24 Quotes by Cynthia Bourgeault

The Risen Lord is indeed risen. Present, intimate, creative, 'closer than your own heartbeat,' accessed through your vulnerability, your capacity for intimacy. The imaginal realm is real, and through it you will never be separated from any one or anything you have ever loved, for love is the ground in which you live and move and have your being. This is the message that Mary Magdalene has perennially to bring. This is the message we most need to hear.

A sophiological Christianity focuses on the path.

To mourn is to touch directly the substance of divine compassion.

It's not about right belief; it's about right practice.

As we enter the path of transformation, the most valuable thing we have working in our favor is our yearning.

Beginning in infancy (or even before) each of us, in response to perceived threats to our well-being, develops a false self: a set of protective behaviors driven at root by a sense of need and lack. The essence of the false self is driven, addictive energy, consisting of tremendous emotional investment in compensatory "emotional programs for happiness," as Keating calls them.

RESIST no thought; RETAIN no thought; REACT to no thought; RETURN to the sacred word.

Where there’s surrender, synchronicity tends to follow, which is one of the most delightful side effects of a surrender practice.

Centering Prayer is not about developing concentration, attaining clear mind, conscious presence, a strong witnessing “I,” some desired state. In Centering Prayer you merely practice and practice the core kenotic motion: “let go, make space, unclench” – thought by thought by thought.