Event Details

Exploring the Malady of Victim Mentality as a Dharma Gate to Liberation

This meditation/workshop begins with a collective inquiry: “Where do you live?”

It is not as important to think about where you live, as it is to viscerally and directly experience where you reside. You may think or feel that you live in your body, your mind, your emotions, your beliefs and values, your culture, or your community. You may identify with things like your religion, your favorite cult, your ability to reason, your belief in science, your wealth or status, your career, your purpose, feeling good and not feeling bad, your capacity to find meaning, your special form of spirituality, or your mission in life. What if none of this really matters? What is it that really matters?

Traditionally Buddhism has held the intention of ending human suffering. In this meditation workshop, we will be focusing on a subtle type of suffering that is new and largely unacknowledged today in this modern and postmodern culture. This form of suffering didn’t even exist a thousand years ago, and yet it has grown to epidemic proportions today in the West. The symptoms of this suffering can be described as deep hidden feelings of toxic shame, which is often experienced by an individual as a felt sense of perpetual worthlessness and powerlessness. We have found that another even more hidden malady often lies at the heart of this toxic shame. We have also found that this can be a gateless gate that can lead to liberation. This deeper malady can be described as a deep habitual pattern of falling into a “victim mentality,” again and again.

We are inviting many to apply for this workshop but be forewarned: We are more interested in being real than pretending to be nice. Only those who are willing to commit to being open, honest, and vulnerable, will be accepted.