from active duty as a core faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation. […]
When I say that the ability to access and sustain the Integral structure of consciousness is developmental, I mean just that: it is fundamentally a question of physiology, rather than of moral virtue or mystical yearning. We cannot think, pray,…
The term “ecstasy” comes from the Greek ec-stasis, “standing outside of oneself.” Its opposite is “ENSTASY,” a term I first encountered in Valentin Tomberg’s profound discussion of the subject in Meditations on the Tarot (pp. 309-311). It means centering in…
The following review of Cynthia’s book Eye of the Heart: A Spiritual Journey into the Imaginal Realm is provided by David Lorimer from Paradigm Explorer, the journal of The Scientific […]
Dear Wisdom Seekers, I’m just back from a week away in Stonington, Maine with friends and teacher, Cynthia Bourgeault, diving directly into the insides of what mystical courage might look like […]
One of the more surprising revelations to grow out of our winter’s pilot “Civics for Wisdom Students” project has been the growing realization that while our Constitution pays lips service […]
We are pleased to welcome The Rev Benjamin Thomas as the newest member of our Wisdom Council. Ben is the associate rector at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton, […]
There are rich currents flowing through the Wisdom stream, so it’s hard to offer a “one size fits all” reading list. Some people will be more drawn to the esoteric […]
The past two weeks I was in France with my wife, where we had traveled to see her grandmother. Her grandmother’s health is in decline, and family felt that we […]
“In each of these crises, can be rediscovered to a certain degree the primitive image of all emergencies, namely birth. In that primitive experience, the whole organism had to readapt […]
The following provides further reflections on the “Civics for Wisdom Students” theme, as introduced in the prior post EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND THE COMMON GOOD: The Beginnings of a Wisdom Inquiry So […]
The second major shift as we approach the question of the common good through the Integral structure of consciousness is, I believe, that we will increasingly understand it as an […]
We have just begun our next Wisdom Practice Book Circle this week, in which over one hundred and sixty people are gathering to engage one of Cynthia’s foundational books Centering […]
Sister Lois Barton, Sister of Saint Joseph, was a trusted friend, colleague, and always a willing partner in crime. Over twenty-five years, we together experienced many of the most extraordinary […]
The third aspect to note about the common good as it manifests in the Integral structure of consciousness is that it is, well, good. It is not just virtuous, righteous, […]
For prior blogs in this series exploring the common good and the potential of an emerging Integral structure of consciousness, please refer to the links included below this post. This […]
From everything I’ve said so far about flow systems and keeping the infrastructure rolling, you may get the idea that any form of constraint is an intrinsic obstacle to the […]
Last month we held our first small Wisdom Book Practice Circle gatherings to engage with Part I of “Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening,” as well as our Wisdom Practice Day […]
On August 28, 2021, Wisdom Waypoints hosted a worldwide practice day, gathering 275 Wisdom friends from around the globe for a deep dive into Christian contemplative practices. Listen to Wisdom Practice Day videos.
One of the great joys in my life is hanging out in this big old Wisdom community. Its timeless! We are all part of Wisdom’s never-ending flow and manifestation. Wisdom […]
Last week my father, Mahan Siler, and I trekked from the mountains of western North Carolina to the low country of South Carolina. We joined 12 others for a Wisdom […]
The Psychology of Centering Prayer in Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening by Cynthia Bourgeault This month in our Foundational Book Group Series, we are reading Part III, The Psychology of […]
This was the second retreat Cynthia Bourgeault gave in this beautifully situated and well-maintained monastery in southern Jutland in Denmark near the border to Germany.