Change Your Mind to Change Your World with Stephen Fulder

We are sentient beings, and not the only beings with sentience. But we have a great capacity for basic knowing and presence. The more we apply it, the more we find ourselves in sync with the rest of life. We see how we are interconnected with all around us, at home with the world. And when we meet friction, discomfort and misalignment, dukkha in Pali, we can unpack and gradually dissolve them. This sentience shows us we belong, and we experience it as trust. Not trust that things will be better, since we can never know that, but trust as readiness to be with life as it is.

Mindfulness in its original Pali language word, sati, means remembering, recollecting who we are, who we can be, and what it is like to be fully alive. It is getting close to our experience, turning towards both the ups and the downs with an open ready mind and heart. It reveals the truth of things. Vipassana is close to this, it means to see clearly, to see into reality. It invites liberating insights. A retreat in which these ancient and yet well developed mediative tools are employed will help to radically shift our relationship to our experience from that of victim of uncontrollable circumstances, to that of a free being, remembering our big soul, and being ready for whatever arises.

Compassion is in short supply these days. But at the same time it is needed more than ever and it is a great way to live well whatever the circumstances. It is the answer when we feel that things are happening beyond our control and we are unable to make a difference. We can develop a skill at radiating our big heart wherever we are and in any circumstances. It changes the way we look at things and the way the world looks at us. It can sometimes do miracles. It can engage us totally in existence instead of leaving us out on the edge. Our big heart is unstoppable!

Our mind may often seem obsessed with what's wrong, what needs fixing, and what is the next issue and problem we have to deal with. But we have a capacity for much love and care which are voices already within but pushed to the fringes. We can quite easily bring much more kindness, compassion, joy and steadiness both to our inner dialogue and to our daily lives. This is the practice of the Brahma Viharas, the 4 heavenly abodes. This talk explores their nature and implications, how to use phrases and meditations to develop them, and how to see them naturally as part of us.

We seem to be constantly meeting demons and get used to the view that life is full of struggle with a toxic social and environmental world. However we can be more effective as part of the solution, not part of the problem, if we learn to live well, to look on the bright side of things, to meet love and care everywhere, and see the angels hiding in corners and in our main street. Buddhist inspired practice helps us to meet and engage with this precious life with a positive heart. We can experience the ground of life, the miracles of existence and the big view which all hold us steady and caring. We don't need to hunt for the angels. They are looking out of our eyes!