John Makransky will enter participants into two contemplative practices from his Sustainable Compassion Training (SCT) approach for developing stable care and compassion. In this contemplative session, we will do a meditation of receiving care as a kind of empowerment. We are empowered to participate in the perspective and flow of care and compassion first by …
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Join two renowned leaders in the field of contemplative studies for a conversation reviewing a 15-year history of collaboration between contemplatives and neuroscientists, with perspectives from both traditions. The discussion will explore the philosophical and scientific issues germane to the investigation of well-being. The possibility of cultivating well-being will be considered, along with the underlying …
Given the rising popularity of meditation and many scientific claims about its benefits, it seems important that we understand how and why contemplative practice works. Indeed, there are many wonderful, inspiring, and beautiful stories for why meditation is helpful, descriptions that often serve to justify a particular system of practice. Unfortunately, not all accounts agree …
This will be an experiential workshop that includes critical contemplative practice and dialogue through the lens of Radical Dharma (Kyodo williams, Owens, Syedullah, 2016). It will further expand one’s field of practice and develop the concept of a social justice orientation to extend more deeply into practice and related communities. The experience will highlight the …
What is transformative insight, what methods lead to it, and what results come from it? Beyond short term benefits, lasting transformation from contemplative practice appears to come from shifts in the way practitioners see themselves, their experiences, their world, and others. Has the time come for a broader approach to contemplative practice, one that builds …
At the heart of contemplative pedagogy is the cultivation of what psychologist DeWit (1991) and neurobiologist Varela (1996) have called “first–person inquiry,” a method that valorizes critical subjectivity in science and social science endeavors. This lecture briefly surveys diverse theoretical foundations of this method, with emphasis on application to higher education teaching and learning in …
In 2002, His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote, “The desperate state of our world calls us to action…We all are responsible for creating a better future.” Over 15 years later, those words inspire and alarm. Enormous suffering exists in our world today. Mental health problems and adversity are prevalent and impairing, including among children and …
Continue reading “Keynote: To Be of Benefit: The Promise of Contemplative Research and Practice”
Join Ed Sarath, University of Michigan, and Mohammed Mohammed, Program Director of Research at the Fetzer Institute, as they guide you through a provocative dinner dialogue critically exploring the significance of worldview in contemplative development. What might contemplative studies, with its emphasis on epistemology “how we know” learn from consciousness studies and its ontological quest …
This lecture follows the tracks of the visionary/artist of Indigenous America as a path of mindfulness. The first track reveals the nature of dream and vision as viewed through the eyes and words of American Indian visionaries and artists, past and present. The second track explores the central role of vision in the context of …
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This master lecture roundtable panel brings together eminent scholars in the field to explore the very idea of Contemplative Studies and its future. Panelists will explore critical questions and probe the importance of collaborative research processes that involve first, second and third-person perspectives and span the disciplines. They will explore questions such as: What is …
