History of the Monastic Traditions
We stand in awe before the rich tapestry of the monastic traditions that have been woven over centuries. The threads reach back to those early desert ammas and abbas who fled ...
The Wisdom of the Desert
We find ourselves living in a world that has largely lost its way, consumed by materialism, individualism, and the endless pursuit of power, status and fleeting pleasures. The values and temptation ...
The Buddha and St. Francis
Our spiritual journeys have been shaped profoundly by the examples of the Buddha and St. Francis of Assisi. Their lives speak to the universal human experiences of suffering and awakening that ...
The Desert as the Landscape of Descent
The Desert Within We are drawn to the desert, that vast expanse of emptiness and silence. At first glance, it appears barren, inhospitable – a place to be avoided. Yet something ...
Death and the Desert
The Path of Descent We have been blessed with profound spiritual teachers and guides who have illuminated the path of descent for us. Wendell Berry, the farmer-poet of Kentucky, has affirmed ...
Doubt as Descent
We have been on quite a journey with our faith and spirituality over the years. Like many others, we began firmly rooted in the dualistic certainties of Stage 1 religion. The ...
The Path of Descent – 3
Our spiritual journey is one marked by descent – a continual process of letting go, unraveling, and shedding layers of ego and attachment to arrive at the essentials of our being. ...
The Path of Descent – 2
Our path is one of descent rather than perpetual upward ascent. For so long, we strived and climbed, accumulating knowledge, possessions, and status markers. We yearned to reach higher levels of ...
The Path of Descent
The path we are called to walk is a paradoxical descent into embracing our weakness, imperfection, and vulnerability. For so long, we have been conditioned by the ideals of Western culture ...
Living Through Every Season
When we first encounter models and maps of the spiritual journey, there is often a sense of relief and resonance. Finally, we have a framework that makes sense of the terrain ...
Seasons of the Spiritual Life
We are on a journey, one that winds through seasons of the spiritual life. As we look back, we can trace our footsteps along a winding path that has carried us ...
Becoming A Possibilist
Conflicts and divisions surround us – between nations, communities, colleagues, even within our own families. The ...
Contemplation is Essential
We have come to a pivotal juncture in our spiritual journey as a human collective. The era that has dominated our consciousness and framed our religious and philosophical traditions for thousands ...
Love and the Goddess
We stand in awe contemplating the immensity of the cosmos – billions upon billions of ...
