Climate Change as Charnel Ground

In Tibet, dead bodies were traditionally cut up and left on the charnel ground for vultures. Practitioners could meditate there, connecting with a difficult reality and the awakened energy that runs through all of it.

Our lives are charnel grounds—filled with painful sights we don’t want to see and also with opportunities to engage, to find energy and transformative possibility.

This talk and discussion will explore climate change as charnel ground. How do we let in the painful knowledge of climate disruption, or hold knowledge and feeling at bay? Where do our practices help us to feel and act differently in relation to climate change, and where are they congruent with a culture of inaction and denial? And how might exploring climate change as charnel ground relate to issues of patriarchy, white supremacy, global capitalism, and harm within spiritual communities?