Welcome, Friend
Welcome, friend -
This Quakeresque greeting comes immediately to mind when I consider how to welcome people I have met and not met alike, but all of whom are drawn to some degree by what we’re offering here at the Center for Contemplative Enrichment. You are my friend before I know you, because I already know what is most important to me about you - that you care about your well-being, the well-being of others, and a spiritual path. We have that in common, and that is enough for me to call you friend.
To put a finer point on what we have in common, we are drawn to be together in community because we value deep authenticity. We have found it necessary to be in community with others on a spiritual path in order to refine our understanding of ourselves, our relationships, and our insights . . . all of which in turn are required for deepening authenticity and skillful action. We aren’t satisfied to talk about how we think things should be; we want to know how we personally get in our own way, and we value the power of silent meditation, sincere contemplation, and study of master teachings to support our growth.
We offer residential retreats and online community for the spiritually-minded, teach mindfulness principles in courses for those in secular environments (whether or not the people involved identify as more spiritual or secular), and provide private coaching for contemplatives interested in personal growth based on attentiveness and ethics.
By signing up for Contemplative Enrichment, you’ll receive both the Looking Into It essays that are written to inspire and encourage meditators, other writings as we post them, such as our secular “Science and the So-What” series, and our periodic Updates from the Center newsletters that allow you to stay abreast of our events, publications, and other news that we want to celebrate.
Those who want to take the further step of joining and/or supporting the Center for Contemplative Enrichment can become a paying member on this page. This will immediately enable you to comment or ask questions in response to our essays and newsletters (and hopefully the paywall will prevent trolls and bots from participating in our discussions!). Whether you have anything to contribute in writing or not, your subscription will help support us as a California non-profit dedicated to nurturing the contemplatives who are doing the vital work everyday of supporting their own families and communities with attention and care - starting, of course, with their own meditation and contemplation practice.
Over time, we anticipate additional offerings and opportunities for connection exclusively for paid subscribers.
Again, my friends, thank you for joining us. We are so happy you’re here. In the spirit of this sacred friendship, I leave you with this “letter to a friend,” which a friend gave me many years ago, and now lives on the wall of my home at the Center for Contemplative Enrichment. I invite you to also make the CCE your other home.
Warmly,
Marcy
Letter to a Friend, by Fra Giovanni Giocondo, 1513
I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got, but there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace!
The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see - and to see we have only to look. I beseech you to look!
Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by the covering, cast them away as ugly, or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.
Welcome it, grasp it, touch the angel's hand that brings it to you. Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty, believe me, that angel's hand is there, the gift is there, and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.
Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty - beneath its covering - that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.
Courage, then, to claim it, that is all. But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are all pilgrims together, wending through unknown country, home.
And so, at this time, I greet you. Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you now and forever, the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.
