The Pathless Path: Walking the Way of the Pilgrim in a Time between Worlds
Upcoming Pilgrimage in the Land of Enchantment!
Dear Friends,
When a small group of us gathered for retreat last December to explore the way of the pilgrim, a quivering aliveness and affection soon permeated the group. We were coming to a sense of belonging to one another and the world at this time. Later, I had the feeling we touched a deeper impulse in those four days. We were participating in “the Great Work of our time” (borrowing here a phrase from Thomas Berry). We, a small circle of humanity, were being reinvented (literally: again come into) in a Universe- and Earth-specific context. And in those whispers of being reinvented, we were coming alive with affective intimacy toward one another, all of humanity, and Life itself.
Led by archival footage of an interview with Thomas Berry, that retreat invited us into embodied presence with the ever-unfolding communion process of the Universe. Led again by archival footage of Thomas Berry and inspired by reflections from Teilhard de Chardin, this forthcoming pilgrimage will nourish us with the psychic energies needed and infinitely available to walk humanity through the epochal shift in consciousness urging us through these times.
I invite you to join me in New Mexico—Land of Enchantment!—for the next Pathless Path pilgrimage.
With love,
Renée
Since ancient times, humans have set out on pilgrimage,
traveling far and wide to come home to who we are. Animated by an inborn quest, the pilgrim is on a pathless path toward a deeper order of being. The way of the pilgrim begins with and is sustained by an unceasing longing to belong to life anew.
We might say the way of the pilgrim is not unlike Life itself. Life, endlessly longing to become, feels its evolutionary way through the dark unknown. From time to time, the process continues only by moments of grace.
Some might say we live at such a threshold today. We live in a time between worlds—between old and new ways of seeing and being. With all Life on our side, we can hope we’re unfolding into an entirely new way of being human.
Where do the psychic energies come from for this Great Work? This pilgrimage will be an embodied wonderment into this question, answered from the wild depths of soul.
During our six days together, we’ll journey
on sacred ground in the echo of human history. We’ll gather in the Pecos River Canyon at the Abbey of Our Lady of Guadalupe, between the towering Sangre de Cristo mountains and the flat-topped Glorieta Mesa in Glorieta Pass. We’ll wander the setting of an unfolding story of human culture, thousands of years in the making: of the earliest hunters and gatherers who passed through this corridor, of Pueblo and Plains Peoples who first settled here, of Spanish missionaries and conquerors. This human unfolding in these high-desert mountains will cast an evolutionary glow on our question in these present, uniquely complex times.
We’ll journey to Pecos National Park and walk in silence in the shadows and echoes of those who came before us along ancient Pueblo and historic Franciscan Missionary ruins. We’ll ask the Land what the Land asks of us—the living Earth our cathedral, our call, our homecoming. And we’ll sit in the sanctuary of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe who came to Juan Diego, an Indigenous elder, at a particularly auspicious time in human history, to reveal the presence of Divine Mystery in the ever-present origin of human becoming.
We’ll contemplate together the Great Work of our time
as an ecological and evolutionary imperative, invoking the pathless path of pilgrimage as a journey of human becoming. Our reflections will be inspired by Thomas Berry, Teilhard de Chardin, Jean Gebser, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, an anonymous 19th-century Pilgrim, and others.
Together, we’ll touch that deeper longing to nourish and sustain us.
Your Fellow Pilgrim
In November 2022, three years out from tumbling over a cliff of loss, I took to the road in a converted Sprinter, a roadhorse made vanhome by a man who grew up on sailboats. I did not know where I would go. I could not say how long I would stay. I vowed on Day 1 and each thereafter to not know, to unplan, and to lean headlong into every fear and fall. There were lots of falls. After nine months, bumbling toward what, at the time, I could not say, I lept out of the Arctic Ocean breathless with the revelation that longing has no end. It comes to meet you in all that is, an originary Presence closer to you than you are to yourself. I came home a forever pilgrim.
My life is devoted to human becoming—as an eco-contemplative, phenomenological philosopher of consciousness studies, lay monk, and mentor. I hold a Ph.D. in Transformative Studies with a concentration in Consciousness Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies. I am recipient of a research fellowship from Esalen Institute’s Center for Theory and Research for work contributing to The Future of the Body project. Since 2014, I have served on the Educator Council Board for the Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World, a work closely mentored by the late cultural historian and eco-theologian Thomas Berry.
Registration + Details
To register and inquire, please email Doreen Tanenbaum, Retreat Coordinator: tanenbaumd [AT] gmail [DOT] com
We will journey the pathless path on solo Earth walks, at archeological ruins, in meditation/prayer of the heart, morning and afternoon reflections, “heartfulness” practices that enliven wonder, presence, and affective intimacy with one another and the world, quiet periods of rest, and conversation by the fire at day’s end.
Most of this six-day gathering will take place in silence with periods of reflective conversation throughout the day.
CHECK-IN: 12–4 pm on Tuesday, May 20 Please schedule flight arrival time for check-in by 4 pm. CHECK-OUT: 12 pm on Monday, May 26
Cost + Fine Print
COST: $1785*‡
Doreen has worked tirelessly to keep the costs as low as possible. If you can do so, please consider offering more than this baseline fee. Your generosity supports scholarship funds for fellow pilgrims who need to pay less.
*Does not include air travel and ground transportation. Information about ground transportation to and from the Abbey will be provided at registration.
‡ Annual paid subscribers to Beyond the Comfort Zone receive a 5% discount. If you prefer to apply any part of this amount to the scholarship fund, please let Doreen know when you register.
Email Doreen Tanenbaum, Retreat Coordinator: tanenbaumd [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
DEPOSIT + PAYMENT PLANS
Nonrefundable deposit: $437.50 Payment plan: 4 payments of $437.50. The first installment is a nonrefundable deposit due at registration. Payment is by email invoice to allow for private, secure Credit Card installments online. Final payment is due May 10.
REFUNDS
Full refund 30+ days prior to May 19. April 19 is the final day for a full refund. 50% refund 15–29 days prior to May 19. No refunds for cancellations less than 15 days prior except for emergencies.
ACCOMMODATIONS
A simply furnished, private bedroom in the guesthouse at the Abbey, without telephone or internet, offers the necessary quiet for retreat from the world.
Each guest room has a private bathroom.
Meals are simple, hearty, organic, and gluten-free with plenty of vegan options.
Space is limited to 20 participants.
Mmmmm, what a beautiful gathering this will be. ♥️♥️
Just wanted to say hi! This retreat sounds amazing. And I live in New Mexico, north of Santa Fe, so I can attest to the power of the land here. Also I happen to be a graduate of California Institute of Integral Studies, like you! I hold an MA in cultural anthropology. It's a small world!