On April 15th, I will be in conversation with Dr. Larry Ward at REVLOVE 2021, a conference dedicated to exploring how society can imagine a loving future and thereby create a healthy and just world.
Larry is a senior teacher in Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village tradition and the author of America's Racial Karma. He brings 25 years of international experience in organizational change and local community renewal to his work as director of the Lotus Institute and as an advisor to the Executive Mind Leadership Institute at the Drucker School of Management. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies with an emphasis on Buddhism and the neuroscience of meditation.
I had the opportunity to catch up with Larry about how he got started in his work, get his perspective on breaking racial bias, and learn how he works to create equity and belonging in our society. Below are some notable points from our conversation.
Be part of this conversation with me and register for the Revolutionary Love Conference here. Larry and I will be joined by our nation’s leading ethical and spiritual figures including Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Rev. William Barber, Ruby Sales, Krista Tippett, Linda Sarsour. Valarie Kaur, Sister Simone Campbell, among others. See the full list of speakers here.
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AG: Larry, your career and activism are multi-faceted. How did you get started?
LW: It started in April 1968. I was engaged in inner city development activities in Cleveland, Ohio and considering going to seminary, when Martin Luther King was murdered and uprisings not unlike last year’s broke out near me. Working through the nights trying to help alleviate the pain, the disillusionment, and the disappointment, I realized for true transformation in American society, changes needed to be deep and wide.
AG: Your mindfulness based approach toward racial reconciliation has led to the founding of The Lotus Institute as well as your recent book, America’s Racial Karma. Tell us how these offerings cultivate compassion as a way of breaking bias?
LW: Racial reconciliation in our society requires deep change that starts from within us. And compassion sustains the ability of a person to sustain internal changes. The Lotus Institute offers many types of online and live programs. Our aim is to cultivate the bodhisattva ideal of changing with wisdom and compassion. We have an online course called the Earth Gate: mindfulness of the body emphasizing resilience tools for responding to various forms of trauma. A second course coming soon: The Wind Gate is focused on transforming our racialized consciousness at its roots.
AG: What can people expect to learn from our conversation at REVLOVE 2021?
LW: I am looking forward to speaking with you about the role of our human nervous system in the racialization of human consciousness and its conditioning. And what we must do to move forward in healing and transforming our capacity to live full precious lives safe from harm and elevated by love.
AG: I’ll add that we’ll also touch on how the racialization of our consciousness contaminates our ability to be with and care for one another. Like you, I find this contamination to be the source of cruelty in our society towards people of color. We see its impacts in our heartless policing to voter suppression to policies in healthcare, technology, and the like. I too am looking forward to discussing with you ways we can heal human consciousness from the scourge of racialization, which takes me to my next question - how do you define race? How do we become more conscious in how we define race?
LW: Race is a centuries old social construct of consciousness that posits a hierarchy of human classification into classes of superiority and inferiority based on geography, skin tones, body types, with descriptions of assumed qualities and capabilities.
There are at least five ways we can become more conscious of how we each define race: slowing down to recognize it when activated or stimulated within yourself; learn to call race by its true names; accepting its presence; embracing your wholeness; investigation into the roots of race within you.
AG: So beautiful. I am sure we will get deeper into all of these in our conversation. In light of January 6th and continued racially motivated violence, what do you see as the top priorit(ies) in creating racial equity and belonging in our nation?
LW: Establishing a based livable income, reshaping laws/ justice system, a change of priorities from GNP to Gross National Wellness, and individual training in trauma and resilience skills.
AG: Sign me up! What are some of the ways people can shift awareness to identify their own biases?
LW: There are many ways and all of them begin with education. I recommend people enroll in a learning experience, continue to educate oneself on your and our racial history, develop enhanced listening skills, and engage in contemplative practices.
AG: I can’t wait to continue this conversation with you on April 15th. Thank you for your dedicated efforts and for your time to be in conversation with me today.
Learn more about Larry or learn from him, visit The Lotus Institute here or follow them on Instagram @deepbuddhism.
You can learn more about Larry’s important book, America’s Racial Karma here. I cannot recommend this book enough. I guarantee it will help you see this challenge with fresh eyes.