The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault Returns to Mepkin
The esteemed scholar and teacher of spiritual practices, The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault, was warmly welcomed back to Mepkin Abbey for a retreat (Feb. 21-24, 2022) on the topic restoring trust. She was ably assisted by The Rev. Matthew Wright whose work in Sufi spirituality added an exuberant dimension. Her diagnosis is that the present-day lack of trust (in all spheres) is severely undermining the coherence of community, and her contention is that human beings have the spiritual power (the soul power) to undertake the needed work of restoration.
Dr. Bourgeault explored various means of releasing soul, radial power and focused on seeing faith, hope, love, trust, forgiveness, and the fruit of the spirit as being akin to nutrients or substances for which the world is starving. The talks were wide-ranging – from references to Holy Scripture, the work of Teilhard de Chardin, St. Anthony of Egypt, Julian of Norwich, Fr. Thomas Keating OCSO, William Robinson – Quaker martyr, and many more – synthesizing these sources in an approachable way. She looks to contemplative practice (in particular, centering prayer), worship which generates real energy through the use of purposeful movement (circle dance) and chant (like Sufi Zikr ceremony – which we did), training ourselves to become more aware of the energy fields around us, and assuming conscious stewardship of our own atmosphere-the energies we are radiating outward around us. The retreat generated genuine hopefulness in participants about what we each can do through spiritual practice to bring healing to our broken and conflicted world.