A Conversation with David Loy
August 5th, 6 p.m. Eastern
What if the ecological and social crises of our moment are not separate problems to be solved one at a time, but symptoms of a single, deeper delusion: our sense of being selves separate from an objectified world?
In his new book, Loving the World as Our Body: The Nondual Path in a Dangerous Time (Wisdom Publications, 2026), Zen teacher and scholar David R. Loy traces that sense of separation through both our evolutionary inheritance and the religious traditions that have shaped how we understand transcendence, salvation, and our place in the cosmos.
Drawing on evolutionary psychology and the spiritual breakthroughs of the Axial Age, Loy argues that the paths most of us have inherited are outdated and no longer adequate to the world we have built. What we need today is a spirituality that loves this world: recognizing the earth and its creatures as manifestations of the sacred.
Join us for an intimate conversation between David Loy and Garrison Institute Managing Director Steve Varley, followed by live audience Q&A. Together we’ll explore the nondual heart of Ecodharma: what it means to wake up from the dream of separation, how contemplative practice can loosen the grip of the separate self, and what “loving the world as our body” asks of us both individually and collectively and how can we respond appropriately to a truly dangerous time.
Come with your questions. This is a participatory conversation, with opportunity to dialogue with David directly.
***The Zoom link will be emailed within 24 hours of signing up*****
SPEAKERS
David R. Loy is a writer, scholar, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage of Japanese Buddhism. He began Zen practice in Hawai’i in 1971 with Yamada Koun and Robert Aitken and continued his training with Yamada Koun Roshi in Japan, where he lived for nearly twenty years; he was authorized to teach in 1988. One of the most influential voices in socially engaged Buddhism, he is the author of many books, including Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis, A New Buddhist Path, The World Is Made of Stories, Money, Sex, War, Karma, and, most recently, Loving the World as Our Body. He is a co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center in Colorado and has led retreats and workshops around the world. In 2014 he received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Carleton College, which he returned in 2016 to protest the board’s refusal to divest from fossil fuels. His writings, talks, and podcasts are available at davidloy.org.
Steve Varley serves as Managing Director of the Garrison Institute, where he leads strategy, program development, and organizational partnerships across the Institute’s work at the intersection of contemplative practice and social change. Since joining the Garrison Institute, he has helped shape and expand initiatives including the Spirituality and Social Change program, the Bioregional Resilience Project, and an exploration of contemplative and systems-level perspectives in graduate business education. Steve’s previous roles include positions at National Public Radio, Yale University, and the University of North Carolina, where his tenure in development was marked by record-breaking fundraising years and a distinctive orientation toward community partnership- including deep engagement with the Lumbee Tribe. He is a practicing member of the Zen Peacemakers, an interfaith social engagement order.