Humanists and the Occupy Movement
Nov 7, 2011
Guest post by Rick Heller
http://blog.thehumanist.org/2011/11/humanists-and-the-occupy-movement/"I have been participating in the Occupy movement, and although I have held a sign outside Bank of America protesting policies that allow banks to be “too big to fail,” my main activity has been to lead meditations at Occupy Boston’s encampment across the street from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
"These meditations are based on those conducted at the Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy. The
Humanist Mindfulness Group at Harvard has an orientation that can be described as "
Secular Buddhist," bearing a relationship to the Buddhist religion analogous to the relationship that Humanistic Judaism has with Orthodox Judaism.
"When leading a meditation at Occupy Boston, I make clear that
I don't think meditators send out "vibes" that magically effect our financial institutions. Rather, these meditations have
two purposes. The first is
reducing stress, because living and sleeping in close quarters with others can be trying (I’m not a camper, only a day visitor). But more interesting is the possibility that meditative practices can directly contribute to the primary goal of the Occupy movement, which is to
oppose the greed that led to speculative bubble and subsequent economic crash in 2008. ..."
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