It is easy to see the confused and troubled state our world is in. We humans have a remarkable capacity to create suffering for ourselves and for the other beings who share this planet with us, and an even more remarkable capacity to ignore that fact. It can be difficult and painful to observe the violence, the prejudice, and the unfairness embedded everywhere in our human relationships and within the institutions we’ve created, knowing how unnecessary those things are, and how contrary they are to our authentic nature.

The trouble is that the external world we’ve created is an exact reflection of the inner confusion we suffer from as individuals. We all know how difficult it is to escape from our own self-deception; the same difficulty exists in any attempt to address our worldly dysfunctions. It is difficult to change our minds–but not impossible. That’s what the Buddha taught. It is possible to end suffering; it is possible for each individual to escape from the illusion of a self that suffers, and move to a place of authenticity and peace. The same is true of society at large: it is possible for us all to end suffering together. In order to heal our external human world, however, our first and primary effort, all of us, must be to purify ourselves.

Over the course of this daylong program we will delve into the essential tools of spiritual practice, and we will explore the ways in which we might use these tools in order to find peace and to live in joy right here right now, even in this confused and troubled world. We will also take a look at what gifts we each have that we might contribute, and, even more importantly, how to go about contributing such that our efforts work towards the end of suffering, and do not inadvertently cause suffering instead. As always and with everything, it’s not what, ultimately – it’s how.

Won’t you join us? We will begin our session at 10:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m. There will be an hour for lunch, during which you may enjoy the meal that you’ve brought with you or go out to one of the nearby restaurants.

This daylong program is open to practitioners at all levels.