Humility and Awe. We bow humbly before the miracle of creation, acknowledging that we are a manifestation of this great mysterious energy called Life, that we humans are among the youngest species and have much to learn about living harmoniously embedded in the natural world.
Gratitude to ancestors. We offer deep gratitude to all our ancestors among all species in all dimensions through all of cosmic evolution. Gratitude keeps us pointed toward love, generosity, compassion, and nonviolence as our guides to action.
Guided by love. We are motivated first and foremost by love, a revolutionary love that seeks transformation at the base of our consciousness and our society, that seeks a mending of our broken relations with other humans and species; a love that sees no enemies, believes that justice is a manifestation of love; a love that is infinitely grateful for the life we are blessed to live.
Our deep aspiration for liberation. We carry an aspiration deep in our hearts for collective healing and liberation of people, animals, plants, and minerals.
Recognizing suffering and the roots of suffering
Suffering obscures our true nature. But our awareness of this true nature becomes obscured by suffering (anxiety, disease, anger, fear, disappointment, and so on). This suffering is individual and collective; personal and institutionalized, pervasive and deep.
Separation is a deep wound. We believe that a deep wound that most humans carry is the wound of feeling separate. Separate from our true nature, separate from our bodies, each other, other races and people who seem different from us, separate from our country, from the natural world and other species, and the cosmos itself. This basic universal conditioning gives rise to division, dualism, us vs them thinking, and domination and oppression in all its ugly forms. This, and not other people, is the “enemy” that needs healing and transformation.
Greed, hatred, and delusion are institutionalized. We can see that the three poisons at the root of all suffering that the Buddha identified long ago, greed, ill-will, and delusion (of a separate existence), have become institutionalized and mutually reinforcing. Our current brutal economic system is institutionalized greed which promotes consumerism, profit making, and a growth mentality (since enough is never enough). Ill-will is institutionalized by militarism (the US has over 800 military bases around the world) mainly protecting corporate interests and resources; by mass-incarceration, racism and killing of BIPOC folks, by white supremacy and nationalism. Delusion of separateness is institutionalized by policies and practices such as dividing people against each other, vaulting individual achievement or identity over collective cooperation, undermining community cohesion, encouraging fake contact through social media and then selling our personal data to advertisers, and promoting nationalism (“America is 1!”)
Human-caused destruction. We also acknowledge that in the short time span of the past 200 years since the beginning of the industrial revolution, a mere blink in the 4.5 billion years the Earth has been around, we humans have had an outsized impact on the Earth and its ecosystems. Through a combination of ignorance, unintended consequences, and unbridled greed, we humans have extracted, mined, drilled, clear cut, polluted, poisoned, overfished, over grazed, over fertilized, over developed, and over populated our beloved planet to the point of collapse of ecosystems, the rapid extinction of hundreds of thousands of species, the breakdown of societies, and the possible elimination of humans.
Eco-systems collapse. If we’re honest about the eco-crisis, it looks pretty grim. Climate scientists say we may be past tipping points, despite all our good efforts and intention. The warning bells of climate disaster are sounding loudly. The number of animals reduced in half in the last 40 years; 50% of all species become extinct in 80 years (according to the World Wildlife Fund). Half of the Arctic ice is gone now. Coastal cities around the world flooded in 30 years. 300 million climate refugees in 30 years. And things are predicted to get worse: crop failures, food and water shortages, cities and coastlines flooded, huge species die-offs, mass human migration, regional conflicts, tyranny, and failed states. All the while low income communities and poorer nations suffer the most harm. One scientist says we are heading for “inevitable social collapse, probable environmental catastrophe, and possible human extinction.” So much suffering is upon us and mounting quickly.
Recognizing well-being and the path to well-being
Transformation of systems of domination is possible. We think that this transformation requires several key concurrent processes. (a) Inner healing of individual suffering, trauma, and misinformation; (b) Building deep closeness in a Beloved Community; (c) External structural changes in laws and policies that promote well-being for all people and other species; (d) Making amends and restitution for past injustices to the extent possible; (e) Envisioning of a new planetary eco-system in which humans have a caring and beloved place in the harmony of nature; (f) Dismantling of all forms of oppression including racism, patriarchy, anti-Semitism, economic class exploitation, and so on; (g) Development of new ways of farming, providing energy, conserving water, reserving forests and land, and re-vitalizing the ocean ecosystems; (h) New ways of collective healing, truthful communication, effective decision-making, nonviolent conflict resolution, restorative justice, cooperative economy, and local engaged democracy.
Wise view is key. We understand that the views we hold make a big difference in how we think, feel, and act. Therefore we are committed to cultivating views that point towards inclusion, cooperation, and wholeness; that generate feelings of caring, connection, compassion, and kindness; and that are rooted in the truths that everything changes and everything is interconnected, that reality is “unbroken wholeness in flowing movement” (physicist David Bohm). In practice we choose to view racial and environmental suffering as a door to awakening to a higher human consciousness. In truth, we don’t know how the story ends. Our practice asks us to sit with uncertainty. By one estimate there are over a million organizations worldwide dedicated to some aspect of relieving the eco-crisis. Maybe together, we can do enough to avert the worst.
Sacred nature in all. We believe that every person has an inherent Buddha nature, or Christ nature, or God nature, or Source Energy which is whole and unbroken. We are inextricably bound up and embedded in the natural world, out of which we cannot fall. Our existence absolutely depends on an infinite web of causes and conditions. “Interbeing” is not a belief but a law of the universe. A truth.
Reality is vaster than our notions about reality. We acknowledge that there is the seen world and the unseen and unknown world. Most of what troubles us, occupies our attention, and confuses us is in the seen world, the “historical reality”, the material plane. But this dimension is embedded in a vast unseen reality, about which we know very little, really. So if we are honest, we have to say that any predictions or notions about the future of things must be tempered with, “Who knows?”
Rooted in mindfulness. While we are rooted in the teachings and practices of the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, we believe the Beloved Community Circles can be adopted and adapted by other faith-based or values-base groups who are committed to bringing mindfulness, compassion, healing, and nonviolence to protecting ourselves, each other, all beings, and the Earth. We aspire to embody a set of core ethical practices like the Five Mindfulness Trainings, namely, reverence for life, generosity, kind speech and deep listening, sexual responsibility, and wise consumption.
We are called to act. We are also aware, as we are called to act, to do all we can to avert the worst, protect what we can, and promote transformation of our ignorance, that we act without attachment to outcomes, without knowing the impact of our actions. Nonetheless, we act, and do our best to do so without attachment to outcomes.
Racial, social, and climate justice are inseparable. In particular, we share an understanding that racial, economic, and climate justice are inseparable, and that mending our relations with the Earth requires mending our racial relations. For this reason, we choose to focus much of our energy and action at this nexus.
Social justice, emotional healing, and spiritual practice are intertwined. Each of these three takes as its aim the enhancement of human life. However, the three are often separated into mutually exclusive spheres. For example, the people involved in social justice often underestimate or dismiss the role of emotional distress in political work or rarely take time to do “personal work”. Without a way of handling their emotional hurts, activists fall prey to reactive thinking, or discouragement, burn out, the use of painful emotion like anger as an organizing tool, and more. Or people primarily involved with therapy or the healing arts can overlook the societal oppression that gives rise to personal unhappiness. Without addressing the social ills that create distress, the hurts keep piling up. Likewise, spiritual practitioners can often detach from the world of politics to leave such concerns in “God’s hands” or until consciousness evolves to a higher level. We agree that these three need to be practiced together, that one without the other two is insufficient.
Inner transformation must accompany systems change. At the same time, if we only busy ourselves with trying to relieve the external signs of suffering, we will inevitably feel frustrated, hopeless, and powerless. Certainly we must respond to immediate suffering with action. But we also need to do the inner work of understanding the roots of suffering: a deeply conditioned sense of separation; of forgetting our true nature—and the greed, anger, loneliness, and selfishness that result from this state.
Healing feelings of powerlessness is central. This all may feel overwhelming. Maybe it feels impossible or hopeless to attain. Yet, these feelings were in most of us long before we knew anything about racism or global warming or environmental destruction. When we were young we experienced or witnessed things that were wrong, were violations of nature, but we were too little and powerless to stop it. And without opportunities to heal this wounding, we carry feelings of powerlessness into our current life and project these feelings onto the big sufferings around us and feel overwhelmed. This has conditioned most of us to live lives that are too small for our true nature, and collectively to settle for a world filled with unnecessary suffering. But what if climate change is not too big for us to handle well? What if it is just the right level of challenge to help us evolve? What would we do if we were not hindered by feelings of powerlessness?
Community is essential to liberation. We cannot end racism or reverse the process of global warming or renew democracy alone. When author and climate activist Bill McKibben was asked “What can I do as an individual to combat climate change?” he said, “Stop being an individual.” So while we honor and support each individual in their efforts to heal and protect, we are dedicated to nurturing deep intimacy and closeness in community. We need each other. A community, a sangha, a strong circle, a Circle—this is where we learn patience, tolerance, compassion; it’s where we practice peaceful conflict resolution, relationship repair, and cooperative planning; it’s where we find refuge, solidarity, and healing.
Grounded in Kingian nonviolence. We are firmly rooted in a Kingian nonviolence approach that emphasizes deep personal transformation, community building and service, and mindful action at the nexus of racial and environmental justice.
Circles as a home base. The Beloved Community Circles network aspires to be an inviting and supportive home for engaged practice, a refuge for renewal and healing, a learning center and think tank, and an effective force for mobilizing mindful action for the benefit of all beings and the Earth itself.
