Charis Foundation for New Monasticism & Interspirituality (Charis Foundation) is a strategic array of programs and partnerships designed to support spiritual maturation, interspiritual collaboration, and broad systemic change in the world. Our ethos, or the spirit of our ideals, is articulated in our “Charis Community Vows.”
Featured Programs
Charis Mandala Sancturary
Charis Circles
Keating-Schachter Center for Interspirituality
What is New Monasticism?
What is Interspirituality?
‘Monastic’ traditionally symbolizes a complete commitment to a transformative spiritual journey. By ‘new monasticism,’ we refer to the potential of living out this spiritual calling while ‘in the world,’ amongst intimate relationships, friendships, family, and daily hardships. As a ‘new monk,’ one passionately embraces social, political, and spiritual transformation, utilizing tools of traditional contemplative life, and allowing all of one’s life decisions to flow out of this commitment.
‘Interspiritual’ names our approach towards the diversity of contemplative life today. For Charis, interspirituality calls us into intimate dialogue with one another and diverse spiritual communities, naming a presence-based exploration among contemplative traditions and individual spiritual paths. A word first coined by Brother Wayne Teasdale in 1999, interspiritual described “the increasingly familiar phenomenon of cross-religious sharing of interior resources.” At Charis, we believe in an interspirituality that supports a flowering of diverse spiritual journeys, in partnership with traditional contemplative paths and teachers—building intergenerational bridges between elders, religious traditions, and younger generations along the way.
Contemplative Life
To pursue a deeper understanding of life and reality,
both the knowledge and the mystery at the center of all being.
To refrain from harmful thoughts, words or deeds,
seeking a mutually beneficial relationship with all life and creation.
To live a life committed to spiritual practice,
embodied in periods of contemplation and skillful action in the world.
To cultivate responsibility and mature self-understanding
through an honest investigation of my own motives and actions.
Embodied Spirituality
To live in solidarity with all life and creation,
recognizing everything as sacred and interconnected.
To live a life of grateful humility, remembering all the sources of
sustenance, refuge and help that I have received,
and which I continue to receive.
To live a life of simplicity, clarifying my own needs and
relationship to the Earth in support of its continued life and health.
To cultivate forgiveness and generosity for myself and others,
as well as joy, appreciation, and acceptance in all aspects of my life.
Sacred Activism
To live a life of compassionate service and loving action,
understanding that we live because and not in-spite of one another.
To be a voice for justice, compassion and transformation in the world,
acting not only from my own limited understanding,
but listening attentively to the one voice that speaks through and for
all being.
To unite in contemplative fellowship with people of all
cultures, ethnicities, and religions,
sharing our spiritual growth and an ethical awareness of one another.
To cultivate sacred relationship and reciprocity
with nature, the cosmos, and all being.
Write a short and relevant headline
Add a single and succinct list item
Add unique list items while keeping a consistent phrasing style and similar line lengths
Add a single and succinct list item
Add unique list items while keeping a consistent phrasing style and similar line lengths
Add a single and succinct list item
Add unique list items while keeping a consistent phrasing style and similar line lengths
Add a single and succinct list item
Add unique list items while keeping a consistent phrasing style and similar line lengths
Add a single and succinct list item
Add unique list items while keeping a consistent phrasing style and similar line lengths
Add a single and succinct list item
Add unique list items while keeping a consistent phrasing style and similar line lengths
Including our Executive Team, Charis Advisory, and Executive Board – as well as our Partners.
How Charis Foundation came to be, our co-founders, and the teachers that guide us.