Cynthia Bourgeault is a theologian, Episcopal priest, and core faculty member of the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Living School. She also is the founding director of an international network of Wisdom Schools. She is the author of numerous books, including The Heart of Centering Prayer, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening and The Wisdom Jesus. Her latest book is Eye of the Heart: A Spiritual Journey into the Imaginal Realm.
This is part two of a two-part interview. Click here to listen to part one.
Cynthia Bourgeault previously joined us on Encountering Silence (Episodes 58 and 59). As one of the most popular contemplative authors of our time, she offers a unique and distinctive approach to contemplative silence, grounded in Christianity yet radically informed by the wisdom of other traditions.
The purpose of contemplation is to make us responsive and skillful actors at what we must do, not to shield us from action which must happen. — Cynthia Bourgeault
Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:
- Cynthia Bourgeault, Eye of the Heart: A Spiritual Journey into the Imaginal Realm
- Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening
- Cynthia Bourgeault, The Heart of Centering Prayer
- Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus
- Cynthia Bourgeault, Love is Stronger Than Death
- Cynthia Bourgeault, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene
- Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Way of Knowing
- Laudislas Boros, The Mystery of Death
- Meister Eckhart, Selected Writings
- Carl McColman, The Big Book of Christian Mysticism
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Christianity and Evolution
- G.I. Gurdjieff, In Search of Being: The Fourth Way to Consciousness
- Henry Corbin, History of Islamic Philosophy
- Ibn Al-Arabi, The Bezels of Wisdom
- William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn Al-Arabi’s Metaphysics of Imagination
- Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
- Louis Massignon, Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr
- Rob Henry, ed., Merton and Sufism
The “forthcoming book” that Carl alluded to is Eternal Heart: The Mystical Path to a Joyful Life (scheduled to be published in June 2021).
Contemplative life takes away urgency when you can act spaciously within the instantaneous now. — Cynthia Bourgeault
Episode 116: Silence and the Imaginal Realm: A Conversation with Cynthia Bourgeault (Part Two)
Hosted by: Carl McColman
With: Cassidy Hall, Kevin Johnson
Guest: The Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, PhD
Date Recorded: September 17, 2020
