I believe that the greatest gift we can offer to each other, as well as to mountains and rivers, is to be truly present.
What I propose here is a space for training and inquiry, using meditation and the arts as facilitators for insight and discovery.
The approach of a contemplative artform trains and cultivates an openness of mind and heart, an understanding of ‘not intending, not knowing’.
In other words: it fosters the recognition of a non-biased state, an awareness before and beyond thought, a state of being truly present.
In that, this approach offers, to my understanding, a vital, complementary realm to a mindset based on agency and intent.
Engaging in such contemplative practice emphasizes the awareness of space, of being.
It introduces the timeless dimension of direct, momentary experience.
Unconditional witnessing and open awareness is a realm we are not used to.
Yet, as the great Tibetan poet Milarepa has put it: ‘The notion of emptiness engenders compassion’, just as it reveals the wisdom that resides inside us.
Consequently, it may provide a centering and new perspective on our habit of asking questions and accumulating knowledge, on our being used to a constant immersion in activity and thought, and a scheduled concept of time.
In my experience, the knowledge of meditation, of improvisation in the arts, the non-verbal communication that is possible in some forms of dance, and also the alert and mindful immersion into the natural world, may facilitate a process that generates empathy and well-being, a sense for reverence and mystery, for interspecies ethics and ecological practice – all of which I regard as basics for a regenerative culture.
I see these practices as an invitation to let natural intelligence express itself.
In other words: to learn again how to tune in to our innate wisdom.
Adequate action may unfold.
I hope I could outline in what way this approach and practice may be of benefit for the individual, as for the process of navigation and cultural transformation in this challenging time, and I would like to promote it as a complementary practice, on a personal level, as well as in the context of knowledge transfer and academia.