Journeying with Christ

The below podcast is an introduction to the 10-part series "Purifying the Heart: What the Desert Elders Can Teach Us About Healing Ourselves and Our World"

You can read the series here or listen to it below.

Journeying with Christ

Purifying the Heart: What the Desert Elders Can Teach Us About Healing Ourselves And Our World

'Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.’ (John 12:24)

The below episodes are a 10-part series on the kenotic path taught to us by the desert fathers and mothers - the Christian spiritual masters of 3rd to 5th century Egypt, Syria and Palestine. Their system of inner transformation centers on learning to observe the rise, persistence and fall of our thoughts. The desert elders outlined eight destructive ‘thoughts’ – gluttony, lust, greed, dejection, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride - and taught ways to gain spiritual freedom from their activity in our hearts.

You can also read these reflections on our blog.

01. Purifying the Heart: What the desert elders can teach us about healing our world - and ourselves
02. The Spirit Glutton, or How Noticing Our Thoughts Invites Freedom
03. The Spirit of Lust, or Cultivating Unselfish Love
04. The Spirit of Greed, or the Joy of Invisible Riches
05. The Spirit of Dejection, or Remembering the Uncreated Light
06. The Spirit of Anger, or Compassion, Forgiveness and Acting from Freedom
07. The Spirit of Acedia, or Staying True to Our Dwelling Place
08. The Spirit of Vainglory, or Unraveling the False Self
09. The Spirit of Pride, or Humility and the Way of Christ
10. From Eight Thoughts to the Vision of God