Radical Aliveness & Belonging: Exploring the Intersections of Spirituality and Social Change 1/2
Channel: UMass Amherst Libraries
Date: 2020-01-28

The UMass Amherst Libraries and A Network for Grateful Living presented this dynamic afternoon of conversation, poetry, music, and meditation that explored the landscape of engaged spiritual practice and action for social change on Friday, September 27, 2019 at the UMass Fine Arts Center
 
The Radical Aliveness and Belonging Symposium was inspired by the life and work of Brother David Steindl-Rast, a 93-year-old Benedictine Monk known as the “grandfather of gratitude” and one of the most important figures in the modern interfaith dialogue movement. Brother David, whose papers are in the Libraries' Special Collections and are part of their significant holdings documenting social change movements and activists, will be traveling from Austria to participate in the symposium.
 
In addition to Brother David, the event featured 
The Rev. Dr. Gregory Ellison II,  Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Emory University and founder of Fearless Dialogues, a non-profit organization that creates unique spaces for unlikely partners to have hard, heartfelt conversations on taboo subjects like racism, classism, and community violence
 
Mirabai Bush, founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, co-developer of Search Inside Yourself at Google, and recent author of Walking Each Other Home with Ram Dass
 
Lucas Johnson, Executive Director of On Being’s Civil Conversations Project and former leader in the U.S. community of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, the world’s oldest interfaith peace organization
 
Rachel Bagby, J.D. (Stanford Law School), award-winning performance artist, poetic innovator and creator of Dekaaz Facilitation™, and author of Divine Daughters: Liberating the Power and Passion of Women's Voices