After a summer of extreme heat, drought and fire, we may well enter the autumn wondering how to manage the grief at our fragile and collapsing ecology. Taking the title An Open Heart in Hell from Nick Mulvey’s recent song “Prayer of my Own“, we’ll use this session to honour the pains of the heart without getting swallowed up by them, and will reflect on wisdom, fearlessness and love amidst the deepening crises of our world.
Discussion
One thought on “An Open Heart in Hell”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
-
The Monastery has Come to Us: Working with Thoughts and Emotions to Fuel Our Awakening in a Demanding Time
Recorded :
September 27, 2020 We’re in uncharted territory. Each day brings new shocks and challenges. How is it possible to respond with flexibility, kindness, and wisdom? Together we will get through this. Let’s practice a meditation strategy to weather (and even transcend) the ups and downs and support each other through this intense time.
-
The Power of a New Year’s Resolution
Recorded :
January 5, 2020 We start a new year. It is 2020. Perhaps the intensity of environmental dramas in 2019 finally made clear to many people the vulnerabilities to life on Earth. It might be useful to make a New Year’s resolution that lasts longer than a week. Here are four considerations. 1. Dedicate an hour a day or…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of May 23, 2022
This week’s topic is An Enigma Inside A Mystery. We typically freeze in amazement or feverishly search for causes when we suffer dukkha (life’s tension). We’ve probably all experienced how these reactions exacerbate the problem. The Buddha taught that dukkha is a puzzle that can be solved: it doesn’t have to be a mystery. We can learn the resolution that brings us from bewilderment to marvellous release by paying quiet attention to the pattern of the difficulty.
-
Discovering Diamonds in Darkness: Racism & Cultural Diversity
Recorded :
March 19, 2023 Racism and cultural identity have indiscriminately been seeded into human consciousness since the beginning of humanity. The health of any community begins with the Sense of Self. This Dharma assembly will focus on our sense of self as we investigate consciousness using the Noble Truths for Awakening. Millions have followed this path of practice for millennia.
-
Letting your heart break … open.
Recorded :
December 13, 2015 Martin looks at current events with an eye on the suffering of refugees, the climate emergency and growing Islamophobia, exploring how we can both empathize with and respond to human suffering, while also cultivating joy, gratitude and ease of heart.
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Milla Gregor – Week of June 20, 2022
This week’s topic is Skills for Inner and Outer Transformation. Dharma practice gives us great tools for inner and interpersonal change. It’s empowering to explore how these can also be useful for social and environmental transformation. We will tour such qualities, including equanimity (upekkha), non-self (anatta), and sukha (yes, pleasure!). Together, we will draw on both traditional and more contemporary voices to show how your skills as a practitioner could be vital to the work of changing the world.
-
You are Not Alone: Healing the Myth of Separation
Recorded :
March 17, 2019 The dharma invites us to face ourselves fully. But through fear, we sometimes distract ourselves, over-fill ourselves, and hold onto external attachments, in order to avoid.…what? The illusion that we are separate and isolated manifests in ways conscious and unconscious, but over time practice reveals to us that it is simply the ego that fears…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of November 9, 2020
We’re fortunate that Martin Aylward has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week. To find out more about Martin, and view his other recordings on the platform, click here.
Thank you Martin.. This practice has been helpful. . Opening the heart ……today, I experienced my own decomposition… Embracing imperfection..Rosie