This is event is open to all! Join us for a conversation on Afrikan Wisdom!
Afrikan Wisdom represents an intersectional, cross-pollinated exploration of Black life–past, present, and future. Award-winning author and editor Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara)’s collection of 34 essays–written by an eclectic and inspirational group of Black thought leaders and teachers–reflects on the unique and multilayered experience of being Black in the world today.
This anthology instills in readers the knowledge, awareness, validation, and spiritual tools necessary to nurture both individual and collective liberation. It is both an inspiration and a motivation for Black readers, as well as anyone else interested in reading about emerging spiritual voices. Topics include:
• African and Afro-Diasporan cultures, histories, spiritualities, art, music, and literature
• Black radical traditions of liberation and consciousness
• Anticolonialism and antislavery
• Buddhist philosophy
• Social and environmental justice
• The prison industrial complex and mass incarceration
• (Kemetic) yoga, healing, and mindfulness
• Intersections with Indigenous cultures
• Addiction and recovery
• Transgenerational trauma
“A celebration and a cry, a rich treasure chest and a brilliant contribution to the awakening of all.”
—Jack Kornfield, author of A Path With Heart
“Afrikan Wisdom is such an important offering to and for African Diasporic people as we come to understand our traditional relationship to mindfulness and Buddhadharma. This book will help us continue dreaming and living into more liberated futures.”
—Lama Rod Owens, author of Love and Rage
“This is an important undertaking; a wealth of insights and resources that reminds us that contemplative practice must find unique expression within each culture and identity. To be truly liberatory in modern lives, ancient wisdom must also meet head-on the most pressing challenges of our times. This collection is a vital part of that work, and a gift to us all.”
—Jamie Bristow, author and clerk of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness
“This fascinating volume examines the topic of Black Liberation from a wide range of perspectives. Since it arose from a recent and historic gathering of Buddhist teachers and scholars of African descent, most of the contributions have a Buddhist slant but there are also essays from Christian, Muslim, and Rastafarian viewpoints. It is rich with eye-opening history and with different authors’ takes on such challenging issues as nonviolence, the balance between mediation and external activism, the whiteness of American Buddhism, spiritual bypassing, and how to deal mindfully with systemic racism. This is an important book that comes at a time when the influence of racism in the US has rarely been more overtly supported and new voices on Black Liberation more needed.”
—Richard Schwartz, PhD, developer of the Internal Family Systems psychotherapy and adjunct faculty, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
“The variety and breadth of offerings in this anthology will inform and inspire those who seek true liberation for all.”
—Lion’s Roar
CLICK HERE to purchase.
_______________________
For those with one or more parents or grandparents from the Black African Diaspora and who self-identifies as Black and/or mixed heritage join Afrikan Healing and Wisdom every last Sunday of the month from 9-11am PT.
