Animal Rights Retreat FAQ

Below is detailed FAQ for the upcoming Pollination Project retreat for Farm Animal Advocates-

Why meditate? 

Here is a link from the Harvard Business Review on Mindfulness in the Age of Complexity and an book passage by the man known as the happiest man in the world through brain scans who is vegan and an animal rights advocate. Organizationally, this blog discusses places where employees are benefiting from mindfulness and this one where mindfulness promotes a more compassionate workplace.

Why go on retreat? 

Since ancient times all wise cultures have known the value of retreat. Time in retreat allows us to step out of the complexity of our life, to listen deeply to our body, heart and mind. Meditation retreats offer practical instruction and group support for discovering inner understanding and freedom. The retreat will combine the fertile atmosphere of silence with extensive time for meditation and walks in nature, supported by systematic teachings. Careful guidance and training is offered in meditation. 

A retreat provides an opportunity and a caring container for undertaking intensive meditation, like an immersion course in a language. The central practice is mindfulness, which enables us to see the ways we create difficulties in our lives and to discover a freedom of heart in the midst of all things. The mindfulness practice on retreat will be ​accompanied and complemented by training in loving-kindness meditation. 

Most of the retreat is held in silence; retreatants do not speak to one another. Writing and reading are also discouraged, so that retreatants can better stay with their own present experience as it unfolds, moment to moment. In this silent and mindful environment, awareness sharpens, the body quiets, the mind clears, and space opens for insight and understanding to develop.

With no diversions there is nothing to distract us. Since there is no place to hide from ourselves, there is a good possibility that we will know ourselves better after a retreat than we did before. Self-knowledge and understanding grow as we see that we can live each moment either with inattention, fear and judgment, or with clarity, kindness and wakefulness. By cultivating the power of awareness, clarity and kindness, we discover our path to liberation, inner freedom and a peaceful heart.

Can I participate in less than the full retreat? 

You are required to attend the full retreat. Requests for late arrivals or early departures must be approved by the teacher(s) before the retreat.

Will we be in silence during the retreat? Why? 

During most of the retreat the participants will be in silence while the teachers will offering guided meditation and teachings, as well as be available for individual or group meetings. The result is a pervasive silence that serves as a foundation for the meditation practice and creates a palpable and nourishing atmosphere of stillness. Most people come to cherish the silence of retreat.  Even those who were intimidated by it in the beginning often find such peace in the silence that they are reluctant to give it up at the end.  As people become aware of its richness, they come to look forward to silence rather than fear it.

Retreat silence has many benefits. Because social conversation keeps the mind active, periods of not talking help the mind rest.  Silence settles the many emotions that are activated by talking, listening, and even in the anticipation of talking.  As our mental and emotional lives calm down, our bodies relax.

Silence allows for a heightened sense of intimacy with the world.  In sustained silence our senses become more acute, and both the inner and outer world can appear to us with greater clarity.  For example, we may begin to notice the birdsong we previously failed to hear, or we may tune in to our quieter thoughts, which normally get drowned out.

For most people, the silence of a retreat creates a space in which they can see themselves more clearly.  Rather than being actively distracted by work, relationships, the internet, music, or various external events, they have an opportunity to notice overlooked feelings and concerns.  The sustained periods of silence give people a chance to observe the subtle, important motivations and values behind how they live. As you relax into the collective stillness, participants often discover that being together with others in silence allows for a rich sense of connection that is more satisfying than if they had spent the same time engaged in conversation.  Rather than knowing others through the stories of who they are, what they do, and what they have done, the silence highlights our shared humanity and a direct feeling of empathy and rapport.  

How are the teachers compensated? 

The retreat will be using the system in practice over thousands of years of paying forward the generosity teachers offer in sharing their wisdom called dana.

What clothing should I pack? What other essentials should I bring? 

We will be sending an email to attendees in the weeks prior to the retreat that outlines these elements.

What if I get sick on retreat? 

We have first aid on hand and there is access to local area hospitals if needed.

Is it possible to stay extra days before or after retreat? 

We can discuss on an individual basis.

Can I arrive early on the day the retreat starts? 

Yes, but rooms will not be available until 3pm.

Can I arrive late and/or leave early? 

We ask that you stay for the entirety of the retreat.

What I’m working on; What I’m learning

It’s been nearly two years since I moved to the bay area!  I wrote a post on my own evolution when I first arrived, and thought it was time to update with some of the fruits of the time here.

Coming from a perspective of wanting to ‘change the world’, I’ve been in a journey to understand what it means to focus on ‘being the change’ as a primary driver in life.  That means developing a sense of self-compassion when I can see ways to practice love more deeply, but not having the inner capacity at this time to actually do it.  It means actively growing my inner capacity.  And it means doing things in the world, but not holding on to the work product as the point – rather, the person I am becoming through engaging in the work is primary.  Given this approach, what i do is de-emphasized next to how i do it.  The ‘how’ of patience, of unconditionality, of love, of supporting the edges, of trust, of growing ‘real’ wealth (ecology, community, wisdom/compassion).

Relationships continue to be most important in this for me.  Group contexts of Armonia, Nessel Development, RSF Social Finance, ServiceSpace, and many others who share the wish of inquiry: how do we engage with the world of money while being primarily motivated towards inner transformation? 

Below, some seedlings that have sprouted as I’ve been able to work with a host of friends, colleagues, and mentors in the spirit of love.  None of this work is ‘mine’ as I see it, but I am grateful to be connected to an ecosystem where this is happening-

-21 day challenges at KindSpring.  inviting people into the daily ‘work’ of heart awakening, building off the latest in science and practice.  guiding dialogues in the office context based off these practices.

-Well-Being in Business and Finance. groups of business leaders who want to live into a different values set with each other.  no more competition to see who is most sustainable.  no more ‘business case for sustainability’.  having real wealth  more important than having financial wealth.  inviting a profound shift within by supporting each other and practicing together.

-Laddership. reframing projects that wish to make the world a better place.  6 week group process that is building new concept of the entrepreneur who knows that changing the world is possible when the inner revolution (wisdom, compassion) connects with the outer revolution (innovation, creativity, discipline, ecosystem).

-Work+Transformation. small monthly tidbits to bring light to how this longing for a consciousness shift is everywhere if we’re looking for it.

-Awakin Calls + Circles. dialogue spaces with thought leaders who are interested in how concrete action intersects with personal transformation

But again, the ‘how’ is more important to me than the ‘what,’ and what I am becoming more important than external outcome.  Each of these projects could probably be ‘scaled’ with investment capital and reach exponentially more people.  That is not the ‘how’ that resonates with me; in fact, it is an example of a system that I wish to slowly disengage from through building my inner capacity.  So these projects are simply offered out of love, as best I can.  I can only hope for more access to wisdom, to double-down on a process that is aligned with the will of nature.

As many in my generation, I wonder what box to put myself in sometimes.  I have been a consultant, an investment person, a technologist, among other hats.  My formal titles make less and less sense in the dominant paradigm.  I feel myself more fluidly swapping in and out of hats.  If any box feels most alive right now, it’s that of friend.

My personal learnings continue to form the leading edge of my journey.  I feel committed to a life partner, Anne-Marie, who teaches me the art of love daily and with whom I can focus on bringing shadows to surface.  I moved from San Francisco to Berkeley (hence the picture up top) about 6 months ago and finding the sense of community/family as a revelation.  My contemplative practice, and my conversations continue to veer towards the heart, towards the implicit, and towards deconstructing ‘myself.’

I want to end by bringing to mind names of dear ones in holding gratitude at this moment.  My experience is that we are all in ecosystem, I am astounded by that beautiful, invisible net that connects us all…may all beings be happy.

Dhamma Service

Over the last 10 days I had a unique opportunity for which I’m feeling very grateful!  I attended a 10 day Vipassana retreat with my partner Anne-Marie and both my parents.  While it was not Anne-Marie’s first time with this, it was for my parents, and as I’ve shared before, it can be an intense process. 

For the first time, I experienced this course from the perspective of a ‘server’, which meant I was in the kitchen mostly washing dishes and chopping veggies for 10 days.  It was a rare mixture of work and concentrated practice, as I’d get 4-5 hours of sitting meditation daily, and 10 hours of kitchen time.  While I came grateful to be able to serve my family in this way, I quickly realized that I had it reversed.  Their choice to be in the course was actually in service to me so that I had the opportunity to offer to the 140ish other people at the course.  Thousands of dishes washed and hundreds of pounds of veggies chopped later, I’m feeling so many of the benefits of this way to serve.  Additionally, every night we would have time with the course teachers to learn more of their perspective, which was especially valuable for me. Picture below taken on the final day (when noble silence ended)

Beyond my own experience, I have been inspired to see how much my family has been moved by what this practice of Vipassana is, especially my parents given it was their first time.  At this point, we are all meditating a couple hours daily, we’ll see how that evolves over time Many more insights as is always the case, I’m left with a quote by a monk I met in Dallas – ‘you don’t know if you had a good meditation until afterwards – are you more compassionate? more loving? more equanimous? more aware? then yes, you had a good meditation’
In gratitude for the practice!

Gifting

As I’ve been growing in my journey of gifting, I’ve been feeling more resonant with certain types of gifts over others.  In thinking about why that is, I’m finding that gifts deeply aligned with values of interconnectedness, nature-based wisdom, and unconditional love seem to be what makes my heart sing most.  Gifts that invite us to transcend the delusion of the tangible despite their tangibility :)

 

Some ideas to that end (from gross to subtle, in each case inclusive of mentioned values), would love thoughts from others-

- food

- hands (labor work)

- reusables

- books

- art (handmade) / design

- offerings from the marginalized

- seeds / compost / plants

- hugs / touch

- coursework

- joint work (eg doing a 21 day challenge together)

- connections / introductions

- links (stories/videos/music/ideas)

- smiles / words

- personal vulnerability (real-time, written, giving cherished possessions, receiving with grace)

- psychological capacity / listening (for when others are triggered or generally in position of need)

- psychological depatterning (so as to reduce the conditions for others to be triggered, etc)

 

These are all ‘small things’ that can grow to new ways of being.  And for those who are already living into these values, I’ve found the same gifts being helpful, and also more general support (eg money to homeless may go for alcohol, money for middle class may go for ipad, money for compassion entrepreneur may go to spread the ripple of connection).

 

In noticing the spectrum, I feel that the whole thing is of value, and being able to play across the spectrum of giving is worthy of aspiration.  A question I’ve been asking recently – how to be in a space of offering, in every interaction, as inclusive of the full spectrum as I can be?  A key reason that question arose is that I have received SO MUCH across this spectrum, and the sense of abundance has led to the wish to share with others.

Moving to San Francisco

Definitely a belated note, but as of August 2013 I’ve moved to San Francisco!  Below is a bit of the journey as to why this move happened after 8+ years in NYC. I’m so grateful for my time there, filled with people who I hope to stay connected to for life (I currently still am there 25% of the time).  I currently live and work in the Presidio, picture above.

 

The reason for the move was multidimensional.  First, to be closer to noble friend community in bay area as well as parents in Arizona.  Second, to shift out of a pace of life/lifestyle in NYC that did not feel healthy or sustainable to me long-term.  Third, and most relevant for this post, is the ongoing shift in my life’s work. 

 

For the last 4ish years, I’ve been involved in the field of investing for social/environmental benefit.  Another way to look at it is that I was looking for an ‘organizational container’ in which to practice the values I was looking to cultivate.  Coming from the management consulting world, the idea of melding capitalism with bettering the world sounded powerful.  Armonia has been the primary container for this and I am eternally grateful for both the relationships and opportunity to delve deeper within, which the group continues to support today.

 

In that period, my own approach has evolved, and I’d frame it as 3 distinct frames of thought.  First was the idea of ‘impact.’  Impact Investing as a term was coined by the Rockefeller folks a few years back and speaks to the broad importance of using the engine of finance to contribute towards ‘the good.’  This field has grown considerably in the last few years and includes some amazing people who have helped shape me.  However, as time went on, I started to see the limitations of impact – in effect, that impact still needed to follow the rules of the financial system, which is infinite financial growth at any cost.  Inevitably, this leads to destruction of non-financial wealth to keep up with growth (eg clearcutting, longer work hours, etc).  In regular investing, this means we chop down forests to keep growing consumption.  In impact investing, we may still chop down forests, but we’re doing so to build ‘sustainable’ housing.  Better than otherwise, but in some ways we are simply slowing down the rate at which we’re running off the cliff.

 

Based off this understanding, the second frame we started to implement was that of ‘regeneration.’  What does it take to use financial wealth to build non-financial wealth?  We started looking at the roots of non-financial wealth and found soil-building and community-building to be key.  A few of the investments this led to was in the field of Holistic Management along with ecosystem regeneration.  Of course, to make this work, we still needed to keep the projects financially viable, hence the investment approach was of value.  As time went on, I kept feeling that there was a glass ceiling here as well.  I was becoming more and more aware of the crises facing the world and was trying to understand why regeneration as we had framed it wasn’t scratching the itch.

 

In the last year+, the frame that has guided my thinking has been around ‘transformation,’ specifically inner transformation.  In an attempt to ‘do our part’ in serving the greater good, it became more and more clear that entrenched systems (financial, educational, healthcare, etc) were in place to reinforce a way of thinking that was the root cause of our global crises.  Tweaking the system wouldn’t fix the fatal flaw, and forcing the system to change wasn’t an option.  So I/we started to look into understanding how systems change and found that it starts within each of us and follows non-linear paths.  Helping facilitate a shift in personal-orientation, from ‘me’ to ‘we’ (starting with ourselves) thus became a heavy focus. 

 

The interest in transformation has led to development of practices to bring generosity/mindfulness/compassion into the business environment through consistent action and reflection practice.  I’m now piloting with the help and support of both Armonia and RSF Social Finance (along with ServiceSpace, which has been holding this worldview for some time now).  We are even using the gift economy model as an approach to experiment on this and in investments as a whole, talk about a leading edge investment approach!  With RSF and ServiceSpace being based in SF and having experimented with these approaches for many years, it became clear that having more time in these spaces was important in the next stage of the unfolding (hence the move).

 

As we’ve played with these pilots, the stories coming out of the process have been amazingly inspiring and in some cases stunning.  Entire strategies have been shifted, companies have incorporated ‘gift culture’ into their beyond profit business models, families have shifted their relationships, and we’re at the tip of iceberg.  Funnily enough, this all is catalyzed through simple group practices such as a 21 day kindness challenge, which actually has some powerful research behind its effectiveness.

 

To be clear, I do believe that impact investing and regenerative investing are needed in this world, and these approaches to social enterprise are the places where I’m connecting today as well.  However, to develop products/services ONLY at that level, without addressing inner transformation as mission critical to a social enterprise is leaving something on the table in my estimation.  In the coming years, I hope we come to see ‘inner impact’ as the deepest form of impact there is, and something that can be offered and practiced by any business.  I plan to step up in my own authenticity as best I can in an effort to create the conditions for this.

Buddha’s words (as sung by SN Goenka)

These are the words of Gautama the Buddha upon enlightenment, as sung/chanted by SN Goenka.  The language is Pali, which was colloquial at the time.  Beautiful.

Anicca vata sankhara, uppadavaya-dhammino
Impermanence is the nature of all conditioned phenomenon.
They arise and pass away, again and again, with great rapidity.

Uppajjitva nirujjhanti, (2x)
tesam vupasamo sukho.
When past sensations arise and are met with awareness/equanimity,
their cessation brings true happiness.

Aneka-jati samsaram
sandhavissam anibbisam,
Through countless births in the cycle of existence
I have run, in vain

Gahakarakam gavesanto
dukkha-jati-punappunam.
seeking the builder of this house;
and again and again I faced the discomfort of new birth.

Gahakaraka! Dithosi,
puna geham na kahasi.
Oh housebuilder! Now you are seen.
You shall not build a house again for me.

Sabba te phasuka bhagga,
gahakutam visankhitam.
All your beams are broken,
the ridgepole is shattered.

Visankhara-gatam cittam,
tanhanam khayamajjhaga.
The mind has become freed from conditioning;
the end of craving has been reached.

Sabbe sankhara anicca'ti.
yada pannaya passati,
Impermanent are all compounded things.
When one perceives this with insight,

Atha nibbindati dukkhe.
esa maggo visuddhiya.
then one turns away from suffering;
this is the path of purification.

Sabbesu cakkavajesu
yakkha deva ca brahmano,
May the holy entities
of all the universes

Yam amhehi katam punnam,
sabba sampatti sadhikam.
rejoice in this wholesome meditation process performed by us,
which is productive of all happiness.

Sabbe tam anumoditva,
samagga sasane rata,
May they all,
unitedly devoted to the teaching,

pamada rahita hontu
arakkhasu visesato.
be without negligence,
especially in giving protection.

Punna bhagamidam c'annam,
samam dadama karitam.
We share with all equally the merit
of this meditation and other wholesome deeds.

Anumodantu tam sabbe,
medini thatu sakkhike.
May they all accept with joy our sharing,
and may the earth stand witness to it!

Bhavatu sabbe mangalam x3
May all beings be happy

The Top Risk to Human Extinction

I’m going to cut to the chase. Over the next 100 years, I see about 4 categories of events (that we have direct line of sight to) that can end human life on earth. I have left out many broad categories (artificial intelligence, meteors, sterilization, volcanic activity, etc.) as we have no line of sight as to how those events may happen before 2100.  I’ve outlined them below but don’t think that attacking them directly will lead to any success without deeply understanding the root cause.

 

Chronic risks (take time to develop but are subject to threshold effects)-

‘Climate change’, as broken down in 3 categories that connect in feedback loops to each other

-Ocean degradation/acidification- Mass aquatic extinction due to myriad factors (pollution, gas release, over-fishing, etc.) leading to depletion of fish stocks and unpredictable climate effects

-Desertification- Mass erosion of arable soil from productive land surfaces through to oceans due to extensive land mismanagement

-Rise of greenhouse gases- Rise in atmospheric heat from numerous gases (due to fossil fuel usage, industrial agriculture, deforestation) leading to massive rise in sea levels, and unpredictable/volatile climate effects

 

Acute risks (manifestation to extinction in days)-

-Infectious disease pandemic- Increasingly dense population centers of all forms of human and animal life along with abusive use of antibiotics will continue to raise yearly risk of genesis of exotic disease

-Biotechnological virus- Creating a biological virus is increasingly becoming no different than creating a computer virus in terms of the coding process. The cost of development and ease of creation continues to fall

-Nuclear emissions/detonations- Still a massive threat considering there are thousands upon thousands out there, uranium is available, enrichment process is less of a black box than ever, and accidental/force of nature errors can occur

 

All these major issues have plenty of people working on them, in the form of what people believe are the ‘root causes’ – poverty, nation-state conflict, terrorism, slavery, poor policy, faulty systems, etc. However, I see a few causes lying underneath these supposed ‘root causes’:

 

‘Secondary root causes’

Greed

Pride

Jealousy

Envy

 

‘Primary root causes’

Craving

Aversion

 

Enablers

Pre-frontal cortex

Opposable thumbs :)

 

What I am seeing is

- A lot of people paying zero attention to any of this.

- Some people paying attention to long-term risks (but with a sizable populous discounting it completely)

- Fewer people paying attention to acute risks

- Very few people focusing on ‘secondary root causes’, which is really about teaching people the golden rule and following it deeply

- Even fewer focusing on the ‘primary root causes’, which is really about developing awareness and equanimity to what is happening in the present moment

 

I have been working on a couple of the longer-term issues but perceive it as an excuse to work on the primary causes. Whenever I’m asked ‘what can I do to help’, my response is the same – practice meditation. There is a domino effect that comes from bringing awareness to one’s own craving and aversions. It changes EVERYTHING and the virtuous circle is as unpredictable in its harmonious effects as the vicious cycle is in the negative. 

The key is in understanding that if primary root cause is not addressed, even if acute risks to humanity are averted today, tomorrow will be an even bigger challenge as the underlying issues have only intensified.  As a side-benefit, focusing on bringing awareness to one’s own craving and aversions makes for a happier life anyways!

With that, I will go meditate :)