Developing Mind
There are many activities and disciplines that provide nice markers and containment for the spiritual path such as wandering in the wild, prayer, love and care toward others, and the arts. As you can see, these activities are not based on logic or even on thought as a primary energy. Relationship with the Divine is primarily an experience, not a doctrine or ordered thought process. That being said, it would be wrong to neglect the expanding and challenging of our mind as part of spiritual growth as well.
As modern psychology often reminds us, our thoughts and beliefs are a substantial component of our understanding of the world we inhabit and our interpretation of all the events and stimuli that we encounter from moment to moment. It is essential to pay attention to our thoughts and ask how they are formed, how they guide our attention and dedications, and how to develop them skillfully and purposefully.
The ancient Christian Celts emphasized learning and scholarship alongside many other non-cognitive activities of spiritual discipline. They developed significant libraries, and it was those libraries that preserved much of what we now know as Western culture’s classical texts and ideas while continental Europe lost many of these texts during invasions, wars, and cultural struggle. Westerners are significantly indebted to that Celtic dedication to learning, the preservation of knowledge, and the passing it on for the benefit of all.
In that spirit, I suggest that it is essential to exercise the mind and pursue responsible and ever-growing study throughout life. Without that mind-filled framework our lives can become shallow, aimless, or significantly misguided.
One of the central purposes of the Celtic Center is to assist you in that learning process. If you are interested in an understanding of and participation in Celtic spirituality then we offer a variety of ways to both grow your mind and practice the Way.
The primary means for learning is our online course called “The Celtic Christian Perspective and Practice”. The course contains three classes (Celtic Soul, Celtic Way, and Celtic Calling) and each class contains two lessons. We would love to have you join us for these learning experiences that consist of presentations of the material, encouragement to make use of Celtic practices for your own spiritual journey, and live discussions with me to enhance the class material and further your learning in conversation with others. The three online class discussions are at the end of January, February, and March so if you are interested in joining us for the course, then this is an excellent time to begin so that you can be included in the three class discussions.
The course material is offered year round, but the live discussions occur in January, February, and March and then again in June, July, and August. We would love to include you as a way of expanding your mind and developing an understanding of these ancient perspectives that are powerfully relevant to our modern experience.
Dr. Kirk Webb
(Director and Founder of the Celtic Center)
