WISDOM CAMP
Pre-Festival Offering
Thursday August 28, 2025

 

Ever since the Gospel of Luke presented Mary and Martha squabbling with Jesus over who gets to sit at his feet and who has to work in the kitchen, western spirituality has had a difficult time integration deep contemplation with world-reforming activism. But some of the great mystics over the ages have also been visionary change-agents: and vice versa. Drawing on the wisdom of figures as diverse as Howard Thurman, Teresa of Ávila, the Buddha, Pauli Murray, Dorothy Day, and Simone Weil, this day-long event offers an opportunity to take a deep dive into interior exploration as a roadmap for discerning meaningful and effective action in the world at large.

 

Our day will be facilitated by Carl McColman and Debonee Morgan, two Atlanta-based contemplative troublemakers who bring a breadth of knowledge and perspective to our shared conversation. Carl is the author of The Big Book of Christian Mysticism, Read the Bible Like a Mystic, and other books steeped in contemplation yet grounded in real-world spirituality. Debonee is a queer-centric therapist, death doula, community convener, and the executive director of Zeitgeist, a center without walls for spiritually independent persons and their friends and allies. Between them they have ties to a variety of contemplative and spiritually-visionary organizations, including the Living School, Shalem, Contemplative Outreach, Holy Rascals, Ligare and the California Institute for Integral Studies. What they bring to this experience is a deep desire for conversation, shared visioning, playful spirituality, interspirituality, and no-limits trust in the creative possibilities of the Spirit of Love.