UNIT CONTENT
. Unit 1: Writing and self-knowledge workshop (Fall 2022)
First, it is important to learn about the joys and challenges of writing and research. Better understanding one's relationship to the divine, and those of the great mystical authors, necessarily involves mastering words and their meaning. Experience can deceive us if it is not formulated according to a coherent and time-tested conceptual framework.
We deepen our understanding of who we are through the ability to articulate our questions and find the right words to express our intuitions and better communicate what makes us live.
We learn here to develop our own thinking on spiritual things by transforming our opinions into enlightened and nuanced arguments so as to adopt a vision of the world capable of freeing us from our limits and from our psychological and conceptual shackles. This course is also an opportunity to discover how writing can become a spiritual practice in itself.
. Unit 2: Mystical paths from yesterday to today: characteristics and challenges (Fall 2022)
Secondly, it is important to learn about the great mystical authors of yesterday and today who make Christianity so rich (Saint Paul, Evagrius the Ponticus, Cassian, Dionysius the Areopagite, Saint Augustine, Meister Eckhart, Cloud of Unknowing’s author, Jean de la Croix, Theresa d'Avila, Madame Guyon, Le Saux, Merton, etc.). What are the similarities and differences between the great witnesses who have explored the depths of the heart and who show us the way? Here we discover how to make their teachings resonate in our lives, in our daily activities.
We show how the relationship to the transcendent has evolved over the ages and the challenges it encounters in today's society. What are the conditions for spiritual renewal, especially from meditation practices, in a world where it is easy to be distracted and confused about one's place in the Universe?
. Unit 3: Contemplative Theology and Dialogue (Winter 2023)
Once the first two units have been completed, we will be able to go further in the reflection by exploring the main principles of contemplative theology. We put into practice here the elements of a methodical thought for a balanced and liberating vision of the human condition in connection with the divine Presence within all things.
We also show how a deep dialogue with other contemplative paths can enrich our experience and our understanding. The practice of hospitality is vital today to consider the spiritual in a holistic way and with a view to a new way of living together.
. Unit 4: Steps towards Plenitude and types of accompaniment (Winter 2023)
Finally, it is necessary to deepen the teaching of the great mystical authors to highlight the stages which mark out a self-transformation, the path which leads from confusion to peace, from anguish to joy, from obsession to contentment, from darkness to light.
In doing so, we show the types of support that are suitable for each stage and also the conditions for benefiting from these aids. What kind of master-disciple relationships? The contemplative tradition in fact teaches us that it is unlikely to reach the goal without adequate accompaniment and without sufficient preparation on our part.
First, it is important to learn about the joys and challenges of writing and research. Better understanding one's relationship to the divine, and those of the great mystical authors, necessarily involves mastering words and their meaning. Experience can deceive us if it is not formulated according to a coherent and time-tested conceptual framework.
We deepen our understanding of who we are through the ability to articulate our questions and find the right words to express our intuitions and better communicate what makes us live.
We learn here to develop our own thinking on spiritual things by transforming our opinions into enlightened and nuanced arguments so as to adopt a vision of the world capable of freeing us from our limits and from our psychological and conceptual shackles. This course is also an opportunity to discover how writing can become a spiritual practice in itself.
. Unit 2: Mystical paths from yesterday to today: characteristics and challenges (Fall 2022)
Secondly, it is important to learn about the great mystical authors of yesterday and today who make Christianity so rich (Saint Paul, Evagrius the Ponticus, Cassian, Dionysius the Areopagite, Saint Augustine, Meister Eckhart, Cloud of Unknowing’s author, Jean de la Croix, Theresa d'Avila, Madame Guyon, Le Saux, Merton, etc.). What are the similarities and differences between the great witnesses who have explored the depths of the heart and who show us the way? Here we discover how to make their teachings resonate in our lives, in our daily activities.
We show how the relationship to the transcendent has evolved over the ages and the challenges it encounters in today's society. What are the conditions for spiritual renewal, especially from meditation practices, in a world where it is easy to be distracted and confused about one's place in the Universe?
. Unit 3: Contemplative Theology and Dialogue (Winter 2023)
Once the first two units have been completed, we will be able to go further in the reflection by exploring the main principles of contemplative theology. We put into practice here the elements of a methodical thought for a balanced and liberating vision of the human condition in connection with the divine Presence within all things.
We also show how a deep dialogue with other contemplative paths can enrich our experience and our understanding. The practice of hospitality is vital today to consider the spiritual in a holistic way and with a view to a new way of living together.
. Unit 4: Steps towards Plenitude and types of accompaniment (Winter 2023)
Finally, it is necessary to deepen the teaching of the great mystical authors to highlight the stages which mark out a self-transformation, the path which leads from confusion to peace, from anguish to joy, from obsession to contentment, from darkness to light.
In doing so, we show the types of support that are suitable for each stage and also the conditions for benefiting from these aids. What kind of master-disciple relationships? The contemplative tradition in fact teaches us that it is unlikely to reach the goal without adequate accompaniment and without sufficient preparation on our part.