As Sisters of St. Joseph who daily meditate, contemplate and desire to effect change in our world, we have become intrigued with the work of Thomas Hubl and William Ury.
Hubl, living in Tel Aviv, is a contemporary spiritual teacher and founder of the Academy of Inner Science.
Ury is an American author, academic and negotiation expert who co-founded the Harvard Program on Negotiation. He works around the world, assisting nations and groups to solve their problems through deep listening and respect.
To learn about Hubl and Ury’s innovative and collaborative experience program, about 25 of us have joined their online six-month course, “Meditate and Mediate”. Together with over 500 participants around the globe, we are exploring “an exciting and emerging field that blends spiritual development, contemplative practices, psychology, collective healing, meditation, negotiation and conflict resolution”.
Our motivation in joining this “Meditate and Mediate” initiative is to become part of a connected leadership in our present world where structures change rapidly. We need to be prepared to see a vision for being in service for the huge shifts that lie ahead of us. By our learning, we hope to refine how to build bridges between our inner and outer world and develop intact relationships that resolve conflict. Through learning, meditation and listening to our inner space, we aspire to maintain peace to carry to the outer world in our encounters with others.
On a practical note, our homework between now and the next video conference, will be to attempt to listen fully to others, with our whole being, “as if our body had eyes and ears all over it.” This deep listening avoids getting absorbed in my own mind and my own understanding. I think this will be a challenging practice.
Jean Moylan, CSJ