Be prepared to discover in this set of teachings the original desert fathers and mothers in a whole new way—as Christian disciples and sages. Cynthia begins by exploring how the desert is a perfect setting both physically and metaphorically for the spiritual seeker. You are invited to recognize your own personal desert and to work within its constrictions as you walk your individual path toward the divine. Cynthia quickly dispels the common misconceptions about the early desert fathers and mothers as rejecting the body and engaging in self-harming practices. Instead, the desert tradition is revealed as a model for present-day wisdom schools. The early Christian desert dwellers are seen as being dedicated to becoming transformed humans in the way of Christ—balancing asceticism and temperance, solitude and community, right dominion and humility, equanimity and passion, vigilance and nonattachment. Their practices and teachings serve as a guide today for bridging the material realm and the intense realm of deep prayer and for participating in the unfolding of a new humanity.
Recorded LIVE at Redemptorist Renewal Center in Tucson, Arizona, March 8-14, 2014