The great Black American singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder once sang, “Love’s in need of love today.” His words couldn’t be more true as we face a global community struggling with war, poverty, illness, climate instability, and the rise of political authorities and governments who do not seem to be grounded in compassion or kindness. We speak about love and attempt to practice love but some of us are losing faith in the transformative power of the wish for ourselves and others to be happy. Our practice of love is in need of our renewed faith in love. In this talk, we explore the question of how practicing love can become a strategy that resists and undoes our experiences of fear, apathy, and numbness as we attempt to live and love in a challenging world.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
-
Confidence in the Dhamma, Confidence in Yourself
Recorded :
March 24, 2019 As we attune to the truth of impermanence (anicca) the very preciousness of life itself begins to penetrate our awareness: the flowers will not last forever, our dear friends will come and go, those we love will grow old. Even how we chop our vegetables matters if we wan’t to be touched by the the…
-
The practice of love in times of hate
Recorded :
December 3, 2017 The Buddha taught hate cannot be conquered by hate, but only by love; that this is the eternal law. What does this mean in our lives, and in the contentious and divisive times we live in?
-
Cultivating Joy and Responsibility in Extraordinary Times
Recorded :
April 12, 2020 The Coronavirus has given us the most explicit indication of interconnection in recent history. There is a quickening to the inquiry: What distortions is it time to let go of on behalf of the greater good? What becomes possible, through the remembrance of “We consciousness?” How can non-separation inform our way of life and, as…
-
The Dharma of Displacement: Finding Sacred Ground Amidst Groundlessness
Recorded :
June 29, 2025 We live in a time when so many beings – human and more-than-human – are being physically displaced – by climate events, wars, aggressive deportations, and more. This mirrors an internal collective experience of disorientation and displacement. To find ground in the midst of accelerated change is our practice. In this Sunday insight gathering we…
-
Settling Into Your Body In Meditation
Recorded :
December 8, 2024 Finding a comfortable body posture when meditating is a crucial element in our practice. We can use our bodies as a way of experiencing change and impermanence. In this session, we will be looking at ways to make our bodies comfortable for meditation – both standing (if appropriate for your body) and sitting. We will…
-
Awareness Shift: Knowing the Nature of the Body, Heart/Mind through the 5 Elements
Recorded :
February 27, 2022 Sometimes a simple shift of our perception can change our sense of everything and allow for a fresh experience of the personal and transpersonal simultaneously. There is so much more ease in a relaxed, open view. By widening our awareness aperture and somatically exploring our composition, we revisit connection. Sensing the organic arising and passing of…
-
The Two Fundamental Roots
Recorded :
January 25, 2026 I reflect this Sunday on the profound Surangama Sutra teaching of the Two Fundamental Roots: The root of “beginningless birth and death,” and the “primal bright essence of consciousness.” The Buddha warns that not knowing these two essential principles renders one’s spiritual efforts into a doomed futility, like “cooking sand in the hope of creating…
-
The seven factors of awakening.
Recorded :
September 11, 2016 Jessica discusses the seven factors of awakening (mindfulness, tranquility/relaxation, piti/joy, concentration, investigation, viriya/courageous energy, equanimity) and how to work with them in meditation practice to balance the mind and support insight through specific meditative techniques.
Discussion