Dear Friends,

At Wisdom Way of Knowing, our fundamental inspiration and aspiration is to provide opportunities for transformation through formation in a supportive, engaged community that values our personal gifts and our interconnected relationships within one evolving body. I hope you’ll take the time to read this letter in which we share:

• Our vision
• Living in our vision: a short background on the “how”  
• Living into our vision: the “why”
• Going forward: ways you can help
• Support our work by making a tax-deductible donation
• What people are saying

I’m grateful for your partnership in this work, and look forward to finding ways that we, together, can “become a whole world.”

With hope and deep gratitude on behalf of the Board and Advisory Committee,

Robbin Whittington
Executive Director

Our Vision

We believe that the Wisdom path offers essential principles and guidance needed to fully manifest a whole world for one and all—a path for navigating personal and collective transformation with wholehearted and embodied intelligence and integrity. And that each of us has a unique and valuable part to play.

Living into our vision: a short background on the “how”

Initially, we operated under the umbrella of the Center for Spiritual Resources (CSR, known a bit later as Contemplative Wisdom) in the Episcopal Diocese of Western NC. At the same time that we were outgrowing the Center, Bishop Porter Taylor (a major supporter of our work with Cynthia) retired, and we made a prayerful decision to form a non-profit to continue this work. And for the past year and a half, in our permanent “home” as Wisdom Way of Knowing, we have been doing just that. This work includes:

• setting down the foundation of our organization
• filming Wisdom Schools and creating online learning Courses from this material
• continuing to develop our comprehensive Wisdom resource portal for sharing resources
• with your support, we are committed to continuing to provide scholarships to anyone in need, but especially young adults, who otherwise would not be able to participate in Wisdom Schools and other Wisdom events and online courses
• empowering our global Wisdom network. Our ongoing work focuses on supporting Wisdom Communities of Practice around the world by offering trusted online resources, and hosting connection and conversation for self-paced study, reflection, and practice.

As a keystone contribution to our aim and our offerings, we have recently launched the much-anticipated Virtual Introductory Wisdom School eCourse with Cynthia Bourgeault. Our ultimate goal is to make this exceptional online learning opportunity and formational program available to anyone, anywhere, and at any time, for a modest and accessible fee. (A fee only possible through financial support by those in our global Wisdom Community network.)

We have invested countless hours, dollars, and discernment in order to capture Cynthia presenting these most fundamental teachings, to organize them in a way so that people can access them in an easy-to-follow format, and to input the content on a customized technology platform. So many people have expressed a deep yearning and need for a formational path based on these tried and true Wisdom principles and teachings, and we are incredibly excited to now provide this eCourse in response. (Please see below for two recent emails we received from eCourse participants.) And we have plenty of additional content we hope to make available in the coming months, as well.

Living into our vision: the “why”

Very early on in our work, we identified and have been responding to four core needs:

1. A hunger for a trusted place people could go to learn more about Cynthia and to find the vast number of her resources scattered across the web.
2. Long waiting lists around the world to get into Wisdom Schools with Cynthia.
3. Financial needs of those, especially young adults, who otherwise could not attend a Wisdom School.
4. A way to connect people in the Wisdom network with one another; leaders/conveners with those interested in being a part of a Wisdom small group.

We have responded to these core needs by offering:

1. What has become the essential go-to Wisdom website, an online resource portal where people can come to engage with a large collection of Cynthia’s teachings across the web. We have discovered, curated, organized, and made accessible in one place many of her online resources.
2. A continued commitment to collaborate as much as possible with our sister organizations that share a similar vision and mission (and we encourage you to also seek out their unique and valuable offerings), including:
   
   • The Contemplative Society (TCS), Cynthia’s original organization based in Canada, with a website that hosts Cynthia’s master calendar, as well as distributing some of her teachings in audio format.
   • Northeast Wisdom (NEW), based in the Northeastern U.S., offers support for an emerging crop of Wisdom teachers through local practice groups and residential retreats.
   • Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) Living School, in Albuquerque NM, where Cynthia participates as one of the core faculty for this acclaimed two-year program.
3. The first “mega” Introductory Wisdom School with Cynthia Bourgeault, filming and producing the content, making her foundational School available through an eCourse to anyone, anytime, anywhere.
4. Scholarships to record numbers of young adults and now because of this support, for the first time since Cynthia began offering Wisdom Schools, there are more young adults attending Wisdom Schools than ever before (and our community and our world has been forever changed by their presence and participation).
5. Opportunities for students around the world to gather in small groups, either in person or virtually. Back in 2012 when we hosted our first North Carolina Wisdom School, we invited students to gather before the School in small groups in order to be able to go deeper more quickly when we gathered. Several of those groups are still meeting. Out of that work, we continue to respond to requests from Wisdom seekers around the world who want to connect with a small group, either as a leader/convener, or as a participant. We also created the first Wisdom community network where people could find others in the Wisdom network with whom to share the journey.

Going Forward: Ways You Can Help

To be part of an abundant and compassionate whole requires long-term sustainability—which we can only accomplish with your help. We’re confident that together we can share “the cost of our arising” as whole-makers and as conscious stewards of all we have received. In our unity we affirm our covenant to foster a more connected, collaborative, and healed world.

As we go into this season that celebrates reciprocity and unimagined possibilities, we appeal to your spirit of generosity and your wish to be part of sharing Wisdom with the world. By supporting our work you are helping to uplift and spread the Wisdom that comes from heart, that creates transformative positive change through deep formation, and that strengthens our collective efforts for a better world. We need your help and ongoing support to offer these treasured teachings and resources for the greatest impact and with the widest reach.

A few ways you can support our work:

• Pray for us and for the world
• Tell others about us (invite them to sign up HERE for our eNewsletter)
• Make a tax-deductible donation to Wisdom Way of Knowing (Click here to donate)
• Purchase one of our resources:
  • Follow this link to learn about the upcoming Wisdom School with Cynthia in March 2018. We still have space available.
  • Follow this link to learn more about the Intro Wisdom School eCourse with Cynthia

Share resources with our global Wisdom Community Network (click here to find out more)

Together, we truly can “become a whole world.”

Wisdom Way of Knowing, Inc. is a 501©(3) nonprofit, and all donations are tax deductible.

What Others Are Saying

 
From eCourse participant Carol L, Cary NC, who is taking the eCourse as part of a small group

The eCourse is amazingly well done! What a gift!! The transcriptions were unexpected and such a useful and meaningful component, and I watched the first video yesterday and was so impressed with the quality. By far the highest quality I have seen in an on-line course. (And I haven’t even gotten into the meat of the course yet, which I am excited to dig into over time with my group.)

From eCourse participant Jim Hever, Cambridge, England

Dear Robbin,

I have just completed the full 5-Day program and participated online in the meditations and teachings and took intentions for conscious practical work at home. I participated in 2015 on the wonderful Wisdom School on Holy Isle in June 2015. The eCourse was fully comparable, and like so much with Cynthia, came at exactly the right time in my life.

There is so much I can say about it. Most memorable are the teachings of course, providing the container for living and practice … I have participated in a number of online spiritual programs. Of course efficacy of any program not only depends on the content and media of communication but also on the readiness, motivation, and disposition of the participant. That having been said, your part of the equation was extraordinary. The technology works beautifully, delivers what it promises, and with operational ease.

The Transcript is a brilliant idea and beautifully produced and extraordinarily helpful to check to see “if she really said that” and then serves the purpose of Lectio as well, not to mention the excellent quality of the manuscript and the wonderful Search facility even on the PDF. Just fantastic! The filming was spot on and excellently focused. The sound quality was ideal and allowed me participate in the chants and meditations. Next to being there with you on location this was all an exceptional experience of grace. How wonderful the ways of God who uses everything for our benefit.

Robbin, I hope you will never doubt the power of your ministry and how God is using you and your colleagues in collaboration with Cynthia to renew us one by one and together.

Please follow this link to visit the eCourse information page for full details and to sign up. And, please help spread the word so that we may expand and deepen our shared experiences on this Wisdom journey.