Events

"Into and Out Of the Echo Chambers" Series

What do you make of this cultural moment? How has it impacted you? How will we find our way forward, individually and collectively?

The bitter divisions and partisanship that flared up in the last twelve months had been festering for years. The coronavirus pandemic, the racial reckoning, and the 2020 election cycle all revealed deep disagreements and radically divergent worldviews. The impact of these divisions was compounded by our physical distance and social media echo chambers.
 
CURW’s “Into and Out Of the Echo Chambers” series invites the Cornell community to explore these pressing questions. You will be invited to reflect on and voice the emotional impact that this challenging moment has had on you, and together we will begin to consider what spiritual dispositions, humanizing practices, and interpersonal skills might help us meet this moment and find our way forward in a way that honors our national motto: e pluribus unum.

Cultivating Peace in the Valley: Practicing for Navigating the Ebb and Flow of the Inner Work of Racial Justice

Virtual Keynote featuring Rhonda V. Magee
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Virtual Event, 12pm
Click here to view a recording of this event

As we confront the legacy of historical White Supremacy -- exploring the effects of wage and wealth inequality, witnessing political polarization, and realizing the related climate distress and public health consequences -- we are all challenged to contemplate our own social identities, related habits and attachments, and explore the values and practices necessary to sustain multiracial democracy. Turning toward and taking up our part of the work of minimizing socially-created surplus suffering can lead to greater distress before it leads to more ease. How might our contemplative pedagogies and practices assist us in maintaining equanimity and wellbeing as we strengthen our skillfulness in working with the changing culture and its consequences?

See No Stranger: An Evening with Valarie Kaur
Monday, March 22, 2021
Virtual Event, 7 p.m.

Valarie Kaur is a seasoned civil rights activist and celebrated prophetic voice “at the forefront of progressive change” (Center for American Progress). Valarie burst into American consciousness in the wake of the 2016 election when her Watch Night Service address went viral with 30+ million views worldwide. Her question “Is this the darkness of the tomb – or the darkness of the womb?” reframed the political moment and became a mantra for people fighting for change. Valarie now leads the Revolutionary Love Project to reclaim love as a force for justice in America. As a lawyer, filmmaker, and innovator, she has won policy change on multiple fronts – hate crimes, racial profiling, immigration detention, solitary confinement, Internet freedom, and more. She founded Groundswell Movement, Faithful Internet, and the Yale Visual Law Project to inspire and equip new generations of advocates. Valarie has been a regular TV commentator on MSNBC and contributor to CNN, NPR, PBS, the Hill, Huffington Post, and the Washington Post. A daughter of Sikh farmers in California’s heartland, Valarie earned degrees at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School. Valarie’s book, SEE NO STRANGER: A Memoir & Manifesto of Revolutionary Love, was released in 2020 and expands on her “blockbuster” TED Talk.For this event, Valarie will speak about her book See No Stranger, and invite us to consider what spiritual dispositions, humanizing practices, and interpersonal skills might help us meet this profound moment of social change.

Sponsored by Cornell United Religious Work (CURW) and the Office of Spirituality and Meaning-Making (OSMM), with generous co-sponsorship provided by the Office of Engagement Initiatives (OEI), Sikh Student Association (SSA), Cornell Garden-based Learning, Interfaith Council, and the Center for Transformative Action (CTA).