The Center for Engaged Compassion

Andy Dreitcer presents on contemplative practices & compassion at Brown and Stanford universities.

andy — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:14:28 +0000

Andy Dreitcer was an invited presenter-participant at a staff in-service gathering of Brown University’s neuroscience-related “Contemplative Development Mapping Project (CDMP)” January 3-5, at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre MA. (For a description of the CDMP, see this interview with its director.) His presentation, “Roles of Imaginal-Affective Relationality in Compassion-Oriented Christian Contemplative Practices” was the group’s introduction to practices within the Abrahamic traditions, was followed by presentations on Muslim and Jewish practices, and was preceded by presentations on Dharmic practices. Until this gathering, the CDMP had focused on neuroscientifically “mapping” only Buddhist practices.

In March, Dreitcer was the guest speaker for Stanford’s compassion-cultivation training program. His presentation focused on the nature of compassion-formation within Christian contemplative practices.

Articles Explore Personal Storyelling as a Method for Building Compassionate Communities

andy — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:44:56 +0000

In 2010, Mark Yaconelli began the exploration of a personal storytelling series (entitled “The Hearth”) in his local town of Ashland, Oregon as a method for building community, eradicating shame, and creating a safe dialogue space for difficult issues. Recent articles in the Huffington Post and Communitas (the Austin Theological Seminary journal) explore this model as a set of practices to help cultivate compassion. You can read the Huffington piece here and mark’s article entitled “The Gospel According to Everyone” here. For more information on the Hearth and developing a personal storytelling series in your community go here.

Frank Rogers leads retreat for L.A. prison chaplains

andy — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 23:47:10 +0000

In September, Frank Rogers led a weekend-long retreat for prison chaplains in the Los Angeles County prison systems. “Internal Family Systems: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Healing” was sponsored by Prism Restorative Justice Ministries. The gathering explored Internal Family Systems (a contemplative, soulful, and non-pathologizing therapy that nurtures compassion for self and others) as a spiritual path for personal renewal and as a resource for pastoral care in chaplaincy contexts.

Spezio & Dreitcer Mind & Life presentation

andy — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:34:09 +0000

Andrew Dreitcer and Michael Spezio presented one of the main-stage addresses at the Mind and Life Summer Research Institute (June 22-26, 2012, the Garrison Institue, Garrison, New York) on “Relational Contemplative Studies of Practices in Christian Communities.” (The Mind and Life Summer Research Institute is a gathering of invited scholars, contemplative practitioners, scientists, and researchers.) Their background paper for the presentation is here. They also led an in-depth seminar on the topic — and Andy led a contemplative practice for one of the plenary evening meditation times.

Dreitcer quoted in “Spirituality & Health” magazine

andy — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:28:11 +0000

Comments by Andy Dreitcer are highlighted in a “Spirituality & Health” article about neuroscientific perspectives on how ritual functions in religions: “The use of movement, scent, repetition of mantra or singing, and rhythmic breathing: ‘These appear again and again,” [Dreitcer] says, perhaps because they evoke a “neurophysiology that really responds to intimacy.” When one examines these practices, Dreitcer [continues], “they do the same thing in humans no matter who they are or what the context.’ And this relaxed, focused state might be a doorway to spiritual growth, he says. “If you have that capacity to pay attention without condemning ― even unconsciously ― it opens up all kinds of possibilities.’”

Andrew Dreitcer appointed Mind & Life ‘Fellow’

andy — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:12:25 +0000

Andy Dreitcer has accepted an invitation to become a Fellow of the Mind & Life Institute (MLI). MLI was founded in 1987 by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, neuroscientist Francisco Varela, and social-change entrepeneur Adam Engle. From it inception it has sought “to understand the human mind and the benefits of contemplative practices through an integrated mode of knowing that combines first person knowledge from the world’s contemplative traditions with methods and findings from contemporary scientific inquiry. Ultimately, [MLI's] goal is to relieve human suffering and advance well-being.”

CEC at San Quentin prison

andy — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 18:56:20 +0000

CEC Executive Co-Director Andrew Dreitcer recently participated in Insight Prison Project‘s (IPP) Restorative Justice training in connection with IPP’s “Victim Offender Education Group” offerings at prisons around California. Andy is now helping facilitate a group at San Quentin men’s prison. The group, part of IPP’s “Next Step” program, is meeting twice a month for 18 months, with a focus on issues related to how to navigate life after prison.

EEG’s for Meditating Monks: The CEC breaks new ground.

andy — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 18:48:36 +0000

Staff members of the Center (including social neuroscientists from Princeton University and from Scripps College & Caltech) traveled to a Christian monastery recently to record EEG readings of monks during meditation. In recent years EEG testing of Buddhist meditators (monastics and laypersons) has been done in a number of locations around the world. As far as we know, this is the first time an adept Christian monastic has gone ‘under the EEG net.’ A vast amount of data was collected over the course of 4 days of testing; this will take much time to collate and interpret.

43 from around the world join in “The Way of Radical Compassion”

andy — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 18:32:06 +0000

The first weeklong retreat (Sept 13-16, 2012; The Mercy Center, Burlingame, CA) of “The Way of Radical Compassion” welcomed 43 participants (including 17 CST students) from Canada, the U.S., England, and Saudi Arabia. It focused on two broad themes: God’s compassionate presence with us; compassion toward ourselves. Specific topics covered were:

“Jesus’ Three-Fold Way of Radical Compassion” (Thursday evening)
“Loving God: Jesus’ God of Radical Compassion” (Friday morning)
“Our Truest Self: In the Image of God’s Compassion” (Friday afternoon)
“Loving Ourselves: Embracing our Inner World with Compassion” (Saturday morning)
“The Kingdom of God within You: All Parts are Welcome” (Saturday afternoon)
“The Self-Compassion Practice” (Sunday morning)

The two subsequent retreats will focus on how to experience and offer radical compassion toward others – both those we easily care for and those that we experience as enemies.

Plans are underway to begin a second 9-month training program in September, 2013. If you are interested in participating, contact CEC Co-Director for Special Projects Mark Yaconelli (myaconelli@cst.edu).

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The Center for Engaged Compassion (through the work of Co-Directors Frank Rogers, Andy Dreitcer, and Mark Yaconelli) is offering a 9-month compassion formation process that involves a series of three transformative retreats, spiritual practices, small group processes, spiritual direction, and online forums designed to help participants experience and embody a greater capacity for compassion. The pilot program has been commissioned by Prison Fellowship Canada with a $300,000 grant from the Morrison Foundation. This “Way of Radical Compassion” training has been designed for anyone seeking to live a compassionate life or engage in social restoration. It recognizes that Jesus was a spiritual teacher who taught a profoundly transformative path of personal healing and social restoration – through transformation of oneself, relationships, and the world – grounded in radical compassion. This formational program teaches each participant how to be an empowered compassionate presence in the world.

Feature Article on Storytelling and Forming a Compassionate Community

andy — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:44:32 +0000

Author and journalist Jennifer Margulis has written a cover article on the Hearth storytelling series run by CEC program director Mark Yaconelli. The article was printed in the Jefferson Monthly and focuses on how telling personal stories in a community setting helps create compassion. Here’s an excerpt:

The Best Thing in the Valley

“I just think it’s the best thing that’s going on in the Valley right now,” confides Mark DiRienzo, as if he’s telling me a secret.

“It’s like a quarterly grounding opportunity to check in with the big picture stuff and realize everyone has a story and their story deeply impacts the audience and everyone can relate,” contines DiRienzo, a father of two and a real estate developer who is a regular at these events. “It’s usually funny and moving and some are totally crushing. There are suicide stories. And yet the person standing before you in that vulnerable state is able to make the audience laugh.”

DiRienzo, though he’s not ready to get up and tell a story himself (yet), says going to The Hearth has made him a more sensitive and compassionate person, less quick to judge others and more aware that everyone has a story.

“The next day you walk down the street and you see someone and think, even if they may have been a jerk, everyone has a story, and you’ve got to give people a chance.”

Yaconelli believes that storytelling can be transcendent: “What happens on a good night, with a good story is that your imagination gets awakened to possibilities,” he tells me. “Someone talks about Mexico and you think, ‘I could travel there.’ Listening helps you release the unhealed wounds that oppress your life and keep you trapped. You realize, ‘I could be more than my wounds.’”

You can read the whole article here.