Rev Dr Mark S. Burrow will share his thoughts on “At the Still Point”: Mystical Musings in Fraught Times

Einstein was asked near the end of his life if he had any regrets. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Yes, I wish I had read the mystics much earlier in my life.” What does mystical vision bring in such times as ours? To help us explore this question, we’ll consider what Hadewijch, the early 13th c. Flemish Beguine, wrote of as “this wide wild simplicity,” which Meister Eckhart later described as the “whispering stillness” in the depth of things” and Julian of Norwich, after him, described as the “point” that gathers all in oneness. Such voices remind us, precisely in fraught times like ours, that the “unknowing” of wonder is the beginning of wisdom. They suggest what it means to find the courage of companionship—at the places of our fear and disillusionment. They encourage us to experience, with T. S. Eliot, that “at the still point, there the dance is.”

Mark is a scholar of medieval history, an award-winning translator and poet and has led retreats around the world including Bonnevaux.

 Christ Church St Laurence 814 George Street, Sydney

If you plan to attend please contact Jan Wylie - wyliejan45@gmail.com or phone 0418 655 291