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A 10-part program in deep listening
and spiritual discovery: Enrollment for the
2008-2009 Program is NOW OPEN

Click here for an application form

Thin Space and Hard Boundaries

 

The phrase “Thin space” comes from the Celtic spiritual tradition. It refers to a place, or state, in which there is only the thinnest of veils between oneself and God. It is a place of presence, of wholeness, and connectedness.

This 10-session program is built upon these basic convictions:

  • A person who experiences Thin Space is less likely to have to denigrate the beliefs of others in order to affirm one’s own.
  • The Thin Space experience is potentially available to everyone.
  • Most people have already had, one or more times in their lives, a Thin Space experience, which may have been integrated into their lives, or may have been suppressed or forgotten.
Hard Boundaries, of course, refers to the barriers we put up against one another, and the ways -- personal, political, cultural, religious -- we smother our deep connections with nature and each other. barbed wire

Each session in this series includes practices in prayer and contemplation, personal exploration, and discussion of assigned readings. We begin at the first meeting by sharing our own past experiences of Thin Space, and we continue from there into a journey of discovery, renewal, and deep mutual respect.

A core element of each meeting is the practice of Deep Listening -- to one another and to the ways God/Divine Mystery moves in each of our lives. In a world where we are all face-to-face, and in a time marked by so much division, ignorance, and hatred, we seek together to find healing and emergence.

In addition to the discussions and sharing, the program is intended to be a kind of "laboratory course," where we actively explore models and visions of being-human in a way that celebrates identity and integrity while transcending boundaries.

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Ten 3-to-4-hour sessions, one Saturday morning a month
Goleta, California $375 per person

The course runs from September through June. Enrollment is NOW OPEN for the 2008-2009 class

Program facilitator:

Ernie Tamminga, PhD is a member of Stillpoint's board of directors.
He is a spiritual director and a trainer of spiritual directors.
His PhD is in Cross-Cultural Religious Studies, from the
University of California, Santa Barbara

For further information, please call
the facilitator directly: (805)683-4271

Click here for an application form

 Ernie Tamminga