Description
Unbroken Wholeness brings an integrated lens of social justice, trauma healing, and spiritual practice to the work we do in the world and the pressing concerns of our times. Collectively, these writings help us access a view of the world as unbroken, even in the face of obvious suffering and disharmony. With searching questions and easy-to-follow practices, Unbroken Wholeness offers a way for activists to apply mindfulness and insight to bring about healing for seemingly intractable social divisions. “Skillfully handling our emotional pain about the world while cultivating a joyful and kind heart helps us navigate the troubled waters of our life,” says John Bell. Continuing the peace work of his teacher, the Vietnamese social activist and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, John Bell brings forward the importance of cultivating a practical yet visionary, ennobling view of humankind when engaging in the “mud” of daily difficulties that gives rise to the lotus of an enlightened, compassionate heart.
John Bell an educator, activist, writer, and a Buddhist Dharma Teacher based in the Boston area. He came to social justice work through the civil rights and peace movements of the 1960s. He has 40 years of experience in the youth field as a teacher, counselor, community organizer, leadership trainer, and director. He is a founding staff member of three youth leadership organizations: Youth Action Program (in 1978) in East Harlem; Children of War (in 1984), an international youth leadership organization working with youth from 15 different war zones; and YouthBuild USA (in 1988), where he served as Vice President for Leadership Development and Training until 2015. He helped grow YouthBuild into an international nonprofit with 350 programs in 15 countries that works with young people who have dropped out of school and provides them with further education, leadership skills, and vocational training building tangible community assets like affordable housing. He has expertise in youth leadership development, peer counseling and healing, and diversity, and has done training and consulting work for the Peace Corps in Africa and South America. Bell is also an ordained Buddhist Dharma Teacher in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. In this role, he has taught meditation, offered retreats, served on the boards of the North American Dharma Teachers Association; ARISE, the racial justice initiative; Earth Holder Community, the earth justice initiative; and most recently, the Beloved Community Circles, a mindfulness-based action network.
