The Four Noble Truths offer the fundamental roadmap for our practice. Our daily lives offer countless opportunities to integrate and embody our understanding of the Four Noble Truths. Bringing compassion to the dukkha of our lives helps them transform into wisdom and understanding. In this way, we learn to embody the Four Noble Truths.

Short Reflection & Guided Meditation in collaboration with guest teacher Sumedha | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene III | Online Wednesday-Mornings

How do we bring our practice to challenging conversations and discussions, including there are major differences in views and positions, whether on spiritual or social-politlcal or daily life matters? This is both a perennial practice question and a particularly important one in the current times. We begin our first of two explorations inviting the participants to explore both their most successful and their most difficult or painful discussions across differences, asking about the qualities present with both. We outline first some current social conditions that make discussions with differences more challenging, while acknowledging that such discussions are at the heart of a healthy democracy. Then we explore several supports for skillful conversations when there are differences, including shared agreements (among individuals or in a group or organization), wise speech practice, the vision of the "beloved community" or universal metta, and a commitment to align means and ends. The talk is followed by discussion.