I am also appreciative of Cynthia’s work. She is a great communicator for our age. It’s uplifting for me to see how she can pass old esoteric knowledge and vivify it with mercurial lightness and eloquence. But I would like to emphasise that to my sensibility what makes her views truly significant and compelling is a solid background of spiritual praxis. It is not a coincidence that she has been profoundly influenced by Christian monastic tradition. In other words, her outward communication rests on a very rich and cultivated inner soil, that allows one to be in touch - directly - with the inexhaustible, ever rejuvenating source.
Moving to a wider, collective level, I too am fond of Chesterton’ quote “Christianity isn’t a failure; it just hasn't started yet”. Underneath a witty formulation there is plenty of material for contemplation.
It reminds me of a key moment of inflection I experienced as a young person when I first opened myself to Christian teachings. Until that point, I had been raised to be consistently dismissive and suspicious of religions—especially Christianity. I found myself considering that the message of Jesus had likely faced the most distortion, vilification, and undermining of all major spiritual traditions. And I remember a thought coming to me: “And isn’t that… interesting?”
That was the beginning of my journey, which also feels far from over.
Thanks Elsa. I’m also struck by the sense of someone who has spent a lifetime searching and listening and studying and practising; and the ‘inner soil’ that has cultivated. Her communication is remarkably clear, even when what she’s exploring is esoteric or scholarly. And she invariably sounds like she’s having fun as she goes along…like it’s a kind of play.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece, although I cannot claim to understand half of what was said but Cynthia’s work keeps popping up as a recommendation and invitation to go deeper. The Wisdom Jesus and her book on Centering prayer are both in my unread kindle collection for when the time is right.
I appreciate the both/and - both Christian and not Christian - as this is a wonderful non-dual way to express my own current spiritual orientation. I can relate to finding a home in Buddhism and Taoism and the kinship worldview of Native American traditions and Te ao Māori, with us being the youngest siblings of creation and deeply interconnected 🫶🏼
Thanks Robin. As you can see there was too much to say for one post somehow, and it’s all a bit condensed, but I’m glad it meant something to you. And I like the “youngest siblings of creation” line!
Thank you for highlighting this remarkable woman, especially in the Liminal Web. She seems to have made peace with Solitude—something we could all benefit from ourselves these days.
Yes, and her solitude sounds like a place that is good company. In The Eye of the Heart especially you sense that her solitude is also a way to be with others that we cannot normally reach.
Cynthia has been an important teacher for me for a long time. Having attended several of her retreats and teaching events, I assure you she is indeed ‘the real deal’ - one who teaches from her own direct knowledge. I appreciate your characterization of her work as being rooted within the Christian mystical path but not constrained by rigid beliefs. I am a Christian, but I couldn’t be if I had to understand it as the only path. It’s a language, with dialects, trying to describe reality.
Thank you for the candid and personal way you narrate your encounter with Cynthia Bourgealt’s writing and through it introduce people to a much less well-known stream of mystical, contemplative Christianity. As you capture so well, Cynthia has a courageous and bright personal and intellectual spirit and is unafraid to cross disciplines and boundaries, seeking for example to integrate the esoteric understanding of Gurdjieff, with modern science and evolution, and the wisdom from the gospels both the authorised ‘canon’ of the Bible and the more recently discovered ‘non-canonical’ gospels. And these intellectual insights are grounded in wisdom practices, which she describes as seeing with the eye of the heart. In her many books she reclaims the heart of Christianity: “it’s not about right belief; it’s about right practice” (p.29 The Wisdom Jesus).
What may be surprising for many readers is that there is an ancient and distinct stream of Christian contemplative wisdom practices, which includes centering prayer mediation, lectio divina (contemplative reading of the Bible involving extended period of silence), chanting, psalmody and celebration of the Eucharist all of which she goes into depth in the book, The Wisdom Jesus. Cynthia refers to philosopher Ken Wilber when she points out that “the same religious practice can look a different animal when articulated at different levels of human consciousness". And Cynthia offers a non-dual reimagined view of the practices of Christianity.
What I’ve found so liberating in Cynthia’s writing is her countering of the claim of theistic Christianity that the central, defining purpose of Jesus’ life (death and resurrection) was to save us humans from our sins. It’s worth noting that this anthropocentric view of Christianity developed at a time when our science was rather different and people believed that the world was created in six days and the earth’s history was around 6000 years old. Cynthia places Jesus in the context of a wider cosmic vison and an unfolding, unfinished story of 13.8 billion years of evolution and a realisation that love is the strongest force in the universe, “the physical structure of the universe is love” (p34,Eye of the Heart). This understanding “envisions the steady and increasingly intimate revelation of divine love that was there from the beginning” (p91, The Wisdom Jesus).
And what is the nature of this kind of love? In the Wisdom Jesus Cynthia sets out this unfamiliar, confounding embodiment of ‘kenotic’ love, revealed in the life of Jesus, as extravagant, wasteful, abundant, self-giving, self-emptying love, counter-cultural then and now. And yet this love may transform us all and give us a taste of the ‘kingdom of heaven’ in the here and the now. This is why soul matters in Perspectiva’s ‘trinity’ of soul, systems and society.
Thanks John. I’m glad to see you are so familiar with her work. I am glad I read The Eye of the Heart first. It helped me that my way in to her thinking was not explicitly Christian.
Thanks for this. I look forward to checking out Borgeault’s work. Meditations on the Tarot is an amazing book and that quote is a great one. Inspiring that you’ve found someone’s vision you connect with so deeply.
Thanks Joel. I’ve had that book for years, though mostly as another teacher I’m not quite ready for. A couple of years ago I tried to get through it one morning at a time and made it about 50 pages in, but then life had other ideas. I’ll take your comment as an impetus to try again now.
I was present for Cynthia’s retreat at garrison last November and was introduced to you and your work. Everything about how I imagine a sort of calling in my work has been shaped anew. Her theological depth charged my Vedic-infused continental psychology orientation (hillman, sardello, moore, Henry Corbin, and now Akomolafe, thank you for that introduction). (Apologies for pretension of claiming an orientation) You articulate a possibility I felt but couldn’t see, no mere wish fulfillment —that I may actually have the capacity to participate. What was otherwise cripplingly discouraging opened as a transformation through which despair need not be prerequisite, … well, let’s just say your opening remarks talked me off the ledge and Cynthia showed me where to step. I think this is attenuation to the call. To be sure it is deep, monosyllabic and holds a vast empty space for humility on the good days - humiliation on others. Still, baby steps they are. Thank you for so beautifully weaving this all together into intelligibility.
A very thoughtful and interesting exploration of your spiritual journey and the part that finding Cynthia Bourgeault is playing in that ever evolving journey
Please find an introduction to Bernadette Roberts a remarkable woman who stably Realized the non-dual nature of Reality. She grew up and practiced within the Catholic tradition but outshined all of its dualistic dogmas.
This reference introduces her books the most remarkable of which is the 516 page The Real Christ in which she thoroughly examines and deconstructs all of the key ideas, dogmas, etc etc of the Christian tradition
I am also appreciative of Cynthia’s work. She is a great communicator for our age. It’s uplifting for me to see how she can pass old esoteric knowledge and vivify it with mercurial lightness and eloquence. But I would like to emphasise that to my sensibility what makes her views truly significant and compelling is a solid background of spiritual praxis. It is not a coincidence that she has been profoundly influenced by Christian monastic tradition. In other words, her outward communication rests on a very rich and cultivated inner soil, that allows one to be in touch - directly - with the inexhaustible, ever rejuvenating source.
Moving to a wider, collective level, I too am fond of Chesterton’ quote “Christianity isn’t a failure; it just hasn't started yet”. Underneath a witty formulation there is plenty of material for contemplation.
It reminds me of a key moment of inflection I experienced as a young person when I first opened myself to Christian teachings. Until that point, I had been raised to be consistently dismissive and suspicious of religions—especially Christianity. I found myself considering that the message of Jesus had likely faced the most distortion, vilification, and undermining of all major spiritual traditions. And I remember a thought coming to me: “And isn’t that… interesting?”
That was the beginning of my journey, which also feels far from over.
Thanks Elsa. I’m also struck by the sense of someone who has spent a lifetime searching and listening and studying and practising; and the ‘inner soil’ that has cultivated. Her communication is remarkably clear, even when what she’s exploring is esoteric or scholarly. And she invariably sounds like she’s having fun as she goes along…like it’s a kind of play.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece, although I cannot claim to understand half of what was said but Cynthia’s work keeps popping up as a recommendation and invitation to go deeper. The Wisdom Jesus and her book on Centering prayer are both in my unread kindle collection for when the time is right.
I appreciate the both/and - both Christian and not Christian - as this is a wonderful non-dual way to express my own current spiritual orientation. I can relate to finding a home in Buddhism and Taoism and the kinship worldview of Native American traditions and Te ao Māori, with us being the youngest siblings of creation and deeply interconnected 🫶🏼
Thanks Robin. As you can see there was too much to say for one post somehow, and it’s all a bit condensed, but I’m glad it meant something to you. And I like the “youngest siblings of creation” line!
Thank you for highlighting this remarkable woman, especially in the Liminal Web. She seems to have made peace with Solitude—something we could all benefit from ourselves these days.
Yes, and her solitude sounds like a place that is good company. In The Eye of the Heart especially you sense that her solitude is also a way to be with others that we cannot normally reach.
Cynthia has been an important teacher for me for a long time. Having attended several of her retreats and teaching events, I assure you she is indeed ‘the real deal’ - one who teaches from her own direct knowledge. I appreciate your characterization of her work as being rooted within the Christian mystical path but not constrained by rigid beliefs. I am a Christian, but I couldn’t be if I had to understand it as the only path. It’s a language, with dialects, trying to describe reality.
“It’s a language, with dialects, trying to describe reality.” - well put. It also has a kind of grammar, idioms, metaphors etc..
Thank you for the candid and personal way you narrate your encounter with Cynthia Bourgealt’s writing and through it introduce people to a much less well-known stream of mystical, contemplative Christianity. As you capture so well, Cynthia has a courageous and bright personal and intellectual spirit and is unafraid to cross disciplines and boundaries, seeking for example to integrate the esoteric understanding of Gurdjieff, with modern science and evolution, and the wisdom from the gospels both the authorised ‘canon’ of the Bible and the more recently discovered ‘non-canonical’ gospels. And these intellectual insights are grounded in wisdom practices, which she describes as seeing with the eye of the heart. In her many books she reclaims the heart of Christianity: “it’s not about right belief; it’s about right practice” (p.29 The Wisdom Jesus).
What may be surprising for many readers is that there is an ancient and distinct stream of Christian contemplative wisdom practices, which includes centering prayer mediation, lectio divina (contemplative reading of the Bible involving extended period of silence), chanting, psalmody and celebration of the Eucharist all of which she goes into depth in the book, The Wisdom Jesus. Cynthia refers to philosopher Ken Wilber when she points out that “the same religious practice can look a different animal when articulated at different levels of human consciousness". And Cynthia offers a non-dual reimagined view of the practices of Christianity.
What I’ve found so liberating in Cynthia’s writing is her countering of the claim of theistic Christianity that the central, defining purpose of Jesus’ life (death and resurrection) was to save us humans from our sins. It’s worth noting that this anthropocentric view of Christianity developed at a time when our science was rather different and people believed that the world was created in six days and the earth’s history was around 6000 years old. Cynthia places Jesus in the context of a wider cosmic vison and an unfolding, unfinished story of 13.8 billion years of evolution and a realisation that love is the strongest force in the universe, “the physical structure of the universe is love” (p34,Eye of the Heart). This understanding “envisions the steady and increasingly intimate revelation of divine love that was there from the beginning” (p91, The Wisdom Jesus).
And what is the nature of this kind of love? In the Wisdom Jesus Cynthia sets out this unfamiliar, confounding embodiment of ‘kenotic’ love, revealed in the life of Jesus, as extravagant, wasteful, abundant, self-giving, self-emptying love, counter-cultural then and now. And yet this love may transform us all and give us a taste of the ‘kingdom of heaven’ in the here and the now. This is why soul matters in Perspectiva’s ‘trinity’ of soul, systems and society.
Thanks John. I’m glad to see you are so familiar with her work. I am glad I read The Eye of the Heart first. It helped me that my way in to her thinking was not explicitly Christian.
Thanks for this. I look forward to checking out Borgeault’s work. Meditations on the Tarot is an amazing book and that quote is a great one. Inspiring that you’ve found someone’s vision you connect with so deeply.
Thanks Joel. I’ve had that book for years, though mostly as another teacher I’m not quite ready for. A couple of years ago I tried to get through it one morning at a time and made it about 50 pages in, but then life had other ideas. I’ll take your comment as an impetus to try again now.
I was present for Cynthia’s retreat at garrison last November and was introduced to you and your work. Everything about how I imagine a sort of calling in my work has been shaped anew. Her theological depth charged my Vedic-infused continental psychology orientation (hillman, sardello, moore, Henry Corbin, and now Akomolafe, thank you for that introduction). (Apologies for pretension of claiming an orientation) You articulate a possibility I felt but couldn’t see, no mere wish fulfillment —that I may actually have the capacity to participate. What was otherwise cripplingly discouraging opened as a transformation through which despair need not be prerequisite, … well, let’s just say your opening remarks talked me off the ledge and Cynthia showed me where to step. I think this is attenuation to the call. To be sure it is deep, monosyllabic and holds a vast empty space for humility on the good days - humiliation on others. Still, baby steps they are. Thank you for so beautifully weaving this all together into intelligibility.
Thanks Win. Look after yourself. There are paths, and we make the path by walking. In the wider scheme of things we are never alone.
Are you aware of Ken Wilber's work, Jonathan? I started reading Cynthia Borgeault's PDF about Gebser and came across Wilber's name there...
Thank you very much for introducing me to her work, which I was unaware of. There is certainly a lot to dig into here, quite deep!
Hi Gab. Yes I know Ken Wilber’s work quite well and have been reading him periodically since encountering his work about 20 years ago.
A very thoughtful and interesting exploration of your spiritual journey and the part that finding Cynthia Bourgeault is playing in that ever evolving journey
Please find an introduction to Bernadette Roberts a remarkable woman who stably Realized the non-dual nature of Reality. She grew up and practiced within the Catholic tradition but outshined all of its dualistic dogmas.
This reference introduces her books the most remarkable of which is the 516 page The Real Christ in which she thoroughly examines and deconstructs all of the key ideas, dogmas, etc etc of the Christian tradition
http://bernadetteroberts.blogspot.com/p/booksmanuscripts_22.html