Although Tim Stead’s own formation has been mainly within the Christian tradition, his book See, Love, Be is written for the broader context. It offers a means by which people from different faith backgrounds, including those who are unaffiliated, can reflect on what spirituality might mean to each of us in our contemporary world.
The word spirituality will mean different things to different people. No one way of thinking about this will be expected or particularly encouraged. The intention will be for each of us to reflect on how mindfulness practices might relate to our own faith position and to enrich each other’s understanding as we share our different perspectives.
The title, See, Love, Be reflects the key themes of Awareness, Compassion and Ease of Being which, it could be argued, is what all the great spiritual traditions are concerned with.
During the sessions we will try out some formal guided meditations together. We’ll reflect on our experience, discuss how these might relate to our own spirituality and try out some of the exercises suggested in Tim’s book.
You won’t need to have a copy of the book, but it will be available to buy if you wish to take the practices forward after the retreat. It includes a CD of guided meditations.
Tim Stead (www.timsteadmindfulness.org) is an accredited mindfulness teacher and associate of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre (www.oxfordmindfulness.org) which is affiliated to the Oxford University department of Psychology. Tim is a freelance Mindfulness teacher who offers eight week courses, retreats and quiet days and has published a number of books linking mindfulness and spirituality.