Dear friends,

I’m excited to offer a rare, half-day of guided meditation practice on Saturday, May 4^th, plus a host of other upcoming online events. Next Saturday, we’ll gather in community, settle our bodies, and nourish the heart, all in service of discerning our place in a world that’s literally and figuratively on fire with climate scorching, war, dehumanization, and polarization.

I feel more strongly than ever about the need for clarity and calm in service of powerful action. Watching our son marvel at nature—the hummingbird in our yard, a bee on a flower—or run elatedly in open spaces gives me so much joy. And at the same time, I wonder what will the world be like for him when he comes of age in just two decades hence? 

I feel acutely the unrelenting process of global heating, the devastation of ecosystem collapse, and the utter failure of governments to take meaningful action. 

We are teetering on the brink of so much, a combination of spiraling, interconnected, global challenges—environmental, social, economic, technological, geopolitical—that has been called a polycrisis.

As our window narrows for averting the worst of climate disaster, the atrocities of war feel even more heartbreaking and ludicrous. We waste precious time and resources destroying one another when we desperately need to be changing course and building a better future.

I feel called to do all that I can to stay awake to the urgency of this moment, protect what we still have, and encourage all of us to find our place amidst the immense work we have to do. 

My tools grow from contemplative training: awareness, compassion, communication. Such skills nourish the heart, keep us from sinking in despair, burning up with anger, collapsing in fear, or checking out in exhaustion. Settling the mind and body, gladdening the heart, and seeing clearly give us the courage to face the truth. Doing it together creates the strength to keep going, finding joy in the journey. 

If you’re feeling stuck, lost, overwhelmed, angry—let’s practice together and clear the path ahead together with tenderness. Join me on May 4, or for any of my other upcoming online events.

In kindness,

Oren

Join me online

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See past reflections here.