Online Zoom Forum: Spiritual Autobiography: Examples, Themes, and Influences.
Date: Wednesday 18 March 2026.
Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).
Event Description:
Format: There will be six talks, each of 12 minutes, followed by discussion and Q & A.
Chair:
The Revd Bonnie Evans-Hills:
Bio: Bonnie Evans-Hills is a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church and has considerable experience in inter-religious dialogue, working with organisations such as the EU Commission on Foreign Affairs & Security, the World Council of Churches, Churches Together in Britain & Ireland, the Anglican Communion, and the Anglican Mission organisation USPG (United Society for Partners in the Gospel). Bonnie has been involved in contributing to the UN Office for the Prevention of Genocide’s Global Plan of Action for Religious Leaders & Actors. She was recently awarded the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Speakers:
Dr Michael Williams:
Title: The Seven Rooms of Memoir: Writing as Spiritual Autobiography.
Description: Inspired by the writings of St. Teresa of Avila, this presentation explores memoir writing as a contemplative practice. Michael Williams introduces the “Seven Rooms of Memoir”—Awareness, Honesty, Order, Devotion, Surrender, Union, and Service—offering a secular approach to spiritual autobiography that invites writers to reflect deeply on their lives and the meaning their stories hold.
Bio: Dr Michael Williams is a certified Guided Autobiography Instructor, memoir-writing coach, storyteller. He's also the founder of Memoir Studio (memoirstudio.ca), where he helps individuals transform memory into meaning. A former educator with a Ph.D. in English Literature and an accredited end-of-life planning facilitator, Dr Williams specializes in the therapeutic and spiritual dimensions of life writing. His work blends narrative craft with reflective practice to guide others toward healing, insight, and legacy through story.
Dr Iuliu-Marius Morariu:
Title: Spiritual Autobiography from the Eastern Orthodox Space: Context, Meaning, Role and Use.
Description: Despite of its relevance, spiritual autobiography was not an encouraged genre in the Eastern Orthodox space. Examples like the diaries of Saint John of Kronstadt, Saint Silouane the Athonite, Nicholas Beryev or N. Steinhardt are, rare example of spiritual autobiographies in an area where writing about the self was discouraged and considered a form of abjuration for the Christian humility. For this reason, the genre must be rediscovered and its multiple valences, emphasized. It is also the purpose of the present discussion, where we will not only take into account the landmarks of it in the aforementioned religious space, but we will talk about its value, particularities, or role.
Bio: Iuliu-Marius Morariu is a PhD in Theology (Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, RO), and a PhD in Social Sciences (Angelicum Pontifical Universities in Rome, Italy). He studied in Kosice, Slovakia, Geneva, Switzerland, Rome, Italy, Belgrade, Serbian Republic, Graz, Austria, and Stockholm (online MA classes). He published, edited, coordinated or translated more than 60 books and 400 studies and articles. His concerns in DH life and work are related with the fact that he worked on the spiritual autobiography.
Prof Arjan Post:
Title: The Conversion Narrative in Sufi Autobiographies.
Description: Although Muslim scholars, particularly in the premodern period, were not generally inclined to write autobiographies, a number of distinctive Sufi self-narratives do survive. These works are less concerned with offering a factual, historical account of their authors’ lives than with providing spiritual instruction to their readers. By portraying a trajectory of inner transformation—a conversion into the spiritual path—they aim to present an exemplary model worthy of emulation. In my talk, I will offer a case study that illustrates how this dynamic operates in practice.
Bio: Arjan Post is associate professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the KU Leuven (Belgium). His first monograph on the life and teachings of the ?anbali Sufi ?Imad al-Din A?mad al-Wasi?i (d. 711/1311) was published by Brill in 2020. His fields of interest include Sufism, kalam theology, and the intellectual history of the ?anbali school. He has published several articles on Sufism in Ibn Taymiyya’s circle, as well as an Arabic edition and English translation of a unique work by the Moroccan Sufi Ibn ?Ajiba (d. 1809). His current research project centers around the historical developments of Sufism and theology within the ?anbali school under the Mamluk sultanate.
Prof Sarah H. Jacoby:
Title: The Spiritual Autobiography of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro Dewé Dorjé.
Description: This talk will explore the extensive genre of Tibetan Buddhist life writing, with a focus on the early twentieth-century autobiography of Sera Khandro Dewé Dorjé, who was one of the few female Tibetan Buddhist figures to write the story of her spiritual liberation. The talk will introduce the author's complete annotated Tibetan-English translation called Sera Khandro: Autobiography of a Tibetan Buddhist Visionary, to be published in 2026 by Columbia University Press.
Author Bio: Sarah H. Jacoby is a professor in the Religious Studies Department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA. She specializes in Tibetan Buddhist studies, with research interests in Buddhist revelation (gter ma), religious auto/biography, Tibetan literature, gender and sexuality, translation studies, and the history of eastern Tibet. She is the author of Love and Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro (Columbia University Press, 2014), co-author of Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience (Oxford University Press, 2014; 2025), and co-editor of Buddhism Beyond the Monastery: Tantric Practices and their Performers in Tibet and the Himalayas (Brill, 2009). She has recently written articles on Buddhism and motherhood as well as the history of Vajrayāna sexuality. She has also recently completed a Tibetan-English translation of the autobiography of Sera Khandro Dewé Dorje (1892-1940). At Northwestern she teaches a range of Buddhist Studies courses for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Dr Sara Trevelyan:
Title: Finding Freedom: Reflections on how a search for freedom relates to the spiritual quest.
Description: From an early age I have always kept a journal. It’s my closest companion in life - a safe place where I record the often surprising unfolding of my life. I wrote this memoir while I was still emerging from a difficult time - it started almost accidentally but took on its own momentum. It’s really an account of an outer and an inner journey…the outer journey was about my marriage to Jimmy Boyle who when I met him was a prisoner in the Barlinnie Special Unit. Our marriage attracted a lot of publicity due to our very different backgrounds. Jimmy was released in 1981. We then began our lives together in the outside world, establishing a centre in Edinburgh called the Gateway Exchange and having two children. Our partnership was strong and fruitful in the early years of his freedom, but underneath strains emerged which eventually resulted in separation then divorce. At the same time I was undergoing a turbulent time of spiritual transformation which resulted in me discovering a deeper centre within myself - I call this place essence or soul, it’s a place of inner liberation. During this time I discovered Findhorn and as a result of attending early morning meditations had the privilege of developing a personal friendship with Eileen Caddy, who has been one of my most important spiritual mentors. This journey of Freedom Found continues as I grow into my 70s and become a grandmother….what does true freedom mean and how does this relate to the spiritual quest? What am I here to embody and share, what is my contribution to the greater whole?
Bio: Sara Trevelyan is a former doctor and psychiatrist who retrained as a psychotherapist, guided by her belief in the transformative power of the arts and therapeutic community. In 1980 she made headlines when she married Jimmy Boyle while he was serving a life sentence in the Barlinnie Special Unit in Glasgow. She later reflected on their relationship and the groundbreaking prison experiment in her 2017 memoir, Freedom Found, and more recently contributed to the retrospective book The Barlinnie Special Unit: Art, Punishment and Innovation, sharing first-hand insights into the Special Unit and its legacy.
Inspired by the Unit’s therapeutic and artistic ethos, Sara and Jimmy co-founded the Gateway Exchange in Edinburgh, a community centre supporting former prisoners, recovering addicts, and those in emotional distress. Retrained in Person-Centred counselling and integrating transpersonal approaches, she has worked for many years as a psychotherapist and interfaith minister, living between Findhorn and Edinburgh and continuing to champion compassionate, nature orientated, soul based practice. She has recently become a Trustee of the Findhorn Foundation Educational charity which is involved in restarting educational programs drawing on the rich history and legacy of this community, based in the Park Ecovillage.
Jill Purce:
Title: Healing Voice and Family Constellations.
Bio: Jill Purce is recognized internationally as the pioneer of both the Systemic Constellation and Healing Voice movements. She has taught and conducted both these throughout the world for over four decades with many thousands of people. She re-discovered ancient vocal techniques, the power of group chant, and the spiritual potential of the voice as a powerful instrument for healing and meditation. Her constellation work with families resolves and removes inherited family and ancestral traumas. Her process reveals the conflicting elements involved & effects their resolutions. She is the wife of the biologist Rupert Sheldrake and the mother of Merlin and Cosmo Sheldrake, Author of The Mystic Spiral, Overtone Chanting Meditations, and Healing Voice, www.healingvoice.com
An archive recording will be made for the EICSP archive.
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