Rare opportunity to learn from six pioneers of InterSpirituality: Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, Spiritual Paths Institute, Swami Atmarupananda, Dr. Ed Bastian, Shaikh Kabir and Shaikha Camille Helminski, Rabbi Rami Shapiro
The twenty-first century has been dubbed the “age of InterSpirituality” by Brother Wayne Teasdale, and the beginning of the second decade of this era is an especially good time to explore the fruits of this movement and to see what it offers each of us for our own spiritual life.
InterSpirituality encourages people from different spiritual traditions to sit and meditate together, to enter into a deep dialogue of sound and silence, and to articulate the shared practices and experiences that are the foundations of their respective traditions. This is done not only in an attempt to understand, but to learn deeply from one another, and to create a core of spiritual intimacy based upon shared experience.
Through this InterSpiritual approach, we are allowed to discover for ourselves, (as Brother Wayne Teasdale put it,) “the shared mystic heart beating in the center of the world’s deepest spiritual traditions.” In so doing we can never again regard each other as “the other.” We are bound together “InterSpiritually” in the shared heart-space of human religious experience. Once this happens, we are joined in authentic compassionate concern for the welfare of all beings.
Spirituality & Practice is pleased to partner with the Spiritual Paths Institute to present an Online Retreat on InterSpiritual Wisdom. Our teachers are pioneers of InterSpirituality and have been practicing together for years. They are Shaikh Kabir and Shaikha Camille Helminski (Islam/Sufism), Rabbi Rami Shapiro (Judaism), Swami Atmarupananda (Hinduism), Dr. Ed Bastian (Buddhism), and Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault (Christianity).
Through emailed lessons, this retreat will help participants develop an understanding of and deepen their contemplative practice around six major themes:
• Forgiveness
• Self-Knowledge
• Self-Emptying
• Interdependence and Reciprocity
• Courage
• Love and Compassion
An InterSpiritual approach to each theme will be introduced in the first email of each seven-part cycle. Then our teachers will take turns presenting a sacred reading and brief commentary on the theme from the perspectives of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam/Sufism. They will also give specific recommendations for practice during the day.
This is a rare opportunity to learn from a superb team of practitioners of InterSpirituality. The Spiritual Paths Institute has created retreat programs, a two-year certificate course on InterSpiritual Wisdom, and other media for cultivating the wisdom, values, and practices to engage the critical issues of our times. Originally designed as a six-week daily course, it can also be taken at other frequencies.