The Rising: Spirituality for Revolution

Practitioners of meditation are often accused of navel-gazing, ignoring the problems of the real world. But with the rise of Engaged Buddhism and Ecodharma, it is clear that many practitioners are not satisfied with simply finding inner peace and want to use their practice to meet the needs of a hurting world. And in fact, Buddhism has had a long history of teaching fierce compassion - as evidenced by images of "wrathful deities." Compassion isn't just being nice; compassion is speaking truth to power and taking bold action.

Join us as we talk with Lama Willa Miller who is an expert in Tibetan Buddhism and Tantric practices, which are ways of working with the manifest. Tantra is a valuable tool for changemakers who are building a more just world and can offer ways of transforming the self for the sake of others. As the Bodhisattva vow says, none of us are free until all of us are free.

Willa B. Miller, PhD is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston, MA and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. She was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder (lama) in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after completion of two consecutive three-year retreats in the nineties. She is an editor, author and translator and holds a doctorate from Harvard University in Religion, and is currently Visiting Lecturer in Buddhist Ministry at Harvard Divinity School. Her academic teaching interests include Tantra and the Body, Buddhism and Ecology, and Buddhist Contemplative Care, among other topics. Outside of academia, her teaching specialties include the body as a door to awakening, natural meditation (mahamudra), and heart-cultivation (lojong). She is interested in the practical integration of meditation into daily life, and has participated as an advisor in several scientific studies on meditation.

For more info and show notes, visit www.listentotherising.com

Who Is Allowed To Be Well?

Yoga, mindfulness, and all manner of "wellness" practices have become a big business. As western culture encounters the wisdom of other cultures, it often appropriates and co-opts that wisdom, with the result being that many of these mind-body wellbeing practices are now seen as the provenance of the wealthy and privileged. 

Kerri Kelly came to yoga after years in a corporate marketing career left her burnt out and disconnected. As she experienced her own personal healing, she started to ask deeper questions about who had access to these practices and what responsibility the privileged had to the rest of the suffering world. In this episode we discuss the ways in which wellbeing is intricately connected to movements for justice.

Note: Kerri joins us from her coworking space, so you may hear some background noise.

Kerri is the founder of CTZNWELL, an emerging movement to mobilize people into a powerful force for wellbeing for all. She spent seven years as Executive Director of the non-profit Off the Mat, Into the World and is currently on faculty. She is relentless in her commitment to elevating leaders, groups and projects to next-level social change makers through her work with The Catalyst Collective, an innovative consultancy designed for mission-based individuals, groups, and organizations that want to be successful and make a difference in the world.

Go to www.listentotherising.com for links and more info.

Most of the world's major religious traditions have been developed in and shaped by patriarchy. They emphasize masculine deities and male (often celibate) leadership. While efforts to reclaim the feminine aspects of divinity and spirituality have been underway for several decades now, in the past few years there has been an explosion of fierce feminine leadership in political, cultural, and spiritual arenas. Vera de Chalambert's essay "Kali Takes America" went viral in 2016 after the election of Donald Trump. Her exploration of the dark goddess Kali who destroys the world in order to save it anticipated the wave of feminine anger and activism that has arisen in the wake of the #metoo revelations. We sit down with Vera to talk more about the feminine divine, her darker side, and why all of us need this sacred feminine fire now more than ever. Vera starts off the interview with a powerful soliloquy that blew us away, and we're so excited to share her wisdom with you.

Vera de Chalambert, MTS, is a spiritual storyteller and Harvard educated scholar of comparative religion working at the feet of the Great Mother. She offers healing process work and spiritual direction via Skype, writes and teaches classes on mindfulness in the modern world and the divine feminine. She gives talks and presentations around the world and was a speaker at SAND Science and Nonduality Conference in the US and Europe and Sister Giant in Washington DC. Vera holds a Bachelor’s degree in religion and literature and a Master's degree in comparative religion from Harvard Divinity School. Her healing work is informed by rich insights from both Eastern and Western philosophies. She is a graduate of Barbara Brennan School of Healing and a student of Jason Shulman's Nondual Healing work. You can find her online at healingawakening.com.

Visit www.listentotherising.com for show links and more info.

Religious leaders of traditional religions are often skeptical of the short-lived mystical experiences that entheogens like psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, etc. can bring about, even though those who have taken these consciousness-altering substances often report profound insights into the human mind and soul. At the same time, many people who have used psychedelics eschew the rigid dogma of religious institutions. Scientists have thrown themselves into the mix of this controversial topic by showing how various substances can not only lower anxiety and ease PTSD, but also inspire qualities like forgiveness and compassion. Can spiritual practice and psychedelic use come together?

Katherine MacLean and Colin Pugh think so and join The Rising to discuss how these substances can, and should, be integrated with spiritual practice and community support - and how this can change for the better not only oneself, but the lives of others as well.

Visit www.listentotherising.com for show links and more info.

Social justice work isn't work that you go into just because you need a job or a paycheck. The desire to be part of creating a more just and equitable society is a calling from within as well as a manifestation of the interconnectedness of our world. Because people working on the front lines of justice so often bring their whole selves to the work, self-care and self-reflection are crucial aspects of forming changemakers who can lead from a place of integration and embodiment of the values they most want to see in the world.

Movement chaplaincy is transforming our social movements by bringing spiritual care and guidance to activists. Through spiritual direction, an ancient practice of accompaniment that manifests across wisdom traditions, changemakers explore how they relate to themselves, others, and humanity. This, in turn, can help build healthier and more sustainable movements by growing self-awareness, strengthening relationships within organizations, and amplifying the impact those organizations have on the world. The folks at Still Harbor are on the forefront of this emerging field and join The Rising on Episode 15 to discuss the importance of this work that is changing the way we do social justice.

Visit www.listentotherising.com for show links and more info.

Western religious culture is often suspicious of creativity and imagination. Artsreligionculture.org (ARC) is seeking to change that. We talk with Lakeisha Lockhart and Callid Keefe-Perry about how they're seeking to bring academic theology and religious conversation out of the ivory tower and down to earth by collaborating with artists, poets, and activists. We also talk about ARC's upcoming conference and how you can be be part of it.

Visit www.listentotherising.com for show links and more info.

The second in a two-part episode on #ChurchToo and the Limits of Redemption.

As women have revealed their experiences with sexual assault and sexual harrassment, #metoo has spawned the hashtag #churchtoo, where women and men are sharing stories of sexual abuse in their spiritual communities. Churches and other spiritual communities that promote values like community, connection, forgiveness, and reconciliation often leave the most vulnerable among us open to abuse.

Visit www.listentotherising.com for show links and more info.

When Soul Care Turns Abusive

As women have revealed their experiences with sexual assault and sexual harrassment, #metoo has spawned the hashtag #churchtoo, where women and men are sharing stories of sexual abuse in their spiritual communities. Churches and other spiritual communities that promote values like community, connection, forgiveness, and reconciliation often leave the most vulnerable among us open to abuse.

Visit www.listentotherising.com for show links and more info.

n a deepening of our topic from last week, we get into the nitty gritty of anti-racism as spiritual practice this week. With our guests Abraham and Margaret, we examine what happens when we let go of the goal of being "good white people," humbly acknowledge the our complicity in racist and white supremacist cultures, and settle in for the long haul work of enacting paradigm change within ourselves, our communities, and our culture. 

Margaret Johnson is an activist, a healer, and a spiritual seeker. She cut her teeth working for social change in the Catholic worker movement, and is inspired by the work of the Ayni Institute and the Momentum organizing community in developing frameworks for strategic organizing while upholding relational culture. Margaret is a licensed massage therapist and a Kundalini yoga teacher, and has participated in several activist movements and organizing communities.

Abraham Lateiner works to create spaces for people with dominant power to experience the freedom of surrender. He has found that when such people experience the “power-with” that comes with aligning with movements led by people at the margins of society, they can learn how to support those movements in sustained, sustainable, and sustaining ways. That, he believes, would be a true freedom. He is part of the core team of Freedom Beyond, a decentralized network of small circles of people seeking freedom from white supremacy.

Visit www.listentotherising.com for show links and more info.

Race and whiteness may be social constructs created centuries and generations long ago, but we have all been shaped by them in many ways, seen and unseen. Battling racism is not just a matter of thinking the right thoughts or believing the right ideas. To truly dismantle white supremacy, white people must be willing to look at the ways whiteness has shaped our sense of self-worth and identity. This is not just a political undertaking, but a spiritual one. It demands we go to the deep places of our own discomfort within ourselves and our ancestral lineage to begin to truly heal and transform the injustice of racism.

Jardana Peacock is a spiritual teacher, writer, yoga teacher, and organizer in Louisville, KY. She is the director of Liberation School, a healing and spirituality school for changemakers that is the first of its kind located in the southern US, and the author of the “Practice Showing Up Guidebook,” an anthology for white people working for racial justice.

Jardana brings an incredible presence of humility and depth to this conversation and we get to talk to her about the ways in which she and others are working to bring healing, compassion, and care to organizing and activist work as well as learning how we can go deeper into our own anti-racist work.

Visit www.listentotherising.com for show links and more info.