More of Ourselves

Notes from the Group Gathering Call:

What happens when, as Cynthia Bourgault writes in Wisdom Jesus, we begin to see wisdom—and the contemplative path—not as “knowing more, but knowing with more of ourselves?”

This switch, from the acquisition of knowledge to the growth of our state of being, is a hallmark of the contemplative path.

Maurice Nicoll, a fellow Christian and Fourthway student like Cynthia, highlights the consequences of our state of being with these words: “As our being increases, our receptivity to higher meaning increases. As our being decreases, the old meanings return.”

It’s one of those double-edged swords:  one side stings with the reminder that, the problem is not out there, not fundamentally, but in our being—or our lack thereof.

In a world that often seems devoid of higher meaning, we must ask ourselves: are we participating in it with the fullness of our being?

The other side of the sword should excite us:  we can work on our being.

This latent human potential is summed up pithily in the title of Ramon Panakar’s book Christophany:  the Fullness of Man. We all want Christic light (Christo - phany) to shine through upon the world, heal it of its pain and enlighten its errors. But what if our full humanness, our developed state of being, is the most expedient means to clear way for this light’s passage?

Living into our fullness of being means not limiting ourselves to just those parts of ourselves—or parts of the world—we deem contemplative, spiritual, or even just. It means not limiting ourselves to the intellectual, but including our feelings, our body, even what we often call traumas—and including it all as worthy of experiencing.

It can be a frightening invitation to make of ourselves. It is one, no doubt, much more easily made among spiritual friends.

To that end, please consider joining us for our monthly community gatherings, where we explore themes such as these, while establishing common contemplative practices we can share.

Learn more here, on the events page.