ABOUT US

When I call out, answer me.  (Psalm 4, 2)

We have a deep, largely unconscious desire to be addressed.  And we are!  In the midst of daily life, alone or with others, we are the existential site of an ongoing dialogue with all that happens to us.  This dialogue is rooted in a history that transcends the journey of any single individual.  We are born as communal beings into a world of language and ideas, of beliefs and practical wisdom passed on from generation to generation.  We inherit traditions of thinking and guidance for living encompassing the vast history of humanity and its accumulated treasures of insight.  Enshrined throughout the ages in the great documents of spiritual literature, these teachings often appear to be remote from ordinary life and unattainable to the masses of humanity caught up in “the world.”  The truth is that these “directives” pulse into everyday life: they are passed down and around by teachers, preachers and common folk alike, clothed in taken-for-granted customs and everyday “commonsense.”  The voice of the ages is not only accessible to us; it surrounds us, seeking at all times to penetrate heart, mind and will.

   Our innate desire to be recognized and addressed is not always realized.  We fail to appreciate what has been handed on to us for our greater well-being.  We imagine separation and isolation in the midst of shared reality.  Part of our spiritual poverty has to do with this blindness – which amounts to a species of denial – about the true nature of human formation.  Forgetting that we are spirit (embodied spirit), we are susceptible to feelings of alienation and abandonment when instead we have the means to find communal ground and to relate meaningfully to whatever events confront us in life.

   To hear what is spoken, addressed communally yet uniquely to each of us, is at the heart of the spiritual quest.  The great traditions of spiritual formation teach that dialogue requires silence as well as words.  The word awakens and directs us.  Silence empties and purifies us, provides the spiritual rest and clarity of mind needed to hear the word addressed personally to each of us.  Resources in Spiritual Formation has endeavored for 20 years to relate what is offered in formative texts to the contexts of everyday conscious living.  The concern of inspirational literature is the transformation of daily life.  Reflection upon inspired texts initiates a dialogue with the human spirit.  This dialogue in turn releases the formative potential of the text, elucidates human events and makes meaningful even the most enigmatic of spiritual teachings.  It is our hope that the offerings on this website will resonate in the lives of our readers, evoking silence before the Mystery and insight into the word that is spoken uniquely to each one of us.