In these extremely challenging times, making the time for contemplation and community is essential for our well-being. Contemplation evokes carving out a time and a space to become silent and be present with a kind, open awareness. The busier our lives and the bigger our responsibilities are, the more important this becomes — not to escape reality, but to be able to stand in the middle of it, with more courage, energy, creativity, freedom, and compassion.
These sessions arose out of Mind & Life Europe’s ESRIs, where the desire to meet as a community to contemplate and discuss together has continued to grow.
Mind & Life grew out of a fruitful dialogue between two practices: science and contemplation. With Making Room for Contemplation we would like to open an online space of contemplative practice, for anyone who is interested.
According to Thomas Merton, we are all contemplatives. Many traditions have found many different words for this, yet these words are only a container for a practice. And we do need a container. In Making Room for Contemplation we aim to create one. Then we can let go of the words and sit in silence.
Making Room for Contemplation will take place once a month via Zoom on Tuesday evenings from 7:30pm to 8:45pm CET/CEST:
- 7:30pm – Welcome and talk by Edel
- 7:55pm – Silent meditation and/or dialogical practice
- 8:20pm – Q&A and discussion
These sessions are free and open to everyone, so please feel free to invite friends, colleagues, or anyone who might benefit from a moment of quiet reflection and community.
As these sessions are run monthly, you are welcome to attend all sessions or just drop in whenever you feel called to. The meeting ID will always be the same, but registration is required via the zoom link for each individual event to attend.
Upcoming Sessions
To see upcoming sessions for Making Room for Contemplation, please see our events page.
To register for any of the following events, click here!
about the TEACHERS
Edel Maex is a retired psychiatrist and Zen teacher. As a young psychiatrist, he found an important source of inspiration in the work of Gregory Bateson and Francisco Varela. The work of Jon Kabat-Zinn encouraged him to bring mindfulness into his psychiatric practice, which allowed him to merge his therapeutic work with his Zen practice.
He received dharma transmission from his teacher Ton Lathouwers, founder of Mahakaruna Chan, a lay Zen organization in the Netherlands. He is strongly committed to developing a contemporary Zen practice while staying true to its roots. For more information: https://edelmaex.substack.com/
FIVE COLOURS ZEN: PATHS TO AND FROM BY eDEL MAEX
Edel has recently written a new short book about Zen practice, which you can read here. Feel free to share it with anyone who might be interested.