The Mystics in Ourselves and Others

Friday, April 1, 2016
6:00 PM 7:00 PM 18:00 19:00

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The Mystics in Ourselves and Others

Friday April 8, 2016, 7 to 9 PM - Cost: $20/ CIL Member: $15

Scripture scholar John Domininc Crossan says that for Paul “you cannot be a Christian without being a mystic.” Are we all mystics? How are we doing? Carl Jung says it is to the mystics that we owe what is best in humanity and that “only the mystics bring what is creative to religion itself.” When an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The prophet who struggles for justice has been called “the mystic in action.” We will explore some of the deepest and most active mystic/prophets of the Christian tradition including Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, Fr Bede Griffiths, Dorothee Soelle, Thomas Berry and more.

The Mystic in Ourselves and Others: Eckhart, Hildegard, Merton
(talk & book signing)
Saturday April 9, 9 AM to 12 Noon
Cost: $40/ CIL Member: $35

We will delve deeper into Meister Eckhart, Hildegard of Bingen, and Thomas Merton as well as engage in practices to bring forth our own mystic and prophet. Along the way, you will explore the intersections of social and eco-justice and the divine feminine, contemplation and letting go, cosmic awareness, the historical Jesus, and the Cosmic Christ.

The visionary work of Meister Eckhart has had a profound influence on major voices of the 20th Century, and his creation-centered cosmology overlaps profoundly with the writings of Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn and Dr. D. J. Suzuki who so influenced Thomas Merton. We will explore Hildegard’s deep teachings about the Divine Feminine but also about standing up to church corruption and patriarchal excess wherever it is found. She was brave and outspoken in her day and challenges us to match her courage and depth in our own.

Matthew Fox is an American Episcopal priest and theologian. Fox was an early and influential exponent of a movement that came to be known as Creation Spirituality. The movement draws inspiration from the mystical philosophies of such medieval Catholic visionaries as Hildegard of Bingen, Thomas Aquinas, Saint Francis of Assisi, Julian of Norwich, Dante Alighieri, Meister Eckhart and Nicholas of Cusa, as well as the wisdom traditions of Christian scriptures. Creation Spirituality is also strongly aligned with ecological and environmental movements of the late 20th century and embraces numerous spiritual traditions around the world, including Buddhism, Judaism, Sufism, and Native American spirituality, with a focus on “deep ecumenism.”

Both days/all sessions: $50 ($40 for CIL members)