ABOUT ST LUCIA SPIRITUALITY
St Lucia Spirituality is your pioneering friend in the realm of spirituality, offering a modern and innovative approach. Through warmth, authenticity, and transparency, we create a welcoming and inclusive community where individuals feel empowered to explore their spirituality with openness.
OUR VISION
To create an inclusive community of spiritual seekers committed to nurturing higher levels of consciousness, mutual support and personal transformation.
OUR MISSION
At St Lucia Spirituality, our mission is to provide a forum and resources for individuals to discover and nurture their spiritual journey. We strive to offer guidance and support to those seeking a deeper understanding of spirituality and personal growth.
OUR VALUES
RESPECT
DIFFERENCE
We understand that every seeker has a different life experience and a unique spiritual journey. We recognise and respect difference and seek unity, not uniformity.
INFORMED CONSCIENCE
We uphold the primacy of an informed conscience, advocating for its precedence in instances where conflicts arise between religious tradition and personal beliefs.
OPENNESS
Openess to revelation through critical enquiry, a search for meaning, living the questions now, challenging personal and collective paradigms and transformative worldviews
INCLUSION AND ACCEPTANCE
We value and promote inclusion and acceptance of all seekers.
JOURNEY
TOGETHER
The spiritual journey is not just an individual pursuit. There is an essential communal component that is found in small groups of mutual support and larger worshipping communities.
WISDOM IN ALL RELIGIONS
No religion has a mortgage on truth. There is great wisdom in other religious and spiritual traditions which can inform one’s spiritual journey.
OUR STORY
St Lucia Spirituality evolved in Brisbane, Australia over recent years out of two friends, John Scoble and Robert van Mourik, meeting for coffee and discussing their search for spiritual growth. We began in 2015 with meetings of a small group and a local seminar series on Anthony de Mello’s book “Awareness”. With positive feedback, we started a private Facebook Group to encourage discussion about life’s essential questions. When the Covid-19 pandemic escalated, we moved our meetings online.
We launched our website in 2024 and acknowledge the incredible support and assistance provided to us by Kate Dombroski and her team at Uforia.com.au
Our growing community meets monthly on Zoom to consider a discussion paper and has now attracted a diverse membership interstate and internationally. Our private Facebook page, monthly newsletter and website provide resources to support an increasing number of requests for information. We support the formation of small neighbourhood groups to facilitate discussion and provide trustworthy mutual support.
WHAT DOES SPIRITUALITY MEAN?
Spirituality has many connotations. We accept the definition proposed by Anthony de Mello SJ in his book Awareness:
“Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing we call human existence.”
“An awakened person: a person who no longer marches to the drums of society, a person who dances to the tune of the music that springs up from within. Awareness means to watch, to observe, to understand, to wake up.”
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CONSEQUENTLY, WE ARE DRAWN TO THESE IDEAS
“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.”
Howard Thurman, spiritual advisor to Dr Martin Luther King
“Even those who showed only a faint interest, merely inquiring about spiritual matters, progress further than the ones who merely follow the rites and ceremonies of their belief systems unthinkingly, and thus stall their true spiritual advancement.”
Jack Hawley, The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners
CATERPILLAR to BUTTERFLY
We regard an individual’s spiritual journey as a life-long experience of learning and transition.
We have termed our meeting and discussion papers as “The Butterfly Series”. A caterpillar enters a cocoon and undergoes an incubation period of transformation, emerging eventually as a butterfly. In a similar way, the spiritual seeker undergoes an incubation period of questioning, research, reading and conversation, emerging eventually with a transformed worldview. The butterfly represents for us an appropriate metaphor for the transition that a seeker on a spiritual journey will experience from time to time.
INTRODUCING THE CO-FOUNDERS OF ST LUCIA SPIRITUALITY
ROBERT VAN MOURIK
Robert, a co-founder and guiding presence within St Lucia Spirituality, brings a wealth of insight and dedication to our community. While his roots lie in the Catholic tradition, Robert's spiritual journey has been one of profound inquiry and introspection, spanning many decades in search of what he terms "a coherent worldview."
Drawing inspiration from luminaries such as Anthony de Mello, Richard Rohr, Diarmuid O’Murchu, and Ilia Delio, Robert's quest for spiritual truth has been shaped by the wisdom gleaned from countless authors and mentors. Their insights have served as guiding beacons, illuminating the path towards deeper understanding and connection.
It was in the shared bond of seeking spiritual growth that Robert first crossed paths with John, their encounters over coffee in 2012 marking the genesis of a transformative journey. These intimate gatherings, fuelled by conversations on influential books and the evolving landscape of their perspectives, soon blossomed into vibrant small groups and virtual meetings on platforms like Zoom.
Through newsletters, discussion papers, and a shared commitment to fostering meaningful dialogue, Robert has played an instrumental role in nurturing the thriving community of seekers within St Lucia Spirituality. His dedication to facilitating growth, exploration, and connection reflects the essence of the community's ethos - a journey of discovery and transformation, embarked upon together.
JOHN SCOBLE
John's journey began in the heart of a traditional Roman Catholic family in Sydney, where he was raised with steadfast faith and reverence. Now residing in the serene surroundings of St Lucia, Brisbane, alongside his beloved wife, John finds solace and inspiration in the tranquil rhythms of life.
With four adult children and a cherished grandchild also calling Brisbane home, John's family is his anchor, providing love, support, and a sense of belonging.
While spirituality has always been a cornerstone of his life, it was three transformative events in 2012, including a sacred pilgrimage to the Holy Lands, that ignited a profound shift in John's spiritual trajectory. Embracing retirement as an opportunity for deeper exploration, John immersed himself in extensive reading and soulful reflection.
Over the course of a decade, this journey of self-discovery has led John to reevaluate and transcend many of his traditional beliefs, embracing instead the timeless wisdom and cosmic perspective inherent in Christianity. Influenced by luminaries such as St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, and Richard Rohr, John's spiritual evolution has been marked by a deepening resonance with the essential truths of his faith and a profound connection to the divine unfolding within and around him.
