Postponed: Seeing in the Dark – The Role of the Dreamer in Collective Awakening
with Deborah Eden Tull
Due to storm Ian, this daylong retreat is postponed.
As our world changes physically and socio-politically, and more people feel uprooted by global uncertainty, there is an invitation to dream a more life affirming dream, on behalf of our collective. One of the gifts of uncertainty is that it requires us to recognize and let go of unconscious biases that have been passed down for generations. These include the perception that splits into opposites and values light over dark, speed over slowing down, productivity over attunement, and the rational mind over intuition, dreaming, and conscious use of the imagination. Awakening requires that we soften the habit of binary perception and restore our natural capacity to see clearly in the dark.
Our collective stories, while having fed generations of limiting beliefs, are not who we are. In this time of change, consciously using our creative imagination on behalf of the whole is perhaps the most important practice there is.
Engaged meditation invites us to see beyond the seemingly set-in-stone assumptions that the mind of limitation insists upon… and maintain awareness of fluidity and conscious choice within what appears to be solid. This requires letting go of habit, of passive consumption, and our investment in collective limiting beliefs. It involves becoming a steward of one’s attention and imagination, willing to dream on behalf of life.
This day-long retreat is inspired by Eden’s newest book, Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown (For Personal and Collective Awakening). The day will include meditation and dharma talks and Q&A, experiential practices, and relational mindfulness to help us explore, in a down-to-earth, embodied way, the role of the dreamer in personal and collective awakening.
If you have any questions, please contact registration@nyimc.org.
Teacher(s)
Deborah Eden Tull
founder of Mindful Living Revolution, is a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, author, activist, and sustainability educator. She teaches engaged dharma practice, which emphasizes the connection between personal awakening and collective transformation. Eden spent seven years training as a Buddhist monk at a silent Zen monastery and has been teaching dharma for 20 years. She has also been living in, and teaching about, sustainable communities and the essential wisdom of nature for close to 30 years.
Eden’s teaching style is grounded in mindful inquiry, fierce compassion, and an unwavering commitment to transformation. Her most recent book is Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening Our Connection with Our Self, Each Other, and Our Planet (Wisdom 2018) and prior to that she published The Natural Kitchen: Your Guide for the Sustainable Food Revolution (Process 2010). She is currently completing a book about the partnership of darkness and light on the path of awakening. Eden also teaches The Work That Reconnects, a program created by Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy for transforming our pain and love for our world into compassionate action. Eden offers retreats and consultations internationally. Her work has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Tricycle, Yogi Times, Shambhala Times, and The Ecologist – and is featured internationally through online media such as The Shift Network.