The purpose of this book is to try to get back to the original containers. I want to introduce you to the Wisdom tradition itself, not cloaked in metaphors and ideologies but as its own clear vision of human purpose and the practical technology for getting there. I will share a bit of the history of the wisdom tradition and offer some insights into how it fell into eclipse, but my real interest is more practical: to show you how to use the teachings of Wisdom to transform your own life.
Cynthia Bourgeault
This fall we will take a long, leisurely time with a short but powerful book, The Wisdom Way of Knowing by Cynthia Bourgeault. We will meet via Zoom on Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30, taking a chapter each week, foraging for insights and discerning practices we can apply to our own lives. We are looking forward to taking this journey together.
Our schedule for discussion will be:
September 15th – Introduction
September 22nd – The Wisdom Way of Knowing
September 29th – How the Christian West Lost Its Wisdom
October 6th – Three-Centered Knowing
October 13th – Wisdom and Human Purpose
October 20th – Transformation: The Human Alchemy
October 27th – Freedom and Surrender: The Anthropology of Wisdom
November 3rd – Seeing with the Eye of the Heart
November 10th – The Tools of Wisdom
November 17th – Epilogue and Conclusion
Cynthia Bourgeault, the author of Wisdom Way of Knowing, is a modern day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally acclaimed retreat leader. She divides her time between solitude in her seaside hermitage in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom paths. She is a faculty member emeritus of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the founding director of an international network of Wisdom schools, uniting classic Christian mystical and monastic teaching with contemporary practices of mindfulness and embodied presence. She has been honored as one of the 100 most spiritually influential living people in 2021.
Jason Fairbanks, facilitating the weekly discussion, first encountered Cynthia’s teachings when he was her student in the Living School at The Center for Action and Contemplation. He has since participated in three wisdom schools with her. Jason is the pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ and an interfaith hospice chaplain. He is interested in how mystical spirituality and the wisdom tradition meet us where we are in the midst of everyday life, how they empower and sustain our work for justice, and how they accompany us to life’s physical end.
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