2-Day In-Person Workshop
Saturday 2/14/26 & Sunday 2/15/26
with Gordon Peerman

Bede Griffiths was an English Benedictine monk who lived in India and pioneered interspiritual conversation between Christians and Hindus in the last century. Bede was fond of saying about different spiritual traditions, “Acknowledge the differences, but emphasize the unity.” He would point to his fingers, each representing a different religion, then smiling, he’d point to the palm of his hand, from which each of his different fingers protruded. “But emphasize the unity,” he’d say.

At their best, spiritual traditions emphasize the unity while respecting the differences. At their worst, they stoke division, mutual suspicion, and contempt. In our time of fractious division, is there a refuge, is there an underlying unity, spacious and benevolent and truthful enough to embrace all of us, including all our differences?

By way of answer, I want to offer an exploration in Deep Ecumenism, an exploration of the Divine Feminine. We will explore the Divine Feminine as she manifests in Jewish Wisdom, in the person of Mary in Christian devotion, in Tara as the Mother of the Buddhas, and in Shakti, the feminine power in Hinduism. Because our interest is primarily meditative and not simply descriptive, our hope is that we might find refuge together in the devotional heart of the Mother of All Beings.