Black Karma Matters
Insights on Interbeing and Dismantling the Master’s House
Dharma Talk by Brett Cook
The Weakness of Violence, The Action of Peace: Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh Power Figure | by Brett Cook (12’ x 9’ mixed media on paper and non-woven media, 2005-2013)
Dear community,
Please join us on February 18 for our monthly dharma talk, where we’re delighted to welcome Brett Cook, interdisciplinary artist and educator, as our guest teacher.
In this multimedia talk for Black History Month, Brett Cook will draw from past and present models of emancipation to celebrate actions of collective liberation without limit. Presented on the birthday of Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, and poet Audre Lorde, Brett invites us to look deeply into the theory of difference as a method to recognize our true nature and simultaneously transcend suffering and the illusion of a separate self.
Together, we’ll explore questions such as: “What are the ways we discriminate and see through our own complexes, and how can we turn our personal mud into lotuses?” / “How can we realize our lives as art to create loving conditions for ourselves, our relationships, and the world?”
Wednesday, February 18
7:00–8:30 pm ET / 4:00–5:30 pm PT
Online via Zoom
Notes:
Event is recorded and emailed to you within 48 hours.
If you’re a Lotus member, you are already registered and we’ll email you the Zoom link the day before.
Offered at a sliding scale. For the most value, consider purchasing a membership for as little as $15/month to join five monthly events, weekly practice invitations, exclusive content and more.
About Brett
Brett Cook is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and cultural strategist who uses large-scale mixed media installations to tell stories of community, transformation, and inner and outer belonging. His work is deeply rooted in four decades-long practices as a teacher across age groups and disciplines, and as a lifelong mindfulness practitioner. He uses an original inquiry-based approach to design art that embodies the complexity of loving communities. His public projects typically involve community workshops featuring liberation pedagogy and contemplative strategies along with music, performance, and food to create spaces that exist at the intersection of art making, daily life and healing. He is trustee emeritus of A Blade of Grass, an arts nonprofit dedicated to social engagement and was ordained into the Order of Interbeing in tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, a global spiritual leader, peace activist, and founder of the Engaged Buddhism movement. You can find out more about his work at brett-cook.com.
About the image
The term nkisi is the general name for a spirit, or for any object that spirit inhabits. It is frequently applied to a variety of objects used throughout the Congo Basin in Central Africa thought to contain spiritual powers or spirits—often also called “Power Figures”. The term and its concept have passed with the slave trade to the Americas, especially Latin America. The Martin Luther King Jr./Thich Nhat Hanh Power Figure, shown above, represents a container from episodes of engaged participants acting out a contemplative exercise in portraiture that manifested as a reflection of community. On Sunday, October 16, 2005 at the Headlands Open House, visitors, Headlands staff, and SFAI students co-created with Brett connect-the-dot drawings with instructions for peace. Cook then embellished the artifacts of these events with a wide array of media. Crafted by participants the Martin Luther King Jr./Thich Nhat Hanh Power Figure, like all collaborative nkisi, are community monuments not only filled with the spirit of the dead, but the energy of the living.
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”