Over several years, Silent Week has focused on practices of the Christian contemplative tradition as transmitted through the writings of the Desert Christians 4th-5th centuries), the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing (14th century), Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross (16th century), and Thomas Merton (20th century). This year, our focus is the practice of what St. Paul called “the mind of Christ” and how we may touch into and live out of Christ consciousness in 21st century society.

To undertake this, we need to be clear about and grounded in our contemporary worldview. We will explore first Teilhard de Chardin’s insights on the evolution of consciousness, then St. Paul’s evolutionary cosmology, and finally the evolution of global, spiritual consciousness in the spacetime we inhabit. Our text for the week isBeverly Lanzetta’s The Other Side of Nothingness.

During Silent Week, the most vital questions are the ones we bring to our dialogue with Silence, with the support of our fellow retreatants. With Silence at the center, each day we will engage in five, 25-minute periods of contemplative prayer, about 90 minutes group discussion of excerpts from the text above, free time in the afternoons with the opportunity for individual spiritual guidance, while taking most meals and our evenings in Silence.

---