DIVINE LITERACY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
DIV/LIT
A 12-Week Course on the Art of Devotion
led by Lindsay Sanwald, MDiv
January 20th - April 7th 2026
Tuesday Evenings 7:30-9pm EST on Zoom
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Weekly Kriya Meditation Labs (recorded)
Wednesday Mornings at 9:30 EST on Zoom
This reading and meditation course – OPEN TO ALL – is designed for the creative being, contemplative thinker, mystical seeker, and theologically curious. Its mission is the preservation of poetry, music, attention, and the soulful arts of human intelligence.
Through a committed semester of study, you will learn and test practical spiritual skills passed on through the ages from a variety of traditions and teachers that can accompany one for a lifetime (or several).
This winter, make friends with the Vedic Seers, Buddha, Patañjali, Krishna, Dante, St. Teresa, Virginia Woolf, Jorge Luis Borges, and Coltrane.
We start in the dark depths of January and agree to meet each week until the beginning of spring. Together we will keep each other warm through the long loneliness of winter by practicing how to read, write, pray, breathe, move, meditate, listen, share, serve, and surrender.
In the second half of the program, each student will also experiment with how to practice their own unique form of monastic renunciation, observing a self-designed 49 Days in the Bardo disciplined period of personal transformation (think: Buddhist-flavored Lent).
TEXTS WE WILL TOUCH:
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Deep Listening by Pauline Oliveros
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Selected Upanishads (Brihadaranyaka & Katha)
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Bardo Thodol (Tibetan Book of the Dead)
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Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
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The Bhagavad Gita
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Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy
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Saint Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle
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Virgina Woolf’s Moments of Being
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The short fiction of Jorge Luis Borges
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John Coltrane’s "A Love Supreme"
CLASS RITUALS
TUESDAY SATSANG
Our intimate group will meet every Tuesday evening from 7:30-9pm EST in the monastery of Zoom for twelve consecutive weeks. In this regular refuge called satsang (a gathering for devotional instruction) we will read and discuss a selection of sacred texts and practice basic Kriya meditation techniques (asana, pranayama, visualization, mantra).
KRIYA MEDITATION LAB
Additionally, students are invited to attend a weekly Kriya Meditation Lab to practice a fuller exploration of yogic concentration, either in real time on Zoom (Wednesday mornings at 9:30am EST) or on their own time via a recording.
HOME DEVOTIONS
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Morning Pages Journal Practice
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Weekly Readings (~10-40 pages)
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Audio Letter Exchange with a partner in class (~8-10m voice memo recording)
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“49 Days in the Bardo” Lenten Practice of Renunciation (to be determined by student)
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Final Creative Project
CLASS SCHEDULE
1 - TUESDAY 1/20 - INITIATION RITES
INTRO TO COURSE AND KRIYA MEDITATION, DEEP LISTENING, BIJA MANTRAS
2 - TUESDAY 1/27 - THE UPANISHADS
“IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS NOTHING HERE AT ALL.”
3 - TUESDAY 2/3 - YOGA SUTRAS
“NOW, INSTRUCTIONS IN UNION.”
4 - TUESDAY 2/10: BARDO THODOL (TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD)
“STUDY IT REPEATEDLY, O CHILD OF BUDDHA NATURE! SAMAYA!”
5 - *bArDi GrAs* (FAT) TUESDAY 2/17: SUTRAS & BARDO
“THE REMOVAL OF OBSTACLES” & THE BEGINNING OF LENT
6 - NO CLASS ON TUESDAY 2/24
RENUNCIATION PRACTICE BEGINS: 49 DAYS IN THE BARDO
*FREE WEEK TO EXPLORE A DEEPER PRACTICE/PILGRIMAGE/RETREAT/FAST*
7- TUESDAY 3/3: THE BHAGAVAD GITA
“OBSERVE YOUR DISCIPLINE! ARISE!”
8 - TUESDAY 3/10: DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY
GOING THROUGH HELL WITH A POET TOWARD PARADISE
9 - TUESDAY 3/17 - SAINT TERESA OF AVILA
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, THE LORD’S PRAYER, THE INTERIOR CASTLE
10- TUESDAY 3/24 - VIRGINIA WOOLF
MOMENTS OF BEING, TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, THE WAVES
11- TUESDAY 3/31 - JORGE LUIS BORGES
INFINITE LITERATURE… "THE ALEPH," "THE LIBRARY OF BABEL," "THE IMMORTAL"
12- TUESDAY 4/7 - FINAL CELEBRATION AND SHARES
RESURRECTION, REBIRTH, AND “A LOVE SUPREME”
TUITION
Make and honor a 3-month commitment to practice reading and meditation
(charged January, February, and March)
$444/month
*includes (3) monthly 1-on-1 dharma talks with private meditation instruction*
*limited to eight students*
*OR PAY $888 TOTAL NOW UNTIL 12/21/25 FOR EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT*
$777/month
*includes (12) weekly 1-on-1 dharma talks with private meditation instruction*
*limited to three students*
$206/month
FOR CURRENT STUDENTS, ALUMS, & PATRONS