Image:
(Earthrise image with ‘buttons’ to 4 main spheres of IL collection) (**Paul Noah designing?)
Welcome to the Interior Life Collection!
People today are asking how to be sustained in the midst of experiencing a chaotic, challenging and ever-changing world. They are discovering that a life of the shallow, the fake and the safe does not answer their life questions nor their longing for greater meaning. Living small is no longer satisfying. Getting stuck in indecision is even worse! In the screenplay “Auntie Mame”; Mame looks out on her guests who are standing around a grand feast and eating nothing. She says, “Remember darlings, Life’s a banquet and most suckers are starving to death.”
The backdrop for these works is the 20th Century Theological Revolution which emerged in response to the horrors, tragedies and human atrocities, especially the destructive impact of WWII. This new theological understanding included a sense of a seamless reality– where religion and science were no longer in opposition. This also meant that the old view which included the three geographies of heaven, earth and hell no longer was true.
In this context, during the 50’s and 60’s, the Ecumenical Institute explored expressions of Christian living as an authentic response to this new theological awareness. This required an intense demythologizing of language, poetry and symbols into a 20th century scientific context. It also involved conscious study and life practices which were devoted to being perpetually open and willing to change in response to encounters with Mystery in our lives. This lead to a stance of saying of saying Yes to life!- expressed as radical love, compassion and a mission of service for our fellow human beings.
This collection represents the understanding that people yearn to live wholeheartedly in positive relationships with themselves, others and the planet. It is for those of us who are seeking to be profoundly alive. We invite people of all religions and pathways who have their own unique approaches to awe-filled living in radical service to humanity and the earth.
“When you encounter the joy at the center, you tingle deep, in animation. When you’re possessed by the joy at the center, all things received, in affirmation. When you are speechless in joy at the center, and each moment brimming with wild vibration, Then at the center, in wonder-filled rapture, you be it” (from ”At The Center” by the EI)