MANY MANSIONS

A STUDY GROUP EXPLORING THE INNER LIFE OF CHRISTIANITY

FIRST THURSDAY OF EACH MONTH (except August and December),
2.00 pm – 4.00 pm

Venue: St Francis Hall, Tekels Park Spiritual Centre, Tekels Park, Camberley, Surrey.

CHRISTIANITY is, and always has been, multi-faceted. However, today, many people are seeking not some outer change or further development but, rather, the rediscovery of the inner, spiritual roots of the tradition.

Our study group aims at exploring this largely lost or, for most of us, at least largely hidden dimension. This spiritual or mystical aspect is not, as we have come to realize today, some ‘added extra’ or the rare preserve of a privileged few. On the contrary, it is what gives life and substance to all the rest. Without a living awareness of this inner-side of ‘the Great Work’ everything becomes one-sided and unbalanced.

We recognise now that ‘As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves’. Those are the words of Mohandas Gandhi who also told us: ‘Become the change that you want to see in the world’. This act of re-making or becoming is only possible if we are alive both to the archetypal world and to that deeper level of reality where we are ‘hid with Christ in God’.

The ground that we try to cover is extensive. We look, for example, at

• Historical developments, whether orthodox or not so orthodox. We now know, for example, that the theology or, rather, the theologies of the early church were both extremely varied and fluid.
• The many rich mytho-poetic and symbolic strands of the tradition that give life, meaning and depth to what otherwise would remain remote, abstract and inaccessible.
• The relationship of own Judeo-Christian story to that of other traditions, not least Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. For, like the Early Fathers, we believe that all religions bear the imprint of the Logos.
• The vast mystical and ascetic heritage to which we are heirs.
• The church as ‘mystery tradition’, as guardian of a sacramental and liturgical tradition that not only reflects the life of Christ but allows us to share in it.
• The relationship of religion, particularly the Christian religion, to depth psychology. In this, we find the works of many recent explorers of the psyche extremely helpful – Jung, Groddeck, Fromm, Campbell, Edinger, etc.
• How this psychological under-standing relates not only to the works of the great mystics but also to such traditional ‘maps of consciousness’ as the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. These ‘maps’ have attracted huge interest of late.

Group Leader

The study group is ongoing and everyone gets a chance to express their views, thoughts and insights. It is led by our Retreat Director, John Hardy.

John is uniquely qualified to guide us in this subject, as, over and above his academic learning, he is an ordained bishop within the ‘Old Catholic’ tradition. Now though, like the first apostles, he works as an Episcopus Vagans – a free bishop, not tied to any particular jurisdiction. As in the early days of Christianity, those to whom he ministers (‘oversees’) form a Sacramental Community rather than ‘a Church’. To Bishop John’s mind there is only one Church – the universal Mystical Body of Christ.

Download:

Brochure in pdf format - Many Mansions - A STUDY GROUP EXPLORING THE INNER LIFE OF CHRISTIANITY