Mindfulness & Ethical Evolution: A Daylong Online Retreat
with Matthew Brensilver
Saturday, March 13th, 2021 | 9:30am – 4:00pm ET
We live in relationship with everything else and life is an endless flow of giving and receiving. This makes ethical conduct central to our spiritual life. How do we mature as ethical beings? What are the skills and strengths required for ethical evolution and how can mindfulness serve this effort?
The Buddhist teachings on ethics – sila – provide wise counsel on harmful acts from which we ought to refrain. But is refraining from overt harm the end of the story? What more might we owe?
In this daylong, we’ll examine the process – in our direct experience – of maturing our ethical commitments. The process is facilitated by the perception of non-separation, an intimacy with the experience of suffering, a willingness to grieve, a spirit of renunciation and the courage to relinquish familiar understandings of ourselves.
This is not a program about determining how you should live, but instead suggests a path towards living in deeper alignment with what you already believe. All are welcome.
Matthew will also be teaching an evening program on Friday. See details here. Or register for both programs below.
Registration:
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off. Please contact [email protected] if you need assistance.
Registration Fees include Teacher Support
New York Insight Meditation Center has streamlined the registration fee levels. Members of our Circle of Friends are eligible to receive 20% off of the Sustaining Rate via a code provided in the email confirming membership, which you can enter after clicking the Sustaining Level registration.
*Benefactor Level: Supports NYI’s ability to offer the Subsidized Base.
**Sustaining Level: This level reflects the actual costs to support this program. Circle of Friends members eligible for 20% discount with code. Click here to join.
***Subsidized Base: Made possible by the generosity of Benefactor Level above and other donations to ensure participation by those requiring financial assistance.
If you have questions about your registration (cancellation policy, membership discount, email confirmation, etc.), please read our FAQs. If your question is not addressed in the FAQs, please email [email protected].
If you are unable to pay the Subsidized Base Fee, you can learn about volunteering to offer work exchange and letting us know how much you are able to pay for this program by emailing [email protected].
Teacher(s)
Matthew Brensilver
Matthew Brensilver, MSW, PhD teaches retreats at the Insight Retreat Center, Spirit Rock and other Buddhist centers. He was previously program director for Mindful Schools and for more than a decade, was a core teacher at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. Matthew worked as a clinical social worker, serving severely and persistently mentally ill adults and adolescents. He subsequently earned a PhD from the School of Social Work at USC. His dissertation examined the mechanisms of risk and resilience in maltreated adolescents in a large, longitudinal study in South Los Angeles. Before committing to teach meditation full-time, he spent years doing research on addiction pharmacotherapy at the UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine. Each year, he offers a course examining the synergy between Buddhist psychology and evidence-based psychotherapy. Matthew serves on the Board of Directors at Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Center.