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The Alcyon Center PO Box 40 Seal Cove, Maine 04674 207-244-1060 [email protected] www.alcyoncenter.org Training in Contemplative Spiritual Direction—Class II Fall 2016 – Spring 2018 A two-year program with four residential intensives and three distance learning modules Introduction Grounded in contemplative practices of silence and heart, and informed by ancient traditions of 'spiritual companioning’ — we seek to bring spiritual direction out of the prayer room and into the world. With the unfolding of traumatic world events, we feel the growing need for contemplatively grounded spiritual leaders. These times demand new language and forms to meet the spiritual hunger of our times. This Training in Contemplative Spiritual Direction is open to all called by the contemplative way, particularly those seeking to work with young people, veterans, recovering addicts, change-makers, and the dying. Residential Site The Alcyon Center is a small contemplative community offering programs, trainings and inspirational retreats. Known for its hospitality and the beauty of its cove and trails, the Center offers a unique setting for intensive study and deepening practice. Guests share double rooms and participate in some of the daily tasks of community life. Overview of Training Spiritual direction is an ancient tradition of ‘companioning’ a person or group of people on their spiritual journey. Students in our Training in Contemplative Spiritual Direction will learn to develop the capacity to listen in order to help others discern and respond creatively to the presence of the spirit. Hence our program does not so much train ‘directors’ but rather ‘guides’ who help others listen inwardly to the ‘speaking silence’ of the world. At the most basic level, we do this by entering silence and cultivating heart awareness. Heart awareness, or presence, brings us into an intimate and receptive resonance with both the natural world and other human beings. Fostering this ‘infinite intimacy’ lies at the heart of healing the duality of our present world, in which we feel alienated from earth and from each other. As such, it is eminently practical and can be applied to virtually any activity or situation. Training in Contemplative Spiritual Direction requires immersion in a matrix of spiritual formation practices including contemplative exercises, inner work, and group and individual spiritual direction. Our teaching modules complement the experiential work by focusing on aspects of Christian contemplative tradition, Spiritual Psychology (as developed by Robert and Cheryl Sardello) and sacred texts. Special attention will also be given to how to serve specific populations including veterans, the incarcerated, people in recovery, and the dying. Curriculum overview Each residential intensive will include a balance of: • practice (10-15 hours), • teaching modules (10 hours) and • group discussion (10 hours). Ongoing practices introduced and deepened throughout the four semesters: • Heart awareness, silence, empathy and listening in nature and with each other • Foundations for Spiritual Life: contemplative prayer, sacred reading (lectio divina), developing a ‘rhythm and rule for living’ • Group spiritual direction and dyad spiritual direction • Journal entries and mandala work. Major themes addressed in the teaching modules in an ongoing way are: • Cosmologies of the past and emerging paradigms of the present • The art and practice of spiritual direction, with emphasis on silence, listening and discernment of the heart • Exploring the distinction between spiritual direction and psychotherapy • Ethics, pitfalls, and supervision • A study of the themes of the inner life including: abyss, addiction, dark night of the soul, death and dying, desire, fear, forgiveness, grief, resistance, and reverence. Dates The program consists of four residential modules starting on Wednesday evening 6 pm through Sunday 1 pm: • Nov 9-13, 2016 • May 17-21 and Oct 11-15, 2017 • April 11-15, 2018 and three distance learning modules between residencies. Cost The cost for the full program is $3880. This includes tuition and supplemental reading packet ($2600) and double room and full board (4 four-night residential intensives) at The Alcyon Center ($1280). Not covered in the cost is your own ongoing spiritual direction, books and travel. • • • There are a limited number of scholarships available for tuition and/or room and board. Please write us with details of your situation. Single room may be available for $320 surcharge. Commuter students: please inquire about daytime meals and use fee ($500). Payment options: • Eight quarterly payments of $495 (total $3960) starting Nov 9, 2016 • Four payments at time of session $970 (total $3880) • One payment, 10% reduction if paid in full by Feb 1, 2016, (total $3490) Program Components Application Process An application is available online or paper version, and is due July 31, 2016. It includes: • an application form (personal information) • personal reflection essay • reference form for two references • a $50 non-refundable application fee (applied to tuition if accepted) An informal in-person or phone interview will be the final step of the process, scheduled after we receive your full application including references. After being accepted, a $500 deposit is required which is applied to the total cost in the payment plan you choose. Students will then receive the detailed schedule of sessions and assignments. Spiritual Direction Students are expected to meet regularly with a spiritual director of their choice starting at acceptance in the program unless you are already in direction. During the second year of the program they will also be providing spiritual direction to at least two others on a regular basis. And while it is the responsibility of the student to make these arrangements, faculty may recommend directors or placement where spiritual direction can be offered. Faculty Support Each student will be assigned a faculty member for the duration of the program. Student and faculty will correspond regularly to address special concerns and feedback as well as to help guide the student’s research and evaluate their papers. Distance Learning: Work, Papers and Assigned Readings Papers/Projects: Three integrative papers are required, focused on a major theme of the session. Readings: These will follow an assigned schedule, with short reflection papers. Spiritual Practice: Students will form and follow a ‘rhythm and rule for living’, which will be reviewed at each session. A rule for living typically includes things like: daily time of silence, reading of sacred texts, study, journaling, time in nature, service, work, play and rest. Work with mentor (and possibly a cohort): on a monthly basis. Core Faculty Kathryn Booth, M Div Bangor Theological Seminary. Co-founder and Director of the Alycon Center, a spiritual life retreat located on Mount Desert Island in Maine. Kathryn lived for ten years in an intentional spiritual community in France; served two UCC parishes with a focus on spiritual practice and community outreach; and is a graduate of the Shalem Institute’s Clergy Spiritual Life and Leadership program. A longtime student of Robert and Cheryl Sardello, she is a certified teacher of the School of Spiritual Psychology. Kathryn was also adjunct faculty at Bangor Theological Seminary and is an associate of the Northeast Guild for Spiritual Formation. Joan Jordan Grant, M Div Andover-Newton Theological School. Co-founder and Director of the Alcyon Center. Before co-founding the Alcyon Center, Joan served two United Church of Christ parishes as Associate Pastor for Spiritual Formation. Her primary vocation is Spiritual Direction, which she has practiced for the past 30 years. Joan is an associate of the Northeast Guild for Spiritual Formation. Piers Kaniuka, MTS Bangor Theological Seminary, MA Antioch New England University. Chair, Department of Transpersonal Psychology, Burlington College. Piers comes to his academic post after working many years in the field of chemical dependency treatment. He is co-founder and former Program Director of the Plymouth House, a 12 Step retreat located in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Piers has studied for several years with Robert and Cheryl Sardello and is a certified teacher of the School of Spiritual Psychology. Core Bibliography Dougherty, Rose Mary Gruwez, Christine Sardello, Robert Group Spiritual Direction: Community for Discernment Walking with Your Time Love and the Soul: Creating a Future for the Earth Silence: The Mystery of Wholeness Heartfulness (pending publication) Supplementary Reading Packet Participants will receive a packet with reprinted articles and excerpted including: Fitzgerald, Constance “Impasse and the Dark Night” Greenspan, Myriam “Healing through the Dark Emotions” Jericho, Lynn “I am a Human Being: an essay on the four aspects of being human” May, Gerry “Don’t Be a Pest” O’Reilly, Mary Rose “Listening Like a Cow” and “Looking at the Moon” Picard, Max “On Silence” and “On Language” General Bibliography for Training in Contemplative Spiritual Direction Recommendations will be made for reading and book reviews. We will gladly include other books that you find foundational. Thank you. Principles and Practices of Spiritual Direction Corcoran, Donald, Sister Ball, Peter Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Edwards, Tilden Fryling, Alice Direction Guenther, Margaret Kidd, Sue Monk Lipson, Michael May, Gerald Merton, Thomas Peterson, Eugene Ruffing, Janet, R.S.M. The Spiritual Guide: Midwife of the Higher Spiritual Self Anglican Spiritual Direction Spiritual Care Spiritual Friend: Reclaiming the Gift of Spiritual Direction Spiritual Director, Spiritual Companion Seeking God Together: An Intro. to Group Spiritual Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction When the Heart Waits—Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions Group Meditation Care of Mind, Care of Spirit The Dark Night of the Soul Will and Spirit (Discernment: 287-293) Spiritual Direction and Meditation The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings (esp. Ch. 6) Contemplative Practices by Contemporary Authors Baan, Bastiasn Bourgeault, Cynthia Chase, Steven DeMello, Anthony Finley, James Foster, Richard Holt, Bradley Kabat-Zinn, Jon Klocek, Dennis Laird, Martin Lane, Belden Merton, Thomas Old and New Mysteries Ways into Christian Meditation Center Prayer and Inner Awakening The Wisdom Jesus Nature as Spiritual Practice Sadhana: A Way to God The Contemplative Heart Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth Chapter 12: The Spiritual Director) Thirsty for God: A Brief History of Christian Spirituality Wherever You Go There You Are The Seer’s Handbook: A Guide to Higher Perception Into the Silent Land The Solace of Fierce Landscapes Contemplative Prayer New Seeds of Contemplation Dialogues with Silence O’Donohue, John Nouwen, Henri Romera, Lisa Rohr, Richard. Silf, Margaret Steiner, Rudolf, (ed Bamford) Teasdale, Wayne Thompson, Marjorie Trungpa, Chogyam Urieli, Baruch Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom The Way of the Heart Developing the Self Immortal Diamond Inner Compass Start Now! A book of soul and spiritual exercises A Mystic Heart Soul Feast Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism Learning to Experience the Etheric World: Empathy, the After-Image and a New Social Ethic Reimagining Culture and Contemplation: Contemporary Themes and Crises Alexander, Bruce K. Delio, Ilia Freire, Paulo Jensen, Derek Johnston, William Keating, Thomas Kingsley, Peter Levine, Stephen Palmer, Parker Rollins, Peter Sardello, Robert Tarnas, Richard Tick, Edward Welburn, Andrew Whitaker, Robert The Globalization of Addiction: A study in poverty of spirit The Unbearable Wholeness of Being Pedagogy of the Oppressed The Culture of Make Believe Arise, My Love: Mysticism for a new era Open Heart, Open Mind A Story Waiting to Pierce You A Year to Live A Hidden Wholeness: The journey toward an undivided life The Courage to Teach: Guide for Reflection and Renewal The Idolatry of God: Breaking Our Addiction to Certainty and Satisfaction Freeing the Soul from Fear Facing the World with Soul The Passion of the Western Mind War and the Soul The Mysteries: Rudolf Steiner’s writings on spiritual initiation Anatomy of an Epidemic Classics—Wisdom from the Tradition Anonymous Cloud of Unknowing Desert Fathers and Mothers Sayings Ignatius Loyola Spiritual Exercises John of the Cross The Collected Works of John of the Cross: The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, The Living Flame of Love Theresa of Avila Interior Castle Underhill, Evelyn Mysticism Journals Presence, Weavings, Journal of Pastoral Care, Contemplative Review, Tricycle