Following the Mystics
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The Phases of the Journey of Awakening include:

  • Recognizing and responding to the first, often subtle, stirrings of more interior, contemplative states of consciousness in which we are granted glimpses into previously unrecognized, dimensions of ourselves, others, and all things.
  • Recognizing and passing through the obstacles we encounter as we begin to enter this vast interior realm of the Spirit.  Discovering that struggling with and passing through these obstacles propels us yet deeper toward the gate through which we pass into God.
  • Noting the methods and ways of praying and meditating that accompany and enhance each phase of spiritual awakening. 
  • In arriving at the gate, discovering it is narrow in the paradoxical sense in which only God and that of God passes through.  Anything that we try to take with us through the gate that is less than God gets stuck.  But as we learn to let go of all that is less than God as the source of our security and identity, we pass with ease through the gate into God.  In passing through this gate, we are surprised to discover we do not go anywhere. Rather, we simply awaken to God, who, from the beginning, has been passing through the gate into us.
  • Finally, we will learn how each mystic prepares us for the life of love that blossoms as we pass through this gate.   We see self through eyes at once God’s and our own. We see ourselves as the generosity of God, and we we are moved to be generous and loving toward ourselves. We recognize that we are precious in our fragility.  Seeing others through eyes at once God’s and our own, we are moved to be generous in our love for them. Seeing the earth through eyes at once God’s and our own we are moved to be generous in our love for all living things.   

References will also be made to the non-Christian mystical traditions, noting how the mystical traditions of each world religion bear witness to the universal capacity that all humans have to awaken to the fullness of who we are as spiritual beings created in the image and likeness of God who is Spirit.  

The emphasis throughout the weekend will be on the humbling and liberating details of what it is actually like to sincerely follow the path the mystics mark out for us.  Time will be given for silence, group meditation, personal reflection and discussion of the themes presented.