I welcome each visitor to join me on this path. If you are new to the way of Wisdom, here are a few resources for contemplative practices that I have found very helpful:

Websites:

Cynthia Bourgeault’s network of teachings, events, and news is called Wisdom Waypoints. You will find online courses, meditation circles, book circles, chant groups, and Cynthia’s current teaching schedule.

Heather Ruce’s Wisdom network is located on the West Coast of the US. I would especially point you to Heather’s Daily Pause of Meditation on Zoom, which is often attended by close to 100 people. Heather is a long-time student of Cynthia’s, and she also offers Wisdom Schools and other programs. Heather emphasizes exercise and practice—put your Wisdom knowledge to work!

Wisdom Book Suggestions:

Cynthia Bourgeault 

Cynthia has written extensively over many years. Her books are all excellent sources of spiritual development, and they all are linked in a common thread. But some require more background to fully appreciate.

Wisdom Way of Knowing

   This was my starting point. In it, Cynthia weaves her overview of the lost Wisdom of Christianity with many other spiritual traditions and thinkers. It’s a breathtaking journey through enlightenment over the ages, with some of Cynthia’s common threads pulling it all together. I began reading this book at Cynthia’s hermitage on Eagle Island, Maine.

Wisdom Jesus 

    More specifically, as the title suggests, Jesus is redefined as the Western world’s first Wisdom teacher. Cynthia’s perspective is that the original teachings of Jesus were quickly co-opted by institutionalized Christianity. Centuries of dogma have all but buried the original meaning. Over the centuries, there have been people who preserved these teachings as best they could … the Desert Fathers and Mothers of the 4th century, St. Benedict and the Benedictine monks, the Monks who defied Rome and buried the parts of the Bible deemed dangerous (the gospel of Thomas), which lay undiscovered until the 1940s. 

The Meaning of Mary Magdalene

    On one level, this book seeks to establish Mary Magdalene’s true place in the landscape of Christianity. But, as with all of Cynthia’s teachings, there is much more going on. More than anything, this book is about a path of Conscious Love, or Fifth Way love. The path of transformational love, Eros to Agape, with Jesus and Mary Magdalene creating the original template. I read this while Sarah and I created our private Wisdom School, using Cynthia’s recorded Conscious Love school from 2003. The book and audio teachings were perfect together.

Holy Trinity and the Law of Three

    This, for me, was a blockbuster. Cynthia’s grand march through time, from creation through subsequent manifestations, and even an extrapolation into the future. She takes Jacob Boehme’s visionary insight of “somethingness from nothingness,” merges it with Gurdjieff’s Law of Three as the Law of World Creation, and applies them to the Christian Trinity as a way of explaining the origins of everything. I would say that even for an atheist, the wisdom insights are breathtaking. It’s a vision in which the templates of creation are contained within the created, much like DNA. This book is advanced.

Any and all of Cynthia’s books can be added to this list.

The Gospel of Thomas, translated by Lynn Bauman and/or Jean-Yves Leloup

     One of the Gospels was omitted from the Bible by the forces of power and politics that formed during the centuries after Jesus’ death. Sealed in an urn in the desert by rebellious monks and rediscovered in 1949. This is as close to the actual teachings of Jesus as possible, densely packed with multiple layers of meaning. Something like the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. Includes commentary by the translator. Cynthia suggests using multiple translations to get a more complete viewpoint. Lynn Bauman also has a fabulous book of commentary: In Trouble and in Wonder.

These texts are difficult to approach at first. However, you can search for and find Gospel of Thomas discussion groups. Sarah and I have been part of several discussion groups, and these cryptic sayings do come alive within a group. The Gospel of Thomas might be the single most powerful reading, but it requires something of a changed mind to unlock it. 

Maurice Nicoll

 Maurice was a student of both Gurdjieff and Carl Jung, yet his writing is very approachable. He wrote until his death in 1953.

The New Man and The Mark

These two are a set, and they unlock the levels of meaning contained within the Gospel parables of the Bible. This is not what you’re taught in Sunday School! Maurice died before the Gospel of Thomas was discovered and translated, but these books are nevertheless a great commentary on that text.

Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of Gurdjieff & Ouspensky

It took several years of preparation before I could approach this five-volume set, which is on everyone’s top 10 list. This is the source of much of my writing on this website.

Living Time

This book might be seen as Maurice’s conversation with Jean Gebser. It’s a long riff on how manifestation in our realm is a manifestation in time and that time is likely not manifested in higher realms.

Kabir Helminski

Living Presence 

     We learned during our first days in Stonington that Wisdom flows between the banks of Attention and Surrender. During the first year or so of our Wisdom journey I tried to absorb the meaning of that statement, and Kabir shined much light for me. Kabir comes from the Sufi perspective, but his Wisdom is universal and practical. His tone is positive and comforting. This book can serve as a guide to life. The essence of Kabir’s message: Attention—what you contemplate, you will become. What you love, you will become. Surrender—give in to your inner spirit. Tame that ego of yours that is full of fear and negativity. Assume that all of creation is a manifestation of love, beauty, and abundance. Surrender to that hidden treasure within you that longs to be known. 

    Kabir, like Cynthia, has distilled the ancient Wisdom of all world religions, as well as great poets and philosophers. It is very simple, practical and understandable. It resonates with truth.

Red Hawk

Self Remembering and Self Observation 

These two volumes spell out in very clear and plain language what Gurdjieff’s teachings are about. To put it very simply, Jesus taught the higher levels of meaning available to a human being, and Gurdjieff taught practical means to approach those higher levels.

And last but not least is our sister site of Wisdom-flavored children’s stories. If you have children or grandchildren in the story-telling ages of 2-12, check out Sweet Dreams Bedtime Stories!