August Book Study Survey

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Help us select our next book (please select all that you would be interested in):

Pseudo Dionysius: The Complete Works (Classics of Western Spirituality)
Here are the complete works of the enigmatic fifth- and sixth-century writer known as the Pseudo Dionysius, prepared by a team of six research scholars. The works of Pseudo Dionysius have influenced modern mystics such as Thomas Merton, Richard Rohr, and Ilia Delio.

Journey to Eloheh: How Indigenous Values Lead Us to Harmony and Well-Being by Edith and Randy Woodley
We stand on a precipice, the future unknown. But Indigenous people carry forward the values that humans need to survive and thrive. In this riveting account of their own journeys toward deepening their indigeneity and embodying harmony, Edith Woodley, an activist-farmer and Eastern Shoshone tribal member, and Randy Woodley, author, wisdom-keeper, and Cherokee descendant recognized by the Keetoowah Band, guide us to the everyday practices of Eloheh. Eloheh is a Cherokee word meaning harmony and peace, and with it, we have a chance at building well-being and a sustainable culture.

Aflame: Learning from Silence by Pico Iyer
In Aflame, Iyer connects with inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery, even as his life is going through constant change: a house burns down, a parent dies, a daughter is diagnosed with cancer. He shares the revelations he experiences, alongside wisdom from other nonmonastics who have learned from adversity and inwardness. And most profoundly, he shows how solitude can be a training in community and companionship. In so doing, he offers a unique outsider’s view of monastic life—and of a group of selfless souls who have dedicated their days to ensuring there’s a space for quiet and recollection that’s open to us all.

The Cloud of Unknowing translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher
This anonymous fourteenth-century text is the glory of English mysticism, and one of the most practical and useful guides to finding union with God ever written. Carmen Acevedo Butcher’s new translation is the first to bring the text into a modern English idiom—while remaining strictly faithful to the meaning of the original Middle English.

Rediscovering the Divine: New Ways to Understand, Experience, and Express God by Cyprian Consiglio
It appears that an island floats in the water, but actually every island is the tip of a mountain rooted deep in the ocean. Even more rooted in the fathomless are our names for God: they are merely the island we see sticking out of the sea.

This work explores ways of understanding the Persons of the Trinity inspired by the thought of Raimon Panikkar and Bruno Barnhart. Cyprian Consiglio presents some of what lies beneath the names as we know them––Father, Son, and Spirit––to the universal energies that each of the Persons represent, as these energies are found in us, and in other spiritual traditions of the world. This includes an opening up of the feminine dimension of each of the Persons. With an emphasis on our participation in divinity, Consiglio explores what it might mean to evolve in our understanding of God and realize untapped potentials of our Christian spirituality.

Journey To The Wild Heart: Four Invitations to Contemplative Living by Amy Frykholm
Every pilgrimage―whether it is an interior soul-searching, a stay-in-place retreat, or a pilgrimage to near and far places―sends us on a treasure hunt through our own souls . . . . As we take these journeys, the wild, contemplative heart emerges, not from new forms of knowledge or a quick ten-step guide, but from the integration and expansion of what we don’t know, what contemplatives call he via avia, the way of no way.” ―from the book

Delve into this all-in-one guide for contemplative living which offers a rich array of spiritual practices, applications and insights, questions for reflection, and resources for further reading.

Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening by Connie Zweig
Within each of us is a spiritual longing that prompts us to unite with something greater than ourselves, to awaken to our unity with all of life. Yet, no matter the spiritual path we choose, we inevitably encounter our own shadow, those unconscious aspects of ourselves that we suppress or deny, or the shadows of our teachers and their secret desires about money, sex, and power. Meeting the shadow can derail the journey, but, according to Connie Zweig, Ph.D., we can learn to recover from loss of faith and move from spiritual naivete to spiritual maturity.

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About Contemplative Conversation Circles
In our groups, we create a safe sacred container for conversation and practice as we journey together through books on contemplation, Christianity, and spiritual growth. Through a set of shared ground rules and curiosity, we learn from each other, ourselves, and the text. Many participants stick with their groups for future studies and become ongoing groups.

Learn more about us on our website: www.contemplatelincoln.org
Check out The Cathedral: community.contemplatelincoln.org