Category Archives: Wisdom

10 Distinctive Aspects of Wisdom Transformation (or Transformative Changes)

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1. Generally Living more deeply. Learn to live each moment with greater intentionality.

2. Living more fully on the present moment. Live more groundling on the present moment.

3. Accept life as it is. Greater capacity and greater awareness of what is in front on us to respond in the present moment.

4. Living for the whole and not only for the self. Our focus of identity is expanded from the singular individual self. This may be from the individual self to one’s tribe, to a group, to all humanity to mother earth and mother nature, and ultimately to the universe as a whole. 

5. Assisting others in their own wisdom passage.

6.Developing intuition, moving, and seeing from the head and intellectual mind to down into the heart and the body. We begin to be more fully tune into the intricacies and frequencies of the surrounding life. We begin to appreciate life unfolding beneath the surface of things. Rather for this to benefits of our spiritual development and growth, this capacity desires to serve a greater purpose.

 7. Beyond the deeper seeing life mysteries in this realm, the wisdom transformation also open us to the workings of other realms and other dimensions. We gradually develop the capacity to see and appreciate. How and where other realms intersect our own. This is more likely to be a capacity that we are born with. The wisdom passage deliver us to is active form.

8. Living more fully in nature. Nature is alive and, in some way, conscious. Materiality, rather of being at the far end of being and separated of the spiritual, is alive with spirit. Growth in wisdom include the recovery of this indigenous understanding of our intimate place.

9. Importance of grief and grieving and death and dying for a meaningful life. Death and dying are part of life. In wisdom transformation we learn to die in many ways over the course of our lifetime.  It is this dying that surrender is involved. All fears in life ultimately can be traced to underline fear to death. It is only when we are willing to face our own death that we will truly be able to live. Grief and grieving are essential parts of life and loving. In this transformation, meaningful life is open more fully when we are willing to face our grief.

10. Loving more deeply. All these other changes and life by itself are ultimately for the purpose of for loving more fully, loving more deeply, and loving more openly. We cannot control the circumstances that surround us; our work is to keep our heart open, no matter the circumstances, no matter the container we found ourselves in; our deepest human calling is to love openly and deeply wherever we find ourselves.

Notes from the program of William Redfield: From Self to Other, September 18, 2022 

https://www.williamredfield.com

Concept of Wisdom

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Cynthia Bourgeault says that: “Wisdom is not knowing more but knowing more about oneself”. This opens a fundamental redirection of our efforts to know and understand the meaning and purpose of life. Before, we’ve relied on our rational-thinking brains to tackle life’s big questions. But with the work of Wisdom comes the use of our hearts and our bodies as well.

Wisdom is deeper than any religious expression in a real sense. It is rather the deep undercurrent that connects all the religions of the world and from which flows from the subterranean spring of unitive reality.

Perhaps we can say that Wisdom does not represent the what in terms of the content of a particular belief system, but rather the how in terms of the way things are expressed when they descend to the level of the unitive. However, instead of being linked exclusively to any religious system, the Wisdom is explicitly interfaith. But the depth that marks this Wisdom is qualitatively different from what is found near and above the surface. There, on the surface, the various spiritual traditions are distinguished by significant differences in beliefs, rituals, and theologies. But in the depths of Wisdom all come together through the unitive understanding that unites all life into one profound whole.

As Christians, we could affirm that our religion provides that place where Wisdom comes from. We can have a deep sense that Jesus himself embodied this, Wisdom. In fact, the main title given to Jesus was that of moshelim, that is, a teacher of Wisdom, and he taught in mashal, that is, parables and sayings of Wisdom. He himself seemed the embodiment of Wisdom, moving through life with a heart full of compassion, generosity, and love. However, not everyone caught on to his actions or his teachings. Some of his listeners got it, but the vast majority didn’t. Even the people, who sometimes seemed to get the message he was conveying, were not always able to maintain this understanding.

Jesus, the teacher of Wisdom, does not implore his listeners to be better and more upright citizens; if not, he tries to convince them and begs them to wake up. He never preached a morally upright life to be lived in this life to gain entrance to heaven in the next life. On the contrary, he invited his listeners to realize that the kingdom of heaven is right here, in the present moment.

The friends and followers who seemed to pick up on the Wisdom of the master seemed to have done so because their level of being was raised, at least temporarily, to a point where they could resonate with the frequency of the Wisdom he was teaching and passing on and his truth touched the depths of their hearts. In addition, their presence provided them with a kind of divine alchemy that led to a generalized sense of togetherness. Through this experience they were transformed from the inside out.

Opening to the full depth of Gospel Wisdom requires the receptivity of a certain state of mind or a certain state of being. Without that, the Wisdom of Jesus cannot be received. When you pass into the deep truths of the Wisdom of Jesus only through the small mind, all you get is a deeper consolidation in what you already believed without the accompanying transformation occurring.

This understanding has been tragically overlooked in the West. Beginning with the doctrinal controversies of the third and fourth centuries, the Church has made our faith a matter of mental belief, and our tradition has become overly influenced by creeds and doctrinal statements of belief and not guided by the actual spiritual truth that is born of the experience.

Therefore, the work of Wisdom is an effort to return to the essential foundations of our Christian faith experience.This does not mean that we ignore, deny or underestimate grace, but rather that we must be instruments of reception and transmission of God’s love.

The kingdom that Jesus speaks of requires that we employ a new operating system that can perform operations of an entirely different order. When this system is in operation a whole new way of seeing is possible and where our being can be accessed at a much higher level. We can call this new system the operating system of the heart.

The work of Wisdom involves growing beyond our small minds into our larger minds, or our hearts. Therefore, the work of Wisdom is not to cancel the egoic operating system of the smaller mind, it is rather to help us develop the operating system of the heart of the larger mind, which we already have but which is in a dormant form, and to achieve the integration of these two systems in our being.

[1] Cynthia Bourgeault, An Introductory Wisdom School: Course Transcript and Companion Guide (Wisdom Way of Knowing: 2017), 2.

[2]William Redfield. Notes from the program From Self to Other. September 18, 2022 

https://www.williamredfield.com

Concepto de Sabiduría

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Cynthia Bourgeault dice que: “La sabiduría no es saber más sino saber más de uno mismo”. Esto nos abre una redirección fundamental de nuestros esfuerzos por conocer y comprender el significado y el propósito de la vida. Con anterioridad, hemos confiado en nuestro cerebro de pensamiento racional para abordar las grandes preguntas de la vida. Pero con el trabajo de Sabiduría se añade el uso de nuestros corazones y nuestros cuerpos también.

La Sabiduría es más profunda que cualquier expresión religiosa en un sentido real. Es más bien la corriente subterránea profunda que conecta todas las religiones del mundo y de la cual fluye desde el manantial subterráneo de la realidad unitiva.

Tal vez podamos decir que la Sabiduría no representa el qué en términos del contenido de un sistema de creencias en particular, sino más bien el cómo en términos de la forma en que las cosas se expresan cuando descienden al nivel de lo unitivo. De todos modos, en lugar de vincularse exclusivamente con cualquier sistema religioso, la Sabiduría es explícitamente interreligiosa. Pero la profundidad que marca esta Sabiduría es cualitativamente diferente de lo que se encuentra cerca y por encima de la superficie. Allí, sobre la superficie, las diversas tradiciones espirituales se distinguen por diferencias significativas en creencias, rituales y teologías. Pero en las profundidades de la Sabiduría todos se unen a través de la comprensión unitiva que une toda la vida en una totalidad profunda.

Como cristianos, podríamos afirmar que nuestra religión proporciona ese lugar de dónde viene la Sabiduría. Podemos tener la profunda sensación de que Jesús mismo encarnó esta Sabiduría. De hecho, el título principal que se le dio a Jesús fue el de moshelim, es decir, un maestro de Sabiduría, y enseñó en mashal, es decir, parábolas y dichos de Sabiduría. El mismo parecía la personificación de la Sabiduría, moviéndose por la vida con un corazón lleno de compasión, generosidad y amor. Sin embargo, no todos captaron sus acciones o sus enseñanzas. Algunos de sus oyentes lo entendieron, pero la gran mayoría no. Incluso la gente, que a veces parecía captar el mensaje que estaba transmitiendo, no siempre fue capaz de mantener este entendimiento.

Jesús, el maestro de la Sabiduría, no implora a sus oyentes que sean mejores y más rectos ciudadanos; sino, les trata de convencer y les suplica que despierten. Nunca predicó una vida moral recta para ser vivida en esta vida a fin de ganar la entrada al cielo en la próxima vida. Por el contrario, invitaba a sus oyentes para que se dieran cuenta que el reino de los cielos está aquí mismo, en el momento presente.

Los amigos y seguidores que parecían captar la Sabiduría del maestro parecían haberlo hecho porque su nivel de ser se elevó, al menos temporalmente, a un punto en el que podían resonar con la frecuencia de la Sabiduría que él estaba enseñando y transmitiendo y su verdad tocó lo más profundo de sus corazones. Además, su presencia les proporcionó una especie de alquimia divina que los llevó a un sentido de unión generalizado. A través de esta experiencia fueron transformados de adentro hacia afuera.

La apertura a toda la profundidad de la Sabiduría del Evangelio requiere la receptividad de un cierto estado mental o un cierto estado de ser. Sin eso, la Sabiduría de Jesús no puede ser recibida. Cuando pasas a las profundas verdades de la Sabiduría de Jesús solo a través de la mente pequeña, todo lo que obtienes es una consolidación más profunda en lo que ya creías sin ocurrir la transformación que le acompaña.

Este entendimiento ha sido trágicamente pasado por alto en Occidente. Comenzando con las controversias doctrinales de los siglos tercero y cuarto, la Iglesia ha hecho de nuestra fe una cuestión de creencia mental, y nuestra tradición se ha vuelto excesivamente influenciada por credos y declaraciones doctrinales de creencia y no guiada por la verdad espiritual real que nace de la experiencia.

Por lo tanto, el trabajo de Sabiduría es un esfuerzo para regresar a los fundamentos esenciales de la experiencia de nuestra fe cristiana. Esto no quiere decir que ignoremos, neguemos o subestimamos la gracia, sino que debemos de ser instrumentos de recepción y transmisión del amor de Dios.

El reino del que habla Jesús requiere que empleemos un nuevo sistema operativo que pueda realizar operaciones de un orden completamente diferente. Cuando este sistema está en funcionamiento es posible una forma completamente nueva de ver y donde se puede acceder al ser de uno a nivel mucho más alto. Este nuevo sistema lo podemos llamar el sistema operativo del corazón.

 El trabajo de Sabiduría implica crecer más allá de nuestras mentes pequeñas para entrar en nuestras mentes más grandes o sea nuestros corazones. Por lo tanto, el trabajo de la Sabiduría no es cancelar el sistema operativo egoico de la mente más pequeña, es más bien ayudarnos a desarrollar el sistema operativo del corazón de la mente más grande, que ya tenemos pero que se encuentra en forma adormecida, y de lograr la integración de estos dos sistemas en nuestro ser.

[1] Cynthia Bourgeault, An Introductory Wisdom School: Course Transcript and Companion Guide (Wisdom Way of Knowing: 2017), 2.

[2] William Redfield. Notes from the program From Self to Other. September 18, 2022 

https://www.williamredfield.com

Co-Create the Cosmos together with God

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“[T]he peacemaker is one who has established peace within oneself. Peace is not a naïve simplicity, but the perfect harmony of immense complexity. It is the delicate balance of all the faculties of human nature totally subject to God’s will and transformed by Divine Love into a finely tuned instrument.

“Peacemaking is the normal overflow of rootedness in Christ. Peacemakers are those who have the assurance of being the children of God. They are ones who in a sense are God acting in the world. They pour into the world the being they have received from God, which is a share in God’s divine nature.

“Today, God seems to be urging us to take more initiative in dealing with global problems and to take part in the transformation of society, beginning of course, with what is closest to us. … The power of the stars is nothing compared to the energy of a person whose will has been freed from the false-self system and who is thus enabled to co-create the cosmos together with God. … The commitment to the spiritual journey is not a commitment to pure joy, but to taking responsibility for the whole human family, its needs and destiny. We are not our own; we belong to everyone else.”
– Thomas Keating, The Mystery of Christ

Page 104

About this edition

ISBN: 9781441114907, 1441114904

Page count: 142

Published: July 15, 2010

Format: Ebook

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Language: English

Author: Thomas Keating

From where, does Wisdom come?

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“As Christians, we might reflexively assert that our religion provides that place.  But, while I agree that it can, I wonder how much it really does.  The history of religion in general and of Christianity in particular has been checkered to say the least.  Indeed, the number of human beings slaughtered in the various names of God is too large to even fathom.  Or on a more parochial level, how often do we hear stories of clergy and congregations behaving badly—all while everyone is singing hymns of praise to God and reciting prayers for peace.  But all of this may not be the fault of religion per se or certainly of any of the great spiritual teachers whose lives and works gave rise to the various religious traditions; it may be more the result of our failure to live the lives to which they invite us.  The question, though, is why.  I will get to that.

Indeed, we may have the deep sense that Jesus himself embodied this Wisdom.  In fact it is true that the primary title given to Jesus was that of a moshelim, that is, a master of Wisdom, and he did teach in mashal, that is, parables and Wisdom sayings.  And he himself seemed the epitome of Wisdom, moving through life with a heart overflowing with compassion, generosity, and love.  Clearly, however, not everyone caught on to either his Wisdom actions or his Wisdom teachings.  Some of his listeners got it, but many more did not.  And even the people, who did at times seem to get a grasp of the Wisdom he was conveying, were not always able to maintain it.

By the way, I am not talking about moral uprightness here.  Although that was often the spin that others put on his teachings, Jesus’ Wisdom was never actually about that.  Jesus, the Wisdom master, did not so much implore his listeners to be better and more upright citizens; instead he coaxed and implored them to awaken.  Similarly, he never preached a straight and narrow moral life to be lived in this life in order to gain entrance into a heaven in the next life.  Instead, he invited his listeners to wake up to the kingdom of heaven right here in the present moment.  But while many were fascinated with his Wisdom teaching and drawn to his powers of healing, the sad truth is that he actually had mixed success in winning hearts.

The friends and followers who did seem to grasp the Wisdom of the master seemed to have done so because their level of being was raised—at least temporarily—to a point where they could resonate to the frequency of the Wisdom he was teaching and transmitting.  Maybe because their desperation drove them to an extreme point of openness and vulnerability, maybe because their desire was so great, maybe because they had somehow coaxed their hearts into a state of open receptivity—whatever the reason—his truth touched the very depths of their hearts.  From this higher level of being—like a tuning fork—they came to vibrate at same frequency as the Wisdom master, and they saw just as Jesus saw.  His teachings and his very presence provided a sort of divine alchemy that brought them into a deeply pervasive sense of union.  Through this experience they were transformed from the inside out.

But those people who approached Jesus with skepticism, criticism, and judgment—well, they didn’t get his Wisdom at all.  Instead of being able to match his level of being, they sought to bring Jesus down to their own level.   Consequently, they were blind and deaf to his teaching and even closed to his healing.  Because they were not able to rise beyond the strong gravitational pull of their own small-mindedness, they simply could not grasp Jesus’ Wisdom.

It seems, then, that openness to the full depth of the Gospel Wisdom requires the receptivity of a certain state of mind or a certain state of being.  Without that, the Wisdom of Jesus cannot be received.  We simply need to grow beyond the small mind—because unless or until we do, we will end up twisting and distorting this Wisdom substantially.  In fact, when you run the deep Wisdom truths of Jesus through the small mind alone, all you get is a deeper entrenchment in what you already believed in the first place.  Profession of a certain set of beliefs without accompanying transformation ends up not amounting to much at all.

Unfortunately, this understanding has become tragically overlooked and misunderstood here in the West.  Starting with the bitter doctrinal controversies of the third and fourth centuries, the Church has made our faith too much a question of mental belief, and our tradition has become far too influenced by creedal and doctrinal statements of belief and not steered by actual spiritual truth that is born out of experience.

Wisdom work, then, is an effort to correct this and to bring our Christian faith back to its essential experiential underpinnings.  It’s not that grace is being ignored, denied, or even undervalued; it’s more that, if we are to be instruments of the reception and transmission of God’s love, we have a responsibility to tune our instruments.

Thus, much of Wisdom work involves growing beyond our smaller minds in order to enter our larger minds (or our hearts, really).  Indeed, the word for “repent” in the Gospel, more than meaning, “feel really sorry for your sins” means “transform yourself by coming into your larger mind” or heart. (Marcus Borg)

Or maybe all of this is better conceptualized by thinking of the operating system of your computer.  We’ve been chugging along using the more limited operating system of the smaller mind (also called the ego); but that operating system is only capable of specific operations on a certain level of life.  Great for choosing which kind of spaghetti sauce you want to buy at Wegman’s, but not so good for grasping the meaning of life’s wholeness.

The kingdom of which Jesus speaks requires us to employ another operating system that can perform operations of a different order entirely.  When this system is up and running—and, by the way, we all come fully equipped with this other operating system, which we may call the heart operating system—a whole new way of seeing is possible and higher levels of being are accessible.   But the work of Wisdom is not to cancel out the egoic operating system of the smaller mind; it is rather to help us to bring this other operating system on line and then to integrate the two.

All of that is pretty conceptual, I realize.  So let me be more practical.  How do we do this?

Wisdom work, as I have come to understand and experience it, has two major components: attention and surrender.  Attention methods help us to more deeply connect to the energy field within and around us.  Through specific practices we learn to see and experience life more accurately and more directly.  To do this we usually need to get out from beneath the dominant sway of our own personal story.  You see, the story of “me” always puts me in the middle and insists that everything be judged and evaluated in terms of how it affects me.  But that keeps us focused on the surface of things.  With attention practices, we learn to see and experience what lies underneath that.

Surrender is the practice that Jesus perfected in his life.  By refusing to clutch or grab anything in life and by declining to brace against anything, he allowed everything to come to him and flow through him.  In this counterintuitive approach he found the gateway to union with God.  Practice in surrender methods (which includes both meditation practices and other more active practices) we work to pattern this gesture of surrender into our very being.  And we discover that this gesture connects to that in us that lives beyond death.  And it is the surrender of Jesus that becomes the bridge that can take us there.  But it’s not that surrender in this moment brings us a resulting reward in the next.  The truth is in the gesture and the letting go movement itself.  Learn that gesture and bring it into multiple aspects in your life and you will have found a passageway to the kingdom.”

Extract from :

https://www.williamredfield.com/writing/2018/6/24/what-is-wisdom

By William Redfield