Metta sponsors and supports a wide range of talks, workshops, and other events to engage our community in an ongoing discussion about nonviolence. Please have a look below for our upcoming events including our ongoing film series, and our archive of past events which often contain video or audio of the event and other resources.
SATURDAY MARCH 3, 2012
9:30 AM — 12:30 PM
ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 40 Fifth Street, Petaluma
In this half-day seminar we will explore critical insights on Jesus’ nonviolence with special attention to His practical relevance today.
Topcis incude the historical Jesus and the way of nonviolence, the meaning of sacrifice, forgiveness & atonement, selfless work, Christian spirituality and loving your enemy.
SPONSORS OF THIS EVENT
The Metta Center for Nonviolence
www.mettacenter.org
St. John’s Episcopal Church
www.saintjohnsepiscopalpetaluma.org
Suggested event donation: $10-$20 at the door. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. For more information contact Stephanie at 707-774-6299
The United States has played an important part in the escalating war for drug prohibition. Mexican activists like Juan are reaching out to people in the U.S. to support efforts for justice and help forge a different path.
Saúl comes to the Bay Area after Juan Fraire Escobedo, who had been invited to speak here, was refused permission to travel by air from Texas by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on January 30. Juan, who has applied for political asylum in the United States with the next hearing in 2014, has a GPS bracelet placed on his leg that ICE declined to remove.
A human rights lawyer and journalist who has been working in human rights and transitional justice for 12 years in Nepal, Mr. Basnet was kidnapped and tortured by Maoist rebels in 2002, and then was illegally arrested by the Royal Nepal Army in 2004 and tortured while in secret custody for 258 days. He was instrumental in the release of 29 disappeared civilians despite threats from the army for being witness to army atrocity, torture, disappearances and killings. He has written a powerful book on his experience called 258 Dark Days.
Mr. Basnet has offered to spend an evening with friends of peace in San Francisco to share a bit of his story, discuss the political situation in Nepal, and engage in conversation about approaches to protecting human rights in times of crisis and upheaval.
He is a delightful, gracious individual whose acquaintance you will be very pleased to have made!
Date: March 17, 2012
Location: Petaluma, CA
Conducted by: Metta Center for Nonviolence
Course Instructors: Michael Nagler, Metta Center President and Professor emeritus and founder of Peace and Conflict Studies Program, UC Berkeley; Stephanie Van Hook, Metta Center Executive Director
Course fees: $125 general (We do not want to turn anyone away for lack of funds. We invite those who can do so to offer more than the suggested fee so that others can attend for less.)
This special, 1-day workshop will provide an in-depth introduction to passage meditation and its applications to nonviolence and peacemaking. Participants will learn how to meditate along these lines (if they do not have another practice already), experience group practice, and explore the relationship between inner and outer peace. Participants will also be encouraged to discover their particular gifts as makers of peace, and create a strategy for expressing those gifts, as well as learning practical strategies for maintaining their enthusiasm in the face of stress and resistance.
Learning Goals
(1) Students will establish an effective meditation practice, and explore effective contexts for its application in peacework and activism. (2) Students will deepen their understanding of nonviolence as an inner and outer resource. (3) Students will gain insight into the nature of conflict and its creative resolution.
Core Knowledge
Positive peace, nonviolence, inner security, an understanding of spiritual growth and its applications to social change.
Core Skills
meditation, detachment, conflict analysis and resolution
A panel discussion on human rights, climate change, and building a movement to shift us from crisis to healing. Featuring Dr. Michael Nagler, Evelyn Rangel Medina, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Reverend Philip Lawson, and Pano Kroko, recorded on May 21, 2010 at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California.
Continue reading for video of the conference!
Activist Pano Kroko joined us for the Hope Tank on Friday, March 19, 2010, to discuss civil rights in the age of climate change. Couldn’t be there in person? Click here for audio of the discussion!
This event took place at the Metta Center on Sunday, March 14, 2010. The full audio of the workshop is now available here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Please see the rest of the original event announcement, below, for more information and related resources!
Please join us on Monday, February 15, 2010 at 5:00pm at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley for a talk by Colombia’s courageous lawyer Adriana Castaño Roman, youth activist and human rights defender, activist with the Medellín Youth Network since 1996.Please see poster for details!
On Wednesday, Dec. 16th, Metta is hosting a preview screening of The Orange Revolution, at the USF campus in San Francisco, (click here, or the image at right, for a larger view of the poster. More about the film here.) Please join us at 7pm in Cowell Hall room 133. After the (refreshments and) screening, Michael Nagler, Political Scientist and Metta board member Cynthia Boaz, and Mideast expert Stephen Zunes will discuss this film and the event that it describes: the latest, but doubtless not the last “Velvet Revolution.” Join us for a great film experience and lively discussion of how nonviolence, in the form of “people power,” is transforming our world. Oh, and help spread the word!
The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation (BMCM) where Eknath Easwaran taught meditation for close to 40 years holds a weekly satsang, meditation group, on Tuesday evenings at the United Church of Christ in Petaluma (825 Middlefield Drive) continuing the tradition started by Easwaran to bring meditation to the community of Petaluma. Satsang begins at 7 pm with a reading and discussion group, a video talk of Easwaran, and a 30 minute meditation.
Michael Nagler, founder of Metta, has been practicing meditation under the guidance of Sri Eknath Easwaran for over 40 years, and we highly recommend this practice to get started in your journey of personal nonviolence.
You can contact the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation directly for more information. Visit their site here.
The world has enough think tanks… what we need is a “hope tank”! Join us for our weekly discussions in which we generate ideas for building a nonviolent world. Bring something to share for breakfast (vegetarian)!
Where: 215 Water Street, Petaluma CA. Contact stephanie@mettacenter.org
When: Friday mornings— meditation from 7:30am to 8:30am, then potluck breakfast and discussion until about 10:30am.
Why: to stimulate thought and share ideas about nonviolence, spirituality, and social change.
Where: TBA
When: TBA
Why: to share and learn, and to build community and understanding, and to explore nonviolence, art, and education.
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