One Heart One Mind

Somewhere along the way, we cut Jesus in half.
 
Western Christianity built its house around the divine Savior, the only begotten Son who rescues us from sin. But in gospels the Western church set aside, recovered only in the last century, another Jesus appears: a wisdom teacher pointing inward, an initiator into the mysteries, a guide for the soul's ascent. In this episode, Thomas brings a polarity lens to one of Christianity's oldest questions. What do we lose when we only worship Christ? What do we lose when we regard him only as a wisdom teacher? And what opens up when we stop choosing, when grace and gnosis, savior and awakener, come back together as one?
 
This December 3-5, Thomas and the Lower Lights community will gather in the mountains of the high desert outside of Salt Lake City for a 3-day Christian Contemplative retreat. This retreat will explore the wisdom of the Desert Mothers and Fathers and the path of spiritual transformation they left behind. If you are long to deepen your relationship with stillness and the Divine, we'd love for you to join us.
 
https://lowerlightswisdom.org/classes/p/3-day-contemplative-retreat-the-desert-mothers-and-fathers-december-2026

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Most of us hear that line as a pious ideal. The Desert Mothers and Fathers heard it as an instruction. In the 4th century, they walked out into the Egyptian wilderness to take Yeshua at his word, and what they built there was not a theology but a practice: a grounded, day-by-day path for purifying the heart. Evagrius, one of the sharpest minds of the desert, distilled that path into practical steps anyone can follow. In this episode, Thomas walks through his teaching and asks what it would mean for us to take it just as seriously today.
The surprise at the end of the road? It isn't our effort that gets us there. It's Christ's mercy that carries us into what Evagrius called "pure prayer": total intimacy with the Divine.
If you are looking for mentoring and authentic companionship as you walk a path similar to the Desert Mothers and Fathers, we'd love for you to join Thomas and the Lower Lights community in the mountains of the high desert for a 3-day contemplative retreat this December.
 
https://lowerlightswisdom.org/classes/p/3-day-contemplative-retreat-the-desert-mothers-and-fathers-december-2026

Whether we realize it or not, the Desert Mothers and Fathers are spiritual giants on whose shoulders we stand in the Christian tradition. In the harsh landscapes of Egypt, and later Syria and Palestine, they faced their own humanity and their demons to an astonishing degree, leaving behind a priceless body of teaching for purifying the heart and seeing God.
Join us in the mountains and high desert of Salt Lake City, December 3–5, for an immersive retreat in the life and teachings of the Desert Mothers and Fathers:
3‑Day Contemplative Retreat: The Desert Mothers & Fathers — Lower Lights

There is a renaissance afoot, unlike any we've seen before. It asks us to become something new and to take part in the birth of a new world. There will be pain and sorrow, yes, but a greater measure of joy. Join Thomas as he shares what this renaissance is teaching him, and what it asks of all of us.

If all of creation is the site of divine self-disclosure (theophany) — God's longing to be known — then perhaps nowhere is God more felt than in the divine qualities of the human heart. In part II, Thomas shares a personal account of how he came to know some of God's most profound qualities through his grandmother. He then expands the scope of theophany to include all of humanity — the qualities that you uniquely embody in this sacred world.
Join Thomas for a 7-day meditation retreat in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. October 19-26: https://lowerlightswisdom.org/upcomingevents/7-day-silent-retreat-2026-october