Spirit

SPIRIT OF THE PATH OF TRANSFORMATION CONFERENCE 2008

Transformation is more than an intellectual and conceptual journey. It is both personal and practical, as well as mystical and esoteric. It is relatively free of fantasy, false idealism, and a preoccupation with one’s own belief systems. Eventually it captures and affects all aspects of our existence and becomes the most important goal of our life.

The path leads to the experience of oneness. At the same time, everyone who walks the path travels toward a goal that we may be able to talk about, but do not necessarily truly understand. This can eventually cause fear, doubt, and confusion. Therefore, the path involves working with emotions and the ways in which the mind is sometimes unwilling to accept life as it is, here and now.

The integration of spiritual work into daily life is of great importance. It requires some discipline, consistency and practice. These are not ends in themselves, but rather serve to strengthen our capacity to hold within us the profound energies that we connect with along the way.

In preparation for the conference, we held many meetings to determine with what we wished the spirit of the conference to be. We discussed this with some of our presenters and prepared a list that we feel represents the essential and most urgent questions for those of us interested in and committed to transformation.

These questions are the basis of the workshops and events of the conference, and some of these follow for your consideration:

• What is the aim of transformational work and what does it require of us?
• What is the difference and relationship between transformational work and psychological/healing work?
• How to be a present and compassionate human being in the world?
• What are the basic challenges of the path of transformation?
• What does it really mean to serve?
• Does one need a spiritual teacher or guide and what is his or her function?
• What is the role of self-honesty on the path?
• How can one learn to let go of one’s defenses?
• What is the way to cultivate a deep meditation practice?
• What is karma? Is the teaching of karma compatible with the Christian roots of the Western world?
• What is the difference between a true spiritual tradition and the popular new age, metaphysical, and esoteric movement?

Our intention is not to have experts lecture only on their areas of expertise, or to have masters promote their own school and tradition. We are not offering recipes for instant enlightenment or everlasting happiness.

The conference will not only be the expression of clarity, the authentic teaching, free of fear. It will also be a forum for the doubts, the questions, and the traps that we all eventually encounter.

We welcome your full participation and extend an open invitation to join us in a sincere discourse on the path of transformation, its challenges, pitfalls and its dignity. We wish all participants of the Path of Transformation Conference 2008 a wonderful, insightful, and rich experience.