Pioneering spiritual ecology conference comes to Bristol
What can we do differently to preserve our planet for future generations?
Conscious Frontiers is excited to be staging the groundbreaking Future NOW spiritual ecology conference together with Laughter Yoga author Joe Hoare at Bristol’s Trinity Centre – a funky converted church and community arts centre – on Saturday 8th November (10am-5pm).
Showcasing leading edge eco-spiritual presenters – “Extreme Pilgrim” Peter Owen Jones, Satish Kumar, Tim Freke, Chloe Goodchild and Joe Hoare – Future NOW aims to raise the debate about “The Future”, exploring the urgent solutions and mindful steps that need to be taken imminently to sustain the Earth so we can secure positive future lives for our children and grandchildren. As Gandhi once said,”The future depends on what we do in the present”.
With the planet fast approaching tipping point, we are faced with potentially devastating climate change and environmental meltdown caused by our unsustainable materialistic lifestyles that could result in fatal natural disasters, outbreak of wars, famine, diseases, poverty, social upheaval and mass loss of life. The world renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh refers to these calamities as “bells of mindfulness” warning us to wake up and urgently consider our impact on the planet before it’s too late.
The Future NOW conference was largely inspired by the wonderful book Spiritual Ecology, a recent anthology compiled by USA-based Sufi leader Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee as a response to this urgent call of the Earth, which features leading global voices in the spiritual ecology movement, such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Berry, Joanna Macy, Vandana Shiva, Chief Oren Lyons and Satish Kumar. In this book, Thich Nhat Hanh points out that while most of are aware the Earth is in great danger, we continue to act as if our daily lives have no effect on the condition of the world, and he suggests that the only way of saving the planet is for us all to walk more mindfully on the Earth. “We have to hear the bells of mindfulness that are sounding all across our planet,” he urges.
And so we have reached a choicepoint – do we accept the inevitable, disastrous consequences of our current way of life or wake up to living in a more interesting and sustainable way?
An uplifting day of inspiring talks and breakout discussion groups weaved with sacred sounds, Future NOW will explore what we can all do differently to save our planet for future generations. It’s a call to replace our outmoded Western material dream for a new dream of mindfulness, kindness, compassion, interconnectedness and community.