… A peer-to-peer dialogue for ASP
Thinking about sustainability means thinking about the finiteness of things, living beings, people, and ourselves.
Aligned with ASP’s principle that sustainability is the outcome of conscious thinking, this three-part dialogue invites you to delve into a kaleidoscope of ideas, thoughts and practices which open up a thoughtful, in-depth peer-to-peer dialogue on finiteness, fragility, and mortality.
Open to ASP members-only.
The aims
- Creating a safe space to discuss topics often ignored or not talked about in our societies
- Exploring different approaches to cope and constructively deal with finiteness
- Empowering us to act in the face of – or because of – finiteness
- Encouraging creative self-expression (as optional accompaniment)
Fully recognizing that the key themes of this conversation are heavy topics, the design ensures that we start and end on a gentle and constructive note. Each session starts with a light touch and a chat with participants, then delves deeper into the topic and ends on a guided meditation at the end. Discussion-prompts from a variety of sources will be used in the main part of each session: spanning literature, different world religions and spiritual practices, pop culture, poetry, and art.
As an optional accompaniment, you are encouraged to further explore the workshop themes through creative self-expression in any medium of your choice which you can share online on a dedicated Miro board.
To create an easy opt-in contemplative ritual that opens and closes the session and generates a meditative mood, we encourage the lighting (and later blowing out) of a candle at the beginning (and end) of each session.
This is a peer-to-peer dialogue and is neither led by clinical professionals nor pursues any therapeutic objectives. While acknowledging this, safeguarding practices will be in place: A range of accessible mental health resources (links to online articles and organisations) will be made available. In addition, the co-lead Gwyn will offer an open ear outside the sessions should you want to talk further.
Format
A series in 3 parts: 19:00-20:30 UK on September 4th, 11th, and 18th 2023
Themes & Content
Session 1: Finiteness in nature and in pop culture. September 4th
If there are two things that we are always surrounded by, it is nature and pop culture. Thinking about how we experience finiteness (fragility, mortality, grief, the circle of life and death) through examples we find in nature and pop culture opens up a fresh, and accessible way to talk about these topics and allows us to compare and contrast the natural world with the world of human discourse to explore how we make sense of it all.
Session 2: The silence around finiteness – death anxiety and ecological grief. September 11th
If the pandemic and the climate crisis have taught us one thing, it is that our societies prefer to stay in the spiral of silence instead of facing grief and death anxiety in a mindful, conscious way. Whether it is grieving a loved one or grieving Mother Earth, how does grief manifest in us and how can we start talking about finiteness and mortality?
Next Session: Session 3 – Finiteness as a call to action – the role of sustainability practitioners. September 18th, 19:00 BST
Living through and contending with the polycrisis, where do we see our role in this as sustainability practitioners? Can we imagine old and new ways to make positive, generative contributions while we are still around – in the face of or even because of finiteness? This session will provide ample space to discuss our place in it all and to wrap up the series with a sense of agency.
Reserve your place here
Open to ASP members-only. Scroll down to select the free ticket (1 for for all 3 parts): “ASP Member”, and if you wish Voluntary Donation.
This is a 3-part series.
