Courage, Mindfulness & Wisdom for Navigating These Times of the Great Turning
Guided by Michelle & Joel Levey
8 Weekly Sessions – Live on-line
Two hours per session
NOTE: While this session has concluded, we warmly welcome opportunities to offer this program again for for other organizations/sponsors.
Recordings will be available ) )) )))
“The world we have created is a product of our thinking.
We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking
we used when we created them.
–Albert Einstein
As this New Year unfolds, bringing with it a cascade of continued disruptions, heartbreaks, and opportunities, we invite you to join us for a deep exploration of themes related to Sacred Activism, and to the subtle, profound, and practical ways that the quality of our embodied presence, our thinking, beliefs, perceptions, intentions, prayers, choices, and actions ripple out to touch, influence, and shape our world and the interwoven fields of our collective interbeing.
Given that each of us is embedded within the seamless fabric of wholeness and the larger body of life, how can we expand the reach of our capacity for receiving, radiating, and assuring the impact of our lives in beneficial ways?
The unraveling state of our world leads many of us to wonder:
– Where do we find the strength and courage necessary to stand strong, aware, responsive, and adaptable amidst the tsunamis of change and challenge present in these times?
– How can we truly live as a “force for good” at a time when so many things are so unsettling and uncertain?
– How can we increase our capacity to keep our eyes, minds, and hearts open without being overwhelmed by our empathic resonance with the suffering present in our lives and world?
– How can we deepen our wisdom and widen our responsive compassion regarding ourselves, others, and the state of our world?
– How can our inner work, intentions, and state of being generate waves of influence and impact that ripple out into our lives and world in the most beneficial of ways?
– How do we align our lives with a Sacred View that is congruent with the True Nature of reality, rather than misaligned and at odds with it?
Weaving perspectives from modern science, ancient contemplative wisdom, and EcoDharma teachings, we will explore a variety of inspiring themes, resources, and topics to expand the horizons of our knowing, sensing, worldview, and meaningful engagement with our world.
Each session will offer meditations, explorations, discussion of vital themes, small group reflection and dialogue, and readings and media to inspire our explorations of the myriad ways our inner and outer world weave together in meaningful ways.
(See session details below.)
Recordings of each session will be available for continued reflection and review.
Our “Sacred Activism Learning Hub” web page will also offer a treasury of inspiring resources, links, and postings for you to explore.
Co-Inspiration:
We encourage you to gather a circle of friends and kindred souls to form local/regional groups to participate in person together, so please share this invitation with friends and “study buddies” who may be called to join you in this nourishing and inspiring learning adventure of discovery! Sharing in this way will also deepen and develop enriching community, collective wisdom, insight, and impact.
“In this era, to become a spiritual inquirer without social consciousness is a luxury that we can ill afford, and to be a social activist without a scientific understanding of the inner workings of the mind is the worst folly. Neither approach in isolation has had any significant success. There is no question now that an inquirer will have to make an effort to be socially conscious or that an activist will have to be persuaded of the moral crisis in the human psyche, the significance of being attentive to the inner life.
The challenge awaiting us is to go much deeper as human beings, to abandon superficial prejudices and preferences, to expand understanding to a global scale, integrating the totality of living, and to become aware of the wholeness of which we are a manifestation.”
~ Vimala Thaker
Reciprocity: In the spirit of reciprocity this inspiring 8 week program is being offered on a suggested sliding scale ranging from $360 to $1080. We appreciate your presence, interest, and generous support. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If you need assistance in this way please contact us and let us know your situation.
TO REGISTER: Email us to confirm your intention to participate via “Contact Us Link“
Please write “Sacred Activism” in your Subject Line – and we will send you details on how to send your payment.
Course Overview
“Humanity is now too clever to survive without wisdom”
~ EF Schumacher
🌿 Session 1 – Feb. 8:
Expanding Our View of the Nature of Reality:
Where do “you” end and the rest of the universe begin?
How vast is your intention, reach, and impact?
Themes for this session will include:
– Awakening the courage to be fully present, giving rise to a vaster view of our place, power, and impact in the universe; deeper insight, expanding our sense of connection, interrelationship, empathic resonance, and the compassionate responsiveness that we bring to our lives, relationships, and world.
– Living wisely and compassionately in the VUCA+ times of the “Great Unraveling” and the “Great Turning.” (VUCA+ refers to Volatile, Uncertain, Chaotic/Complex, Ambiguous, + at times Absurd.)
– The First Nations’ notion of Wetiko, a “mind virus” at the core of humanity’s gravest challenges. This “sickness of the spirit” operates through our unconscious, driving us toward actions that contradict our personal and collective well-being.
– Otto Scharmer’s insightful work on the profound impacts of “absencing” and “presencing,” and on bridging the 3 divides: Ecological, Social, and Spiritual.
– Insights from the Mindfulness Initiative’s report, Reconnection, and the profound personal and collective impacts of our engagement – or lack of engagement – in the vital connectivity the sustains our lives.
– Sacred view, meditation, and embodiment.
🌿 Session 2- Feb. 15:
Inspirations from Joanna Macy on interbeing, the Great Turning, and the Shambhala prophecy, plus insights from Nora Bateson – author of Combining, and Small Arcs of Larger Circles – on the wisdom of ambiguity and the complex ecology of communication where everyone and everything is interwoven, and every action ripples out as a chain of incalculable consequences.
🌿 Session 3 – Feb. 22:
Insights on “Quantum Activism” from physicist Amrit Gotswami’s inspiring work of this same title, and from the “Subtle Energy” chapter of the Leveys’ Living in Balance book.
🌿 Session 4 – March 1:
Examining the profound and measurable impacts of mind at a distance, drawing insight from empirical research by respected colleagues: Larry Dossey, M.D. (pioneer in research on prayer), Dean Radin (Institute of Noetic Sciences), Mietek Wirkus (Wirkus Foundation and Walter Reed Army Hospital), Robert Jahn and Brenda Dunne (PEAR – Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research project), and Robert O. Becker (pioneer researcher in electrophysiology and electromedicine).
🌿 Session 5 – March 8:
Deep insights from quantum physics and consciousness from David Bohm’s Infinite Potentials (movie).
🌿 Sessions 6-7 – March 15 & 22:
In the Shadow of the Buddha (book) exploring the profound, exciting, and inspiring, true story of the 13th Dalai Lama (the previous Dalai Lama) and Terton Sogyal’s sacred activism that blended powerful inner technologies related to awakening wisdom, compassion, and skillful means, to help mitigate the impacts of the impending Chinese invasion, holocaust, and occupation of Tibet.
🌿 Session 8 – March 29:
Integration, Deep Reflection, & Celebration: Weaving all these insights together into the fabric of our lives and our interrelationship with all beings.
