 Spring 2007 e-Newsletter |
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Contents
Our little town was blessed by a visit from His Holiness the Dalai Lama last week. The Tibetan community built a welcoming gate strung with colored flags; young Tibetans performed traditional dances in fabulous costumes, and the Center showed “Vajra Sky,” a film on the current spiritual and political realities of Tibet. The Dalai Lama spoke at Smith College in Northampton on the challenges of higher education. Without compassion, education and knowledge can be used for destructive purposes, he said; warm heartedness gives us the ability to use properly everything that we learn in our formal education. “Education gives a person strength, and a warm heart lets a person use all their knowledge for the best. Individual compassion is the key to sustaining peace of mind and peace throughout the world. Education can guide, but the heart must lead,” he said. “Worldwide we need to apply more attention to education and teach the importance of a warm heart from kindergarten through university.” At the Center we have been encouraging wisdom and warm-heartedness in higher education for more than 10 years. This year we will be granting fellowships in which course content and contemplative practices are related to the consideration of social conflict and injustice, the amelioration of suffering, and the promotion of peace. One example: David Haskell, Associate Professor of Biology at the University of the South and a 2005 Contemplative Practice Fellow, teaches a course called “Food and Hunger: Contemplation and Action.” The course includes work with local hunger-relief organizations and exploration of the contemplative practices that motivate and sustain many of those who work with the hungry. And imagine an architecture professor saying this: “I ask my students to sit in silence and then draw a simple map of their childhood, a map of the built environment where they grew up, with their house or apartment, school, playground, city block, friend’s house, corner store, grandmother’s house, whatever they remember that mattered to them, and they see how the structures of a community fit together and create meaning.” Brad Grant, Fellow in Architecture at Hampton University, shared this practice with us at the San Francisco conference, “Uncovering the Heart of Higher Education.” In his course, "Urban and Community Design and Contemplative Environmental Design Practice," he is using contemplative practices to help students get to a deeper and more connected understanding of what it means to build, to create, to live a meaningful life inside a structure. Education systems reflect society’s values, so most of current American education pays little attention to the potential contributions of contemplative values and perspective, including compassion and loving kindness. But society is changing, and education can either support the status quo or prepare students for the emerging new directions. By encouraging warm heartedness and contemplative ways of knowing in higher education in diverse disciplines, we are developing a new form of inquiry and imaginative thinking to complement critical thinking and the scientific method, and we are educating active citizens who will support a more just and compassionate direction for society. This year we are offering fellowships again and an introductory retreat on contemplative practices. Join us if you are an academic, and support us even if you are not! Be part of working for a just, sustainable, and compassionate future. In peace, Mirabai Bush
New Contemplative Academic Association The Center announces the formation of the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education. The Association will be open to scholars, teachers, administrators with faculty appointments, and retired and emeriti faculty. Fees will be on a sliding scale. Applications to the Association will be distributed in Fall 2007. Watch your electronic mailbox!
Now there are more ways to donate to Cmind! We support buying from local businesses whenever possible, although there's always that used book or import CD we have to order from an online vendor. For times like these we've signed on to become an "Amazon Affiliate." If you visit amazon.com through clicking one of the recommended items on our website, Amazon will donate a percentage of the sale to the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society! The more this feature is used, the more the percentage grows. And the best part is, this program is not limited to our recommended items; we are eligible to receive a portion of the sale of any item, excluding those sold at amazon.com through other companies such as Shutterfly or Sephora. Visit these recommended resources to get started!
Visit our donation page at www.contemplativemind.org/donate.html
Meditation, prayer, yoga ... most are familiar with the benefits of these practices, but what about painting, singing, cooking, gardening? As our Tree of Practices continues to incorporate the formal and informal, the traditional and the contemporary, we invite you to leave your mark. What helps you find peace and inspiration? Email us at info@contemplativemind.org and share what helps you connect.
We've recently posted 2 videos introducing the Center on YouTube , created by Dan Kowalski of Rollingbay Works.
Click on the videos above or follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=contemplative+mind&search=Search
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The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society's Contemplative Practice FellowshipsThe application period for 2008-09 fellowships is now open! Amount: up to $10,000 This program is sponsored by the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society and made possible by funding from the Fetzer Institute. These fellowships seek to restore and renew the critical contribution that contemplative practices can make to the life of teaching and scholarship. At the heart of the program is the belief that pedagogical and intellectual benefits might be discovered by bringing contemplative practice into the academy. Contemplative practices are part of all major religious and spiritual traditions, and have long had a place in intellectual and ethical inquiry. Depending upon the tradition from which they come, contemplative practices are defined in a variety of ways. They can be broadly understood as methods to develop concentration, deepen understanding and insight, and cultivate awareness and compassion. Approximately ten fellowships will be offered to support individual or collaborative research leading to the development of courses and teaching materials that integrate contemplative practices into courses. These fellowships are designed to advance scholarship in the field, to encourage a recognition of the role of contemplation in the intellectual life, and to inform educational practice and enhance course design. We invite proposals from the full range of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary perspectives in the arts, humanities, and humanities-related sciences and social sciences. Methodologies that include practical and experiential approaches to the subject matter are especially welcome. The selection committee especially welcomes proposals in which course content and contemplative practices are related to the consideration of social conflict and injustice, the amelioration of suffering, and the promotion of peace. Such contemplative practices can lead to genuine insights and deeper appreciation of the material under study. These fellowships are intended to support scholars for developing curricula during a summer or an academic-year semester. Individual scholars, partnerships, or groups of scholars may apply, but the maximum fellowship stipend of $10,000 may not be exceeded for any one project. Prior experience with contemplative practice is encouraged. Assurance from the appropriate department head, attesting that the applicant will be permitted to teach the course resulting from his/her research within the academic year following the tenure of the fellowship, will be required. Eligibility Guidelines Regular full-time faculty members at accredited academic institutions in the United States are eligible to apply for these fellowships. There are no citizenship restrictions. How to apply Visit http://www.contemplativemind.org/programs/academic/fellowships.html For more information, please visit http://www.acls.org/conprac.htm
Awake to this Moment:
Pre-registration and non-refundable pre-payment required by Friday, June 22nd.
Contemplative Retreat for Higher Education Academics Space is limited to 26 participants; please send your application early! The Center is pleased to offer our first retreat for academics that will give in-depth training in personal contemplative practices as well as contemplative methods adapted for the classroom. Although most of the time will be spent in silence, including some silent meals, there will be two discussions about the relationship of practices and the contemplative perspective to teaching, learning, and knowing. The retreat is designed to appeal to participants with a wide range of experience in contemplative practice, from beginners to seasoned practitioners List of facilitators: For registration and more information visit www.contemplativemind.org/programs/academic/register.htm |
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Uncovering the Heart of Higher Education: More than 600 faculty members, administrators, student-life professionals, and chaplains from the broad spectrum of American colleges and universities attended the February 22-25 “Uncovering the Heart of Education” conference on integrative learning and spirituality in higher education. The conference was co-sponsored by the Fetzer Institute and California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). The Center for Contemplative Mind played a prominent role in the conference: ten of the 49 workshops were organized by the Center and led by Contemplative Practice Fellows; our day-long pre-conference was oversubscribed and filled within a month of the announcement; and a number of Academic Program advisors and summer session participants gave workshops and paper presentations. The conference drew together theoretical, pedagogical, and relational teaching perspectives from across the nation that support a more holistic approach to education, one founded on a growing recognition of the need for students to integrate their inner selves and outer vocations. Sessions explored the possibilities to make colleges and universities places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty, and staff. It was a rich offering with a diversity of topics explored during the weekend. This report offers a summary of the conference purpose and the sessions led by Contemplative Mind staff, fellows, advisors, and summer session participants. “The widespread support of the conference affirms the notion that integrative education, including models that connect religion and spirituality to the curricular and co-curricular programs on campus, is very much in the consciousness of higher education,” said CIIS President Joseph Subbiondo. Among the topics discussed in the more than 50 facilitated sessions and keynotes addresses: For more about the session, including transcripts from two keynote speakers, Diana Chapman-Walsh (Wellesley College President) and Alexander and Helen Astin (principle investigator’s of the UCLA “Spirituality in Higher Education” research project), please refer to www.heartofeducation.org.
Sitting in the Fire with Integrity On a chilly March morning, people from as far as Rhode Island gathered to spend the day learning how one can find strength and peace within chaos and conflict. The successful and sold out workshop led by Margi Gregory (Director of the Zen Peacemaker Circles, USA) and Rose Sackey-Milligan (Director of The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society Social Justice Program) included reflection on core values, meditation and authentic communication techniques, such as council and matrix. The skills shared in this workshop applied to families, the workplace and other groups, with support for creating on-going circles. Social Justice Program Mentor Meeting In the warm exhilaration of the beginning of spring, five staff members of The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society and seven established mentors from the Social Justice Program’s Emerging Leaders Gathering series met at the Garrison Institute in Garrison, NY. During this meeting, the first of its type, the Center’s staff and mentors discussed the value of combining contemplative practice with social action. The mentors use the retreat setting to tailor unique workshops for individuals and organizations in the social justice movement. These mentors, who come from various spiritual traditions, were chosen because they model a collaboration the Social Justice Program envisions for future retreats. They are admired for the way they collectively address conflict, challenge one another, take responsibility for what they share, both within and outside of the retreat setting and, among so many other things, respect each others words without shutting one another out. They will play a significant role in future retreats in an advisory capacity because of their depth of spiritual practice, as well as their deep commitments to both their communities and integrating contemplative practice and social justice work. We are excited to see what the future will bring.
Lawyer's Retreat at Spirit Rock
Sold out a month before it started, this retreat epitomized the unique and important work that the Center offers the legal profession. More than 85 legal professionals spent four days practicing meditation, yoga, and Qi Gong. In large and small group discussions, they shared deeply about ethical dilemmas in law practice and experiences with bias and racism—conversations enhanced by the sacred container of silence. The theme of the “meditative perspective,” the Bay Area Working Group’s articulation of the way our meditation practice informs our work in the legal profession, pervaded the teachings and conversations. Many retreatants told me they looked forward to returning next year. One participant summarized the retreat beautifully in her evaluation form: “The combination of silence, meditation, and very real and meaningful discussions – it allowed us to cut out all the networking and unnecessary discussions that often happen during a normal conference, and instead turn inward and take an honest look at ourselves as individuals and as lawyers – it allowed us to really be real with each other when we did speak.” We bring a profoundly useful service to a profession rife with suffering and unhappiness. Pressure, disconnection, and other obstacles are engrained in lawyers from the moment they enter law school. Most graduate with no tools to cultivate their inner lives, let alone relate it to their external worlds. The Law Program offers lawyers a path to connection, joy, and a deeper understanding of justice.
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Skillful Means: Setting Boundaries With Clients In this retreat we will use meditation, meditative practice and discussion to consider how we respond when our clients create difficulties by doing exactly what we have told them not to do. Clients contact opposing parties, dispose of assets, ignore contracts, coach witnesses. How can we effectively set boundaries yet maintain the necessary relationship of trust? We will also consider the substance abuse that often accompanies our stressful practice. Finally, we will explore our habit of judging and how this relates to elimination of bias. Gentle yoga will be offered by senior students and there will be time for yoga practice. There will be plenty of time for enjoying Tassajara as well. 6 hours of MCLE credit have been applied for: 2 hours ethics, 2 hours general, 1 hour substance abuse and 1 hour elimination of bias. For more information visit: The Maezumi Institute's House of One People presents: Father Bruce Teague is the former President of the Western Massachusetts Interfaith Council and former Ecumenical Officer of the Diocese of Springfield, and was a member of the Amherst Clergy Association. Father Teague has been committed to interracial and cross-cultural communications for more than 25 years. He has served in parishes in the inner city of Boston, Springfield and Holyoke, and has studied in the Dominican Republic. Please contact Father Teague with questions related to the content of the Vespers and Meditation group at info@paxetbonum.org. For Directions:http://www.zenpeacemakers.org/about/directions.htm For more information visit: Mind and Life Summer Research Institute The purpose of the Mind and Life Summer Research Institute is to advance collaborative research among behavioral scientists, neuroscientists, and biomedical researchers based on a process of inquiry, dialogue, and in some cases, collaboration, with Buddhist contemplative practitioners and scholars and those in other contemplative traditions. For more information visit: The Buddhist Peace Fellowship Young Adult Retreat For more information visit: The Buddhist Peace Fellowship Teen Retreat For more information visit: Earthsong Teen Retreat in Virginia For more information visit: Spiritual/Global Psychology Summer Institute Spiritual/Global Psychology draws upon a variety of spiritual and psychological traditions bringing together principles and practices that support transformation and healing within individuals, groups, and communities. For the past few years, the summer institute has explored the integration of personal, community and social transformation encouraging a deeper commitment to spiritual activism. For more information, visit: The Soul of Education Foundation Course Experience renewal, reflection and practical strategies for your work with children and youth at this institute for teachers, counselors and administrators where we focus on building heart, spirit and community in the classroom. For more information visit: Earthsong Teen Retreat in Virginia For more information visit: The Soul of Education Breathe new life into what and how you teach. Now used extensively in public and private schools, The Soul of Education is a twenty-year model that awakens empathy and compassion among students and teachers. Receive practical strategies for integrating play, ritual, stillness, expressive arts and community building to inspire young people. Explore principles and practices essential to nurturing the inner life of your students. Enhance your ability to create caring classrooms and groups in which students are focused, attentive and motivated to learn. This workshop is for teachers, administrators, counselors and parents seeking renewal, reflection, and inspiration. For more information visit: The Balanced Lawyer: Mindfulness Training for Lawyers & Legal Professionals For more information visit: Being Change: The Way of the Activist For more information visit:
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The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society top image by Lisa Berry |
Dear Friends,
Saturday July 28th - 10am-7pm