Contemplation as Liberation: Black Spiritual Practices for Survival, Healing & Prophetic Imagination

Описание: This webinar explored contemplation as a liberating and justice-rooted spiritual practice that emerges from communities historically shaped by struggle, resilience, and sacred imagination. Grounded in the Center for Spiritual Imagination’s call for Contemplation for Black Liberation, this gathering reflected on how practices of silence, stillness, and communal spiritual care have sustained people facing systems of oppression—and how these same practices can guide all of us toward deeper healing, resistance, and transformation.

Bringing together theologians, contemplative leaders, and justice-rooted practitioners, we reflected on questions such as: How do we reclaim contemplative practice as a tool for individual and collective liberation? What does it mean to move beyond colonial frameworks of spirituality and reconnect with ancestral, embodied, and community-centered approaches to contemplation?

Expert Speakers:
▪️Guesnerth Josué Perea - Director of Black Lives and Contemplation
⁠▪️The Rev. Lisha Epperson - minister, dancer, writer, spiritual practitioner, & Episcopal priest
⁠▪️Chichi Agorom - writer, certified Enneagram teacher, and former psychotherapist
⁠▪️Julian Davis Reid - artist-theologian

This event is a partnership between EDS and the Center for Spiritual Imagination's Black Lives & Contemplation Project. Black contemplation, for the project, is a non-dual, embodied experience that integrates the richness of Black culture, including its artistic expressions. It empowers Black individuals to deeply connect with their inner selves, recognize their inherent transformative power, and cultivate a spiritual connection on their own terms, free from external constraints. This requires cultivating safe spaces, fostering justice, and breaking down barriers to spiritual understanding. Black contemplation honors the unique spirit of the Black lived experience and aims for liberation. To cultivate this practice, we must center Black Wisdom in all its forms, from rich texts and diverse traditions to the historical honor of Black wisdom. As a communal practice, centered on the Black experience, it fosters a shared understanding of the challenging yet joyful work ahead, crucial for the ongoing development of this unique form of prayer.

Resources mentioned during the webinar are available on our website: https://eds.edu/programs/556/contempl...