Fifteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

This research looks into ways contemplative practices help to make all worlds more livable. An etymological exploration of one word “abeyance” re-stories the real challenges of clear-cut logging, filled water-lands, and the mining of mountains. This method acts to re-generate ancient earth-based practices of contemplative thought, a curious kind of thought, a way of carefully attending to words and worlds. Stories speak to nature-beings such as trees having agency, being in communication with other beings including humans, and wanting to be a part of this conversation. Working with contemplative exploration, l’ecriture feminine, and place-responsive phenomenology this session hopes to widen circles of knowing for more ways of be/coming. So that we may story our own outsiderness, encounter other worldly beings, learn to ask permission of them, make room for incoherence and clarity, expressions of grief, gratitude, and integrity - toward a more compassionate version of sustainable education.