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Extraordinarily, amid wars, floods and droughts, economic disequilibrium, the upending of the nature of truth, challenges to racial and gender and religious equality and rights and acceptance, hostilities against the sciences and humanities, and the rise of threats to democracy, globally and at home, without much effort we may each in our own way and collectively recognize we live in precarious times. Moreover, as old and new realities part company, we see gather a host of unknowns about our near-term future. In our personal and common lives these strands of seemingly abrupt shifts in the way we live coalesce into worry, anxiety, preoccupation and sometimes divisiveness - among other forms of our reactions to trauma - that, unacknowledged, pinch and sap our human possibilities. In the face of such gathered and mounting changes - in which, frankly, the fate of our Earth seems in the balance - we ask, "How do we awaken the time we're in?" We understand that preliminary to answering this question is understanding from our individual perspectives, and as a community, country and citizens of the universe, just where we are; and that the solution to this lack of common knowledge falls to our talking about it in effective ways. Indeed, at its root what got us into this tangle may be the absence of dialogue. This is what we seek to foster and build on as a way of healing.
The "Healing Through Dialogue" program will include a talk on equanimous dialogue with Roberta Wall of the Center for Non-Violent Communication; and a speaker from Blue Cliff Monastery, a mindfulness practice center and monastic training center founded by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, author, and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh. We then will enact what we have learned in moderated discussion. The program will conclude with a performance of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land."
To note: we chose this date, four years past the assault and occupation of the U.S. Capitol, to gather as we sense this event holds a special place in our national psyche's explicit and latent wound.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
First Church of Christ, Scientist, 85 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY, United States
