Spiritual Leadership

(7 minute read)

Coming in the fall of 2024, Spiritual Leadership Certificate Program. We are preparing an exciting hybrid online and in-person experiential learning program. Thank you for your interest.

The Spiritual Leadership program is 18 months long and consists of two 9 month semesters. Each semester consists of four courses and one Sabbath session. Each course is two months longs and is supported by one 9.5 hour in person session, one 4 hour in person session, online dialogue, and cohort support circles. See the schedule of dates below.

Leadership is the art of mobilizing and energizing the intellectual and creative resources of all people at all levels. Leadership communicates people’s worth and potential so clearly that the people are inspired to see it in themselves.

The person applying to this program should have an inner calling to reconstruct their perspective of leadership. Applicants should also have a calling to serve others, a calling to understand themselves more deeply, and a calling to make a meaningful difference in their community. This program is especially ideal for college students, community leaders, spiritual and religious advocates, yoga teachers, politicians, social workers, medical professionals, corporate supervisors and leaders, and anyone who wants to make a meaningful social impact in the realm of their life, career, and community.

A story: The Holy One said to his disciples, “What’s better, do you think? Is it contemplation, or is it action?” . . . They said, “Why, Holy One, it’s action, of course. What good is contemplation in a suffering world?” And the Holy One said, “Ah, yes, but what good is action that proceeds from an unenlightened heart?”

Being a contemplative means more than just personal development. It fosters a revolutionary way of leading and collaborating with others, in which the “Loving Presence” inspires us to creativity, compassion, and engaged activism in the service of justice and love.

Contemplative leadership is relational, rooted in prayerful attentiveness and open to the overflowing energies of the Loving Presence, moment by moment, enlivening the interdependent creative and healing possibilities of our world. ~Tilden Edwards

This certificate program is, in part, a response to the growing darkness in the world; racism, nationalism, religious extremism, sexism, exclusivism, etc. In our review of the systemic dynamics, Contemplative Interbeing found that even the groups attempting to respond in a helpful way do not possess the leaders or leadership capacities needed for effective healing. We are hopeful that this program will serve as a basis for re-grounding in spiritual principles, truth, and an “enlightened heart.” The Divine is not contained in any one people, in any one kind of place, or in any one tradition. The Divine wills the care of the poor as well as the reward of the rich. The Divine wills the liberation, dignity and full development of all. The Divine takes the side of the defenseless. And, thus, therefore, must the true contemplative, otherwise that contemplation is not real. The true contemplative, the truly spiritual person, then, must do justice, speak justice, insist on justice.

The danger in the contemplative life is that it may become only one half of the spiritual life. Contemplation is not for its own sake. The contemplative life is not spiritual escapism. The contemplative life is the energy that moves us to Interbeing. Contemplation is immersion in the God/Ultimate Reality that created this world for all of us. And the mystics of every major religion remind us of that. Hinduism tells us that within the cave of the heart, God dwells, not just in the forest. And the Buddhists say, “Buddha is present in all places, in all beings, in all things, in all lands, not just in the monastery.”  “Where can I go to flee from your presence?” the Jewish Psalmist says (Psalm 139:7). “Whithersoever you turn, there is the face of God,” Islam teaches. And Christianity reminds us always: “Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible nature has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20).

If you are seeking to be a healing manifestation of Divine Love, to serve others, and to build beloved community, you are invited to explore our Spiritual Leadership program. We welcome our coming together is higher purpose and meaning; to coalesce in interbeing.

Schedule beginning August 2020

Course Descriptions Year One and Year Two

Review the course Learning Model here