A virtual Conversation on the Spiritual Path
for all who long for a closer community throughout the year.
Oct 2021-May2022
At a glance
Our (little) school of spiritual formation is simply a committed virtual conversation among those who want to understand the many ways in which spiritual formation works in their own life’s practice, helped by the insights from a variety of sources we bring to the conversation. The inaugural conversation will unpack the wisdom behind the rooms of a classic monastery and unfold the meaning it holds for each of us. As a group we will share our insights on how our explorations impact doing small things with great love in our day to day life in a private group setting away from social media distraction. This conversation is not about reading many things, but about reading one thing carefully and deeply.
… the motto attributed to Thérèse of Liseaux, has been resonating with us over the years but particularly the last seasons, while parenting, teaching, gardening and cloistering at home. There is a time to expand and to try out and to broaden and then there is a time to come back, to focus, to deepen, and to practice what one already knows in new ways. The "little school" of Sr. Thérèse beckons us to this deepening.
And so, "Doing small things with great love" has become the motto we adopted to overwrite our Cloister Seminars program starting this Fall.
At its heart lies the School of Spiritual Formation, a guided conversation developed for those who want to walk more closely with us through the year. It invites you into a community of fellow seekers in a private online group apart from social media, where we will share insights and support each other on the spiritual path.
As this “little school” practices to do small things with great love, we will walk slowly and tenderly with each other, creating breathing space in busy times.
Exploring monastic rooms inside and out
The inaugural conversation we offer this Fall will unpack the wisdom behind the rooms of a classic monastery: portal, kitchen & dining hall, chapel, library, scriptorium, workshop, graveyard, cloister walk, cell. Ever month we will tour one room to unpack its insight and to ask how it translates into our own life’s journey.
Our conversation will be structured over 7 months (with a January break), introducing a monastic room every month, and with each participant crafting a personal response to the theme at your own pace, length and time. As facilitators we will start each month’s conversation with sending you an essay on a monastic room, bringing together our backgrounds in traditional Spiritual Exercises, the wisdom of the desert elders, current existential theology, empirical moral psychology, and our shared human experience. The ensuing conversation, structured by weekly reflection questions and the insights of each participant, should help each of us learn and grow spiritually.
We will begin with an essay on Sunday, October 10 on our first monastic room, the gate -- and the important role of the gate attendant. Benedict says this role requires "a wise heart and a diplomatic character" to encourage those who should be let in and to discourage those who should not. So our first month will be asking, "Who should we let in and keep out?" We will need wise hearts to find answers to these questions that go beyond the stereotypes of our day.
This “little school” invites our fellow travelers from all ways of life and educational backgrounds who long to deepen their path and share their insights in a protective, supportive and private community.
As we bring our unique mix of philosophical, theological and psychological reflection as well as our intercultural perspectives to facilitate a conversation, we will ask you to bring your reflective personal experience and your willingness to share from your own well of wisdom with our fellow travelers.
How to enroll
In order to participate in our little school of spiritual formation we only ask our participants to become sustaining members of our online community. You can do so from as little as 10$ a month to 50$ a month. We do also have a few mentorship options for those who like to work more intensively with one of us throughout the seven month (ask us about this).
In order to enroll, please fill out the form below by Oct 6 (click the button) and tell us why you would like to be a participant of the little school. We will then come back to you and send you the link to enroll at our private Cloister network.
Blessings, Almut & Chuck
Our little Cloister family paddling into sunset.
What else you might want to know?
You do not have to be an academic to join. You must simply be a seeker who is willing to bring your own experience and knowledge to bear and be willing to offer reasons, examples, questions, prayers, and insights as we engage in a facilitated online conversation, which you can follow at your own pace and time. We hope that from this shared conversation a spirituality of everyday life emerges, creating a well which will refresh, deepen and sustain each of us and a broader community.
This school is not like any other school. You will not be overburdened by readings, or class meetings. You will not receive fancy credits at the end :-) Instead what we offer here is a schooling of heart, where we share what is on our hearts, share our intellectual and spiritual insights as well as our day-to-day struggles, ask deeper questions and in doing so transform our hearts.
You do not need a bunch of free time to join. The assignments for this school consist of a careful reading of our short monthly reflection, your integration of these insights in your daily spiritual practice, and a brief response of yours shared with our intimate group of fellow travelers in our private online group.
You will decide how much time you want to invest into this program, how much you would like to engage with your fellow travelers and how much guidance you would like to receive.
You do not need to decide between one or the other
As this “little” school is crafted to complement our program, you can also see it as a tool to deepen a particular Cloister Seminar or retreat you would like to attend throughout the year. In fact, we hope that this will lead to beautiful new connections on the way.
You do not need to be rich to attend :-)
That is right. This Conversation will be accessible to any one who want to commit to it. The only thing we will ask of you is to become a sustaining member of our online network The Cloister, to help us sustain the place, with a small or generous monthly offer, and thus a chance to give back and support our sliding scale programs.
So for whom is it?
We envision a kindred spirit like
you, the mother of a toddler trying to balance her demanding family life with her professional vocation and her spiritual calling (which would be also one of us :-).
Or you, recently retired and now looking for some guidance to find your vocation in this new stage of life.
Or you, at a crossroad in life, longing for an intentional community but still shy to share what is on your heart.
Or you, almost a sage ;-) wanting to share what nourishes you and to learn what nourishes others.
And also you, dear one, who has gotten busy with all the spiritual activities out there, now longing for a time of deepening and practicing in a slow paced and intimate setting, where pausing is part of the program.
And also for you who already have some idea or suggestion of how such a school should be organized to attract and support you - come, let us know and help us build the school you have been longing for.
And for sure, you, our dear fellow traveler, who has visited several programs of ours and are hoping and also asking for a tighter-knit program over a longer time, to grow and share and gather our insights together.
If you would like to learn more about this year’s School and be notified first when enrollment starts please get on our interest list above the banner.
What about us, the facilitators?
We have done quite some pondering thinking and rethinking of our program at Cloister Seminars. We have especially asked ourselves, “How can we serve our fellow travelers who have visited our programs regularly and have asked for being part of an intentional community?”
And so we have thought to build a roof under which all other aspects of our program can dwell, wich we simply named “The (little) School of Spiritual Formation,” for now :-)
Not because we are so spiritually advanced, but because we feel called to pull together the few threads given to us to help us better understand the depth of Spiritual Formation and how we can facilitate such interior path with what we do at Cloister Seminars bringing together the many threads of our professional and personal life. Those threads include:
An approach to philosophy, personal theology and existential practice that is deeply rooted in European traditions and deeply personal.
An approach to the good life that is deeply rooted in current empirical research on moral formation.
Our engagement with the spiritual formation literature from the desert elders to the post-modern existentialism of Kierkegaard.
the need of a facilitated program for the community of kindred spirits at The Cloister who have been longing for a communion for like minded seekers to grow with
a program that will help us sustain and inform all the other programs, providing stability to you and to us
If you feel called to explore more about this schooling of the heart please join our interest list (above) so we can update you on the program and when enrollment opens.
If you have questions and advice, please feel free to leave it in this form, too. All of this is a draft and we hope to fine tune it with your help and suggestions. After all, this program is for you.