Cynthia Bourgeault continues her conversation with the Encountering Silence team, offering insight into silence as a deeper way of knowing, contemplative Christianity as a unique spiritual path, and centering prayer as a singular practice of deep meditation. This is part two of a two-part interview. Click here to listen to part one. "There is no 'toxic' silence, because in real silence there is a power of presence... when you enter silence, you are never alone, you enter a luminous imaginal stream of help and reality at a higher order of being." — Cynthia Bourgeault Encountering Silence talks to Cynthia Bourgeault "What has really capped and is a cancer in Christian spirituality nowadays... is the anger... the only antidote to toxic anger lies at the level of the unitive heart." — Cynthia Bourgeault She offers us a new way of thinking about what we have, in the past, referred to as "toxic silence" on this podcast. "There is no toxic silence," she declares, going on to draw a helpful distinction between true silence and what she describes as "a destroying of the voice." She also offers insight into what she sees as the important tasks facing our time as we seek to embrace new "artforms" of silence, as alternatives to some of the sexist, authoritarian, or obsolete ways in which silence has been practiced — or marginalized — in the past. Her thoughts on the challenges facing Christians today — particularly the temptation to give in to anger — seem particularly timely, not only for contemplatives but for all who seek to integrate spirituality with the demands of everyday life. Instead of anger and panic, she invites us to stand present, and to remain present with whatever arises, in fidelity to "the highest benchmark of love." "The highest benchmark of love, courtesy, generosity and beauty that is put into the world will never vanish from the world. And when it's time, it will restore itself instantly." — Cynthia Bourgeault Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode: Cynthia Bourgeault, Love is the Answer: What is the Question? Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening Cynthia Bourgeault, The Heart of Centering Prayer Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus Cynthia Bourgeault, Love is Stronger Than Death Cynthia Bourgeault, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Way of Knowing G. I. Gurdjieff, In Search of Being: The  Fourth Way to Consciousness Jakob Boehme, Genius of the Transcendent Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing Thomas Keating, Reflections on the Unknowable John Chrysostom, On the Incomprehensible Nature of God Robert Bly, Iron John: A Book About Men William Meninger, The Loving Search for God: Contemplative Prayer and the Cloud of Unknowing George Fox, The Journal of George Fox Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer Pythagoras, The Golden Verses Plato, The Complete Works Doc Childre, The Heartmath Solution The Dalai Lama, Refining Gold: Stages in Buddhist Contemplative Practice Sigmund Freud, The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud Carl Jung, The Portable Jung John Welwood, Toward a Psychology of Awakening Franz Kafka, The Complete Stories Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ Ilia Delio, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love Bruno Barnhart, The Good Wine: Reading John from the Center Wallace Stevens, The Collected Poems Elias Marechal, Tears of An Innocent God Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky Episode 59: Encountering the Heart of Silence: A Conversation with Cynthia Bourgeault (Part Two) Hosted by: Carl McColman With: Cassidy Hall, Kevin Johnson Guest: The Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, PhD Date Recorded: February 25, 2019 "Silence provides the conditions for a radical inner honestly...