Wisdom & Money Core Practices
This is a description of the core practices adopted and used to support all aspects of the work of Wisdom & Money
Open Conversation About Money
We believe that engaging with money openly in spiritual community can lead to root level transformation at the personal, communal and systemic levels. The particular money practices we use are:
- Sharing of financial numbers Transformational Circles
- Welcoming the emotions connected to financial transparency, knowing that emotions offer possibilities for transformation
- Honoring our own and one another’s clear yes’s and no’s
- Experimenting with ways of moving money in alignment with the Holy Spirit
- Allowing gifts to flow within diverse partnerships by experimenting with ways to exchange gifts across conventional social boundaries.
Wisdom Practices
Our work is informed by practices that flow through Wisdom Christianity. Our two primary influences in learning about this path are Cynthia Bourgeault and the monks of New Camaldoli Hermitage, especially Father Bruno Barnhart. The wisdom practices we use include:
- Contemplative prayer
- Chanting
- Lectio divina
- Anointing
- Cultivating a balance of work and prayer
- Honoring the Sabbath
The Be Present Empowerment Model ®
We offer training in and we practice the BPEM because of its ability to open the heart, allowing us to see the spirit in each other outside the impact of our culture’s divisions. From there, we more easily can build equitable and sustainable partnerships. The realms of this model are:
- Know Yourself Outside the Distress of Oppression
- Listen to Others in a Conscious and Present State
- Build Effective Relationships and Sustain True Alliances
Creativity and Playfulness
We intentionally incorporate creativity and playfulness into our work as a way of listening beyond the rational mind. Forms we use include:
- Imaginative prayer
- Art
- Rituals of Sacred Play
Body Wisdom
We make time to pay attention to and care for our body as a way of incorporating the wisdom that flows through the physical body. For instance, we make time for:
- Exercise
- Massage
- Yoga
- Body Prayer
- Mindful eating
Connection to the Earth
We create opportunities to experience the sacrament of creation by hosting many of our retreats in beautiful natural settings and making time for participants to go for walks or experience the beauty of nature in other ways.
Engaging in Authentic Community
We believe that an individual seeking spiritual transformation is best supported in that transformation in intimate and enduring spiritual community. In addition to the practices named above, we also practice:
- Slowing down conversations in order to allow each person to find their voice and move from inner clarity. At times, we slow down conversations in order to open up places where our vision is blocked or our movement stuck and/or where we have lost the ability to hear each other clearly.
- Loving each other in the midst of and through transformative “messy” moments
One of the core documents of Wisdom & Money
