Omid Safi is a celebrated academic, Islamic scholar, On Being columnist, and author of several books including his latest, Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition. With a strong focus on contemporary movements and linking mystical traditions of Islam with the work of Dr. King and Malcolm X, his new book renews and refreshes our sense of hope and…
Humankind’s ability to thrive in a changing world depends on a major overhaul of the way cities are built and organized, and a dramatic increase in the amount of land protected for the sake of biodiversity. Those were key components of the Garrison’s Institute’s recent symposium, Pathways to Planetary Health (April 17-19, 2018), along with regenerative economics and pervasive altruism.…
What does mindfulness look like in the modern workplace, and how do you successfully integrate it into an organization? This spring, we sought to explore these questions at our event, Mindfulness in the C-Suite: When Wellness and Well-Being Matter. Co-hosted by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and the Garrison Institute, the event featured a panel discussion moderated by Rachel…
It is a beautiful, sunny day not long before the summer solstice and I am hiking once again in the mountains near my home in western North Carolina. For weeks before this, the late spring sky has been overcast, or it has rained – seemingly non-stop in dismal and uncharacteristic bouts of oppressively tropical humidity followed by sudden and torrential…
In your journey to understanding what it means to be human on this planet at this time, it can become quite overwhelming to think of the many ways of comprehending the nature of reality. What is life all about? How do we create well-being in our individual and collective lives? How do we stay aware of what is happening in…
In a small, cinder-block room lit by shards of afternoon sun sneaking in through windows in the ceiling, thirteen jail guards in dark blue uniforms sit quietly on gray plastic chairs. The only sound comes from the blowing fan and the occasional squawk of their handheld walkie-talkie radios. The room is labeled “chapel,” though the only sign of that purpose is…
Digital Culture, Digital Media What are we doing with our digits? We count and calculate using our fingers. We paint, draw, and access all manner of tools through our fine motor articulation. Musical keyboards require all fingers to produce something of resonance, as does a violin or a guitar. All of our creative activity produces some form of digital media…
The racial ignorance and distress we see in the world today is a reflection of the mind playing itself out in grand scale on the big screen, projecting our collective conscious and unconscious conditioning. Every one of our lives represents a mosaic, with many shades, shadows, and shapes of experiences. In our relational world of vast diversity, kinship, and division,…