Making Friends with Precarity

Wisdom and Practice for a Life of Vulnerability

One Earth Sangha director Kristin Barker led this EcoDharma Exploration on July 23, 2023. A recording is available below. We welcome your support for this program.

Photo by Kristin Barker

Death and decay are inherent in the cycles of life. In these soft bodies, we have made an enormous project of insulating ourselves in a way that is in part backfiring at the global level. As we enter a period of collective imperilment, might we be re-acquainted with the raw vulnerability of life? What might Buddhist wisdom and practices offer as we come to terms with the need for protection?

Co-founder and Director

Kristin is co-founder and director of One Earth Sangha whose mission is to cultivate a Buddhist response to ecological crises. She is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leader program and now teaches with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (DC). As a co-founder of White Awake, Kristin has been supporting white people since 2011 with a Dharma approach to uprooting racism in ourselves and in our world. With a background in software engineering as well as environmental management, she has worked at several international environmental organizations. She is a GreenFaith Fellow and serves on the advisory board of Project Inside Out as well as the steering committee for Interfaith Power & Light DMV. Kristin was born and raised in northern New Mexico and currently lives in Washington DC, traditional lands of the Piscataway peoples.

     Pieces on One Earth Sangha

This program is donation-based, with no required registration fee. We welcome your contributions to support this program and the work of One Earth Sangha.

Support this Offering

One Earth Sangha and our featured speakers offer these explorations on a donation basis, with no required registration fee. We invite you to participate in the tradition of offering dana, or generosity. Your support makes these gatherings possible, and any amount offered is greatly appreciated.

Another way to support us is to share what this exploration has meant to you in a way that we can use in our materials. We invite you to share a “testimonial” here! (select “EcoDharma Exploration Participant” from the dropdown menu.)

Recording

Additional Resources

Inquiries for Group Discussion

  • How do I relate to vulnerability, generally and with regard to ecocrises?
  • What happens when I affirm vulnerability? What do I notice in my body, heart, mind?
  • What responses might be possible if I welcome and make friends with precarity?

Additional Resources

More EcoDharma Explorations

Upcoming

How to Nurture Beloved Community in Divided Times

How might these uncertain times be a pathway towards deeper trust, equanimity, and a loving, powerful network of true belonging?

Upcoming

The EcoSattva Journey

How might we not just be with the collectives troubles, but take them up on the invitation for collective transformation?

Past

The Power of Remembering the Indigenous Design of American Democracy

What’s at the core of American Democracy? What might The Great Law of Peace have to say about our perilous time of today?