Hello –
This coming Saturday, at 8:45am in Duncan Hall, the Transcending Contempt Practice Group begins. The goal of this fall’s Practice Group is to train each of us to inhabit hope. Hope heals despair, which is the dark font of contempt in each of us. By the end of the Practice Group on Saturday, November 9th, you will be able to face all life’s challenges, not just noisy election seasons, armed with the great Christian virtue of hope.
We begin next week by laying down two foundational practices. One practice is a simple breath exercise to practice every morning. It is a certain simple technique for learning to take ten deep breaths. The other practice is a guided invitation to become the less-anxious-one in most of the situations in which we find ourselves. On these two somatic practices we will, over the coming weeks, build toward a practical and inhabitable virtue of hope.
My claim is that hope, once it is properly understood, becomes the most practical of our virtues and becomes the virtue that, more than any other virtue, leads us to grow in love.
The Saturdays of the Transcending Contempt Practice Group alternate between Saturday sessions centered on teaching and Saturdays sessions centered on conversation, exploration and support.
The three teachings after next week’s session are all teachings that were well received in January at the Transcending Contempt Seminar. Since January, each of these three practices has been strengthened and clarified thanks to people’s experiences and feedback.
The last session of the Transcending Contempt Practice Group is the Saturday after the election. Each Saturday session lasts one hour.
Please consider joining me next Saturday, September 7th, at 8:45am in Duncan Hall to learn how to Inhabit hope in this election season and beyond.
Blessings,
Christopher
p: (415) 456-4842