Your Instructor
Marc is an award-winning instructor and author focusing on the contemplative path as a means of inner transformation. He has been a Centering Prayer Practitioner for over a decade and is a presenter-in-training with Contemplative Outreach. He is also the author of the book Dante’s Road: The Journey Home For The Modern Soul, based loosely on Dante’s Divine Comedy, drawing on poetry and music for transformational exercises. He is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary, a member of Spiritual Directors International, the Ignatian Spirituality Project, a member of the Tau Community of Interfaith Franciscans, and a founding member of Contemplative Light. Read more at www.marcthomasshaw.com.
Course Description
In this mini course based on the acclaimed book Dante’s Road: The Journey Home For The Modern Soul, we engage with the timeless wisdom of one of the greatest poems of all time, The Divine Comedy from 14th century Italian poet Dante Alighieri, read as a map of the soul’s journey home to God, and as an access point to the perennial tradition of world contemplatives.
Get Reoriented
The great spiritual traditions teach of a way of wholeness and vitality. How come so many of our lives fall short of this vision?
What if there was a map pointing the way toward wholeness, toward freedom and vitality, a map of the soul’s journey home?
Author and teacher Marc Thomas Shaw unravels the pattern encoded in the great myths and stories, from Homer’s Odyssey to Dante’s Inferno, a map of the soul’s journey home.
This is a journey each of us is invited to take at key inflection points in our lives. When we step back and recognize: the way we’re living isn’t working anymore.
Something has to change.
This book of practical wisdom for a complete reorientation draws from the great myths and stories, and the teachings of the world mystics.
Take a journey of reflection and inner transformation with the great figures who’ve gone before serving as a guide.
Course Materials
As part of this course, you’ll get:
- A look at the four movements of the soul’s journey home in this Divine Comedy:
- Stage I: Waking Up
- Stage II: The Downward Way
- Stage III: The Outward Way
- Stage IV: The Upward Gaze
- Reflections for Deepening & Inner Movement
Bonus Materials
AS A BONUS, WE’RE INCLUDING:
- A Little Book of Contemplative Practices by Contemplative Light
- Introduction & Chapter I of Dante’s Road: The Journey Home For The Modern Soul
- A Recommended Reading List for the modern contemplative journey
What Others Are Saying About Dante’s Road
We’re lost. We’re trying to get home. With those words, Marc Thomas Shaw aptly summarizes the human predicament and then gathers a host of wise counselors—from mythology, pop culture, spiritual masters, and his own lived experiences—to accompany the reader on an inner journey toward the soul’s true home.
—Kenneth McIntosh, author of Water from an Ancient Well: Celtic Spirituality for Modern Life
Vulnerable, lonely, and dark—these words describe all of us at times.It’s the human condition. I think Marc is right: we’re lost, and we haveto go through some uncomfortable heat to find our way home. I loved this book.
—Jon M. Sweeney, author of Inventing Hell; coauthor of Meister Eckhart’s Book of the Heart
Marc Shaw invites us on a heroic adventure. In reading this text, I experienced new insights into how I too might embrace the shadows of my personal woundedness as open doors to becoming more fully alive.
—Bruce Epperly, author of more than thirty books on spirituality, including Become Fire! Guideposts for Interspiritual Pilgrims
Marc Shaw’s book invites you onto a rich journey of descent with wise guides and practices to help support the path. He offers lots of practical ways to explore the themes. It is a book to be worked through slowly, with lots of possibility for transformation and discovery.
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, author of twelve books on spirituality, including The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
With clear-eyed wisdom and an engaging style, Marc Thomas Shaw is our Beatrice, guiding the pilgrim through the often painful, mysterious, and beautiful journey of the soul, ever reminding us that we are all just “trying to get home.
—Christiana Peterson, author of Mystics and Misfits: Meeting God Through St. Francis and Other Unlikely Saints
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR COURSES
“Many consider the Christian mystics tangential to Christianity as a whole. I am happy that this certainly is not the case for Clint Sabom and Marc Thomas Shaw of ContemplativeLight.com. Both see the Christian mystics as central to Christianity, especially for twenty-first century seekers, who hunger for direct personal experience. And both have a personal passion for the mystics. Their new course highlights the history of 20 Christian mystics and shows their relevance for our spiritual journeys today. Highly recommended!” Dr. Amos Smith, author of ‘Be Still And Listen’
“You exceeded my expectations, thank you. It is a valuable overview, and so helpful to place the mystics into their historical context. I appreciated the many original sources you provided. The additional teaching on non-duality, healing and Q&A are excellent. Thank you!!!” Mary D., Cleveland, OH“I just completed my first time through listening to the course. Wow! I loved it! I’m listening back through and am loving how smoothly the supplemental material ties in.” Neil F., Encinitas, CA
