Perhaps one of the most extraordinary and touching accounts is that of a conversation between Jewish Rabbi Henoch (Howard) Dov Hoffman and Ibrahim Gamard, a muslim. Howard and Ibrahim were chatting between formal conversations in 1995 about their mutual love for the mountains around Snowmass. In the course of this casual exchange they both came to realise that they had been on the same Colorado Outward Bound School, led by an Aussie squad leader, some 32 years earlier.
"We were both sixteen! During the next two days of that trip, we also climbed Capital Peak and Mt Snowmass. I distinctly remember, as we came down the other side of Mt Snowmass seeing a little black square that said St Benedict's Monastery! And here we were together again at
Snowmass, 32 years later! We started laughing and hugging like two long-lost friends, like we had fallen in love.
This book is a short but intimate account of just what is possible when we are prepared to enter into authentic 'heart to heart' conversations with others who turn out to be - just like you!
"We were both sixteen! During the next two days of that trip, we also climbed Capital Peak and Mt Snowmass. I distinctly remember, as we came down the other side of Mt Snowmass seeing a little black square that said St Benedict's Monastery! And here we were together again at
Snowmass, 32 years later! We started laughing and hugging like two long-lost friends, like we had fallen in love.
This book is a short but intimate account of just what is possible when we are prepared to enter into authentic 'heart to heart' conversations with others who turn out to be - just like you!
The Heart Matters
We have suspected for a long time that the heart is more than just a pump that drives and maintains the circulation of blood around the body. We now have scientific proof that our intuitions were correct. The heart really does matter!
It can change your mind and it can change the mind of a nation.
The Common Heart
"For twenty years, a group of spiritual seekers from many religious traditions met in various places around the United States of America under the rubric of the Snowmass Conferences to engage in the deepest forms of interreligious dialogue. The experience was intimate and trusting, transforming and inspiring." (The Common Heart by Netanel Miles-Ypes, 2006)
These words describe the beginnings of a significant process but also the starting point for what eventually became, some 25 years later, an authentic reported set of conversations in a published book.
"When these encounters came to an end, it was agreed that reflections on what had happened emotionally, spiritually, philosophically and theologically...should be written down. The result is The Common Heart. The idea was the initiative of Fr. Thomas Keating, a Cistercian (Trappist) monk who is part of the 20 member of St. Benedict's in the Colorado Rockies. The group changed little over the course of 25 years and was always mindful that it be truly representative of our wonderful diversity of Religious beliefs.
There is much to recommend this book but this short article will consider just two reasons.
The first is the agreement that authentic spiritual formation leads to the authentic integration of the secular and the sacred. This is well described by Tania Leontov who was one of the original members of the Snowmass Conference. "When people are deeply involved in spiritual practice, their day-to-day lives are not separate from their spirituality; what is going on in their lives is an expression of their spiritual path. Secular western culture tends to parse up our lives - this is our work, this is our play, this is what we love to do, this is our family time - but the spiritual path asks you to integrate all of it. In Buddhism we say, 'bring everything to the path...the belly ache, the arguments, all of that is the spiritual path.
The other is the value of friendship often deepened by shared experiences. This deepening can come at any time in a variety of ways. Many of the group agreed that experiencing stillness and silence together was tremendously important. "There was truly a profound connection without words...my own experience of Christianity was strengthened through sharing meditation with folks of different spiritual traditions!" For others it was a realisation, through casual conversation, that they sometimes shared remarkably similar experiences.
It can change your mind and it can change the mind of a nation.
The Common Heart
"For twenty years, a group of spiritual seekers from many religious traditions met in various places around the United States of America under the rubric of the Snowmass Conferences to engage in the deepest forms of interreligious dialogue. The experience was intimate and trusting, transforming and inspiring." (The Common Heart by Netanel Miles-Ypes, 2006)
These words describe the beginnings of a significant process but also the starting point for what eventually became, some 25 years later, an authentic reported set of conversations in a published book.
"When these encounters came to an end, it was agreed that reflections on what had happened emotionally, spiritually, philosophically and theologically...should be written down. The result is The Common Heart. The idea was the initiative of Fr. Thomas Keating, a Cistercian (Trappist) monk who is part of the 20 member of St. Benedict's in the Colorado Rockies. The group changed little over the course of 25 years and was always mindful that it be truly representative of our wonderful diversity of Religious beliefs.
There is much to recommend this book but this short article will consider just two reasons.
The first is the agreement that authentic spiritual formation leads to the authentic integration of the secular and the sacred. This is well described by Tania Leontov who was one of the original members of the Snowmass Conference. "When people are deeply involved in spiritual practice, their day-to-day lives are not separate from their spirituality; what is going on in their lives is an expression of their spiritual path. Secular western culture tends to parse up our lives - this is our work, this is our play, this is what we love to do, this is our family time - but the spiritual path asks you to integrate all of it. In Buddhism we say, 'bring everything to the path...the belly ache, the arguments, all of that is the spiritual path.
The other is the value of friendship often deepened by shared experiences. This deepening can come at any time in a variety of ways. Many of the group agreed that experiencing stillness and silence together was tremendously important. "There was truly a profound connection without words...my own experience of Christianity was strengthened through sharing meditation with folks of different spiritual traditions!" For others it was a realisation, through casual conversation, that they sometimes shared remarkably similar experiences.