Developer Jonathan Rose and physician Prabhjot Singh each published books infused with systems thinking in 2016. Rose’s The Well-Tempered City: What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations, and Human Nature Teach Us About the Future of Urban Life offers a model for how to design our cities in ways that increase the equality, resilience, adaptability, and well-being of its residents. Singh’s Dying…
These are deeply upsetting times for everyone concerned about our planet, its climate, and the life on it. As the initial shock of the election passes, and a more sober reality emerges, it’s time to pause, breath, and find a still center from which to plan and act as we consider next steps. This is where spiritual practices can be…
Welcome to episode nine of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each episode, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between climate change, resilience, contemplative practice, and human behavior. Kristin Barker is the director and co-founder of One Earth Sangha. The group’s mission is to bring the essential wisdom and practices from the Buddhist tradition to collective engagement on critical ecological crises. A native…
During his recent retreat at the Garrison Institute, we spoke with scholar and meditation teacher Alan Wallace about how to cultivate stillness, increase productivity, and determine whether an activity is worth doing. Many people have the sense that they are too busy or distracted in their daily lives. What’s on the other side of that? If a person practices meditation regularly, do…
In the wake of last night’s election results, many of us are experiencing feelings of confusion, sadness, doubt, anger, and fear. Whatever we’re feeling, though, it’s important to allow ourselves to fully experience our emotions. As meditation teacher and author Ethan Nichtern says, “The point of meditation is not to suppress your feelings. It is to make friends with yourself.”…
When individuals try to maximize their own benefits, systems collapse. When individuals are committed to optimizing their communities, they thrive. This requires a world view that understands that all of life is part of an interdependent system, and only when we infuse that system with compassion for all life will it progress through the current global trends. At a recent…
In the video above, filmed during her recent Garrison Institute retreat, Joanna Macy discusses the poetry and spirituality of Rainer Maria Rilke. She talks about how the young poet found the sacred in ordinary life, how he had an incredible sense of what the 20th century had in store, and how he tells readers to “let everything happen to you, both the…
What happens to our bodies after we die? Most of us are either cremated or conventionally buried in a cemetery. Katrina Spade, the founder and director of the Urban Death Project, says that both of these options are wasteful and “ensure that the very last thing that most of us will do on this earth is poison it.” She has…