An online gathering hosted by the Touching the Earth Collective.
Several members of the Touching the Earth Collective discussed and compared these two analyses, in which the Pope and the Sakyong offered their assessment of the challenges facing our species and the earth’s biosphere. We have invited former Shambhala President Richard Reoch to facilitate the gathering and he has kindly agreed.
“A certain way of understanding human life and activity has gone awry, to the serious detriment of the world around us. Humanity has entered a new era in which our technical prowess has brought us to a crossroads.”
– Pope Francis, Laudato Si’
“We humans have come to a crossroads in our history: we can either destroy the world or create a good future. Even climatically, the balance is shifting to dramatically change the face of the earth. Our ecosystem is in a precarious and fragile state, and our future depends on our actions as a species.”
–Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, The Shambhala Principle
In the run-up to the 196-nation conference that adopted the historic Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015, the Pope and the Sakyong offered their assessment of the challenges facing our species and earth’s biosphere. They also set out the personal and societal changes that would be needed to meet the threat of global devastation.
After retiring as President of Shambhala, Richard Reoch developed a 14-point comparison of these two analyses and found remarkable resonances between them.
Click here to access the document, prepared by Richard, about the Points of Convergence.
Here is the recording for Part 1, which took place on Saturday, October 17:
……………………………………………
Here is the recording for PART 2, which took place on Saturday, November 14.