Path of Inner Peace and Spiritual Transformation for 2007

Path of Inner Peace -
A Self Education Program

Sabbath Retreat Path

June 3-6, 2007
Intentional Growth Center
Lake Junaluska, NC www.IntentionalGrowthCenter.org

Updated March 2007:

An exciting soul journey retreat led by Dan Robinson, PharmD, UF Professor Pharmacy and Medicine and Spiritual Director, Bill Barnard, PhD, Associate Professor of Religion at Southern Methodist University, and Cliff Lyda, Senior Minister at Elmhurst Presbyterian Church, Elmhurst, Il.See Faculty posting for more information.

Dr. Barnard is author of two books:
In Search of Soul: Journey Toward Wholeness
and
Soul Guide: Path of Inner Peace and Spiritual Transformation

His books will serve as a guide for the Retreat and the Program.

Overview of the Path

Jesus was quite sure not only of his true identity and of his intimate relationship with God but he was also aware of our potential for having the same relationship.
John 14:9 “He who sees me sees the Father.”
John 10:30 “The Father and I are one.”
John 17:21 “Just as you are in me and I in you, so they will be in us.”

Sadly, however, today in our hectic world often we are not quite sure if our Authentic Self really exists and at times we even feel estranged from God. All of this frantic activity in our lives creates a deep longing within us to find a Sacred Place where we can experience the Sabbath-a deep rest- and to find a Being who makes us feel whole again.

Path is a mystical/contemplative journey which enables us to fill both of these longings- a sacred place within where we can find peace and at the same time to re-experience an intimate relationship with God. God was our origin and somewhere deep within we have a memory both of our primordial Source and of our wholeness. These memories create in us a strong need to awaken to our True Self.
Isaiah 51:9 “Awaken! Awaken!”

The memories also create a powerful longing for a level of consciousness which permits us to experience not only our wholeness but also an intimacy and nearness to God.
Philippians 2:5 “Make your own the mind of Christ Jesus.”

In order to reach this level of awareness we must take our own spiritual journey so that we may transcend our lower self (Ego) and blossom into our Higher Self (Soul).This is a mystical and mysterious journey that requires much effort on our part. But perhaps most of all it demands a willingness and receptivity to change and become what we are meant to be.

Before starting this journey each one must acknowledge that his/her life is not as he/she wants it to be and then respond with a burning desire to seek new ways of being. In this process of self-transformation we must be willing to let go of the old self so that we might align ourself with the Divine and become the new Self.
John 12:24 “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single grain, but if it dies, it shall yield a rich harvest.”

This process of inner transformation is not easy to accomplish and calls for a willingness by the seeker to endure pain and loneliness. The Ego (our conscious personality) has been in control for a long time and will not yield power to Soul without a struggle. Also we have been almost exclusively dependent on relying on our ordinary five senses for perceiving material reality and yet on this journey we must become aware of and cultivate our subtle organs of perception – such as “the inner eye of the Soul”- so that we may open our heart and experience the spiritual plane of reality.

The Sabbath Path shows the way to live in the outer physical world and in the inner spiritual world simultaneously. The Path is built on the premise that “God is love.” 1 John 4:8. It is God’s love that empowers our process of self-transformation .The Path offers opportunity for the seeker to undergo a series of inner experiences which offer her/him the opportunity to transcend the lower self(Ego) and find the Higher Self (Soul). As we entrust ourself to God and find our Authentic Self then we are able to experience an infinite merging in love with God.