A live program presented by Liz Leuthner, University of Southern Maine, and Beacon Sober Living
This program is an introduction into cultivating empathy. The phenomenon first recognized in the early 20th century has roots in aesthetics and art appreciation – as a powerful, passive exchange that occurs between artist and art observer through a work of art.
All are welcome to join this community contemplative practice – to pay attention to phenomena in and around the body, develop a relationship with Silence, move into a place of heartfulness, and allow for encounters with empathy.
During the guided (30-minutes-ish) practice, we enter into the tabernacle, or dwelling place, of Silence, place the fullness of our attention within the body, and experience the empathetic capacities of the heart.
By placing our attention – a great gift of our being – into our physical bodies and observing the experience, we begin to encounter empathy, which eventually allows us to place ourselves, in a feeling, sensing way, into another. Empathy cannot be manufactured, it simply grows out of the pure, selfless activity of the heart. There will be time at the end to share impressions from the practice.
In Tabernacles for Trying Times, Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe created a sanctuary for all kinds of people to worship at the altar of contemporary art, Pepe noting “art can be a place for secular spirituality.” So, too, can one’s own secular space transform into a sacred dwelling place, or tabernacle.
Participants are encouraged to prepare their own tabernacles ahead of time. Don't fret! This can be as simple as clearing the space around you or bringing a special object into view. Look at your dwelling place with fresh eyes. What do you see? Look out your windows and doors – even go outside! What calls to you? If you like, bring something from the natural world into your tabernacle (or invite a houseplant or favorite stone to join you).
Take some time in creating your tabernacle. Given time and space, the sacred arises out of the secular.
Liz Leuthner (Deer Isle, ME) has led contemplative practices with Silence and Heart for close to a decade. She holds Spiritual Director certification and teaches contemplative trainings at The Alcyon Center (Seal Cove, ME), where she is also program coordinator. A Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist at Nama Yoga, Liz brings her study of yoga philosophy and experience with addiction recovery to classes and workshops that focus on a spiritual solution to modern maladies. Liz is also a nonprofit consultant and is the Foundation Administrator for Woodard & Curran Foundation, which supports nonprofits around the country that are working to protect our water and environment.
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Kelly Hrenko, Ph.D is an Associate Professor of Art Education and Chair of the University of Southern Maine Art Department. Kelly’s scholarship is within the field of integrated arts and multimodal creative literacies. She uses her position as a teacher educator in the visual arts as a place where several intersections occur; between art and culture, community and school, and interdisciplinary education.
Dream Action Factory is a series of online happenings in conjunction with the PMA exhibition Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe: Tabernacles for Trying Times. In this series, artists, scholars, and social organizations delve into a wide variety of topics, challenging us to come together with renewed urgency, make time and space for dialogue, and to rediscover, amongst our many threads of identity, our common social fabric.