Empathy is feeling with someone – absorbing their pain, mirroring their distress. It’s powerful and connecting, but it can also be overwhelming and paralyzing. Compassion adds something crucial: it holds awareness of suffering and the desire to alleviate it, but with enough emotional equilibrium to actually be useful. It’s empathy plus wisdom and action. How … Continue reading From Empathy to Compassion

If the self is an illusion or construct, as Buddhism, neuroscience, and postmodern philosophy postulate, what happens to our sense of belonging, our deep human need for connection and place? How might we let go of the stories our narrative-self tells, constraining our freedom, limiting our fundamental wellbeing?

Our theme for the year is “Building Bridges,” an aspiration to listen beyond our echo chambers, to leave our silos of comfort, to explore the possibility of expanding our sense of belonging while holding the tension of difference and disagreement. What are the essentials in building belonging? What tools do we require to build the … Continue reading Building Bridges, Building Belonging