Reflecting with David

AprMon 2010 Filed in: Reflecting With David

Spiritual Memoir: The Art of Self-Inquiry

Event: A writing intensive course on the art of spiritual memoir
Where: The Open Center 22 East 30th St., Manhattan
When: Starting April 7th • 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Cost: $110 for memebers, $120 for non-members

A few months ago I wrote of an amazing learning center, The Open Center. Starting this week they will have a four-week writing intensive course designed to introduce students of all levels—from non-writers to professional wordsmiths—to the art of spiritual memoir. When we learn to tell the whole truth about experience, to discern our own soul’s odyssey, we come to understand the mythic dimension of our personal struggles, triumphs, confusions, longings, digressions and so-called mistakes. Through writing exercises, storytelling and group interaction, we investigate the mysterious connection between the person we believe ourselves to be and the internal witness who sees beyond the conscious mind into the secrets of our hearts. By putting our feelings down on paper and learning to shape life’s raw materials into art, we discover that our challenges are also our greatest sources of wisdom, and that even our darkest (or most unexpected) interludes carry within them the seeds of redemption.

The teacher of the course is Mark Matousek, author of two acclaimed memoirs, Sex Death Enlightenment: A True Story and The Boy He Left Behind: A Man’s Search for His Lost Father, as well as When You’re Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living. A 20-year student of Buddhism, he teaches memoir-writing workshops around the country.

Tags: David