In the fall of 2023, we will study and discuss Standing at the Edge, by Joan Halifax, on the second Sunday of the month. The text and discussion are a springboard for exploring our experience of Zen practice and our lives. You do not have to have read the book to participate, but it helps! Selections will be read aloud before the discussion. All are welcome. See our study schedule below.

Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet, by Joan Halifax

I have come to see that mental states are also ecosystems. These sometimes friendly and at times hazardous terrains are natural environments embedded in the greater system of our character. I believe it is important to study our inner ecology so that we can recognize when we are on the edge, in danger of slipping from health into pathology. And when we do fall into the less habitable regions of our minds, we can learn from these dangerous territories. Edges are places where opposites meet. Where fear meets courage and suffering meets freedom. Where solid ground ends in a cliff face. Where we can gain a view that takes in so much more of our world. And where we need to maintain great awareness, lest we trip and fall.

Our journey through life is one of peril and possibility—and sometimes both at once. How can we stand on the threshold between suffering and freedom and remain informed by both worlds? With our penchant for dualities, humans tend to identify either with the terrible truth of suffering or with freedom from suffering. But I believe that excluding any part of the larger landscape of our lives reduces the territory of our understanding.

–Joan Halifax, Standing at the Edge

Group Book Discussion on Second Sundays: October 8, November 12, December 10, and January 14
10:45 – 11:45 am