Becoming Wild: Animating the Audacity of the Human Heart

In this 3 part series, Will Duncan explores the relationship between wildness and civility and the idea of re-wilding our lives. Through stories, reflections on various authors, poets, philosophers, religious writers, and mythology we will explore what it means to rekindle one’s life into a deeper and more vibrant intimacy with the world.

**1st Talk: Heartbreak In The Belly of the Whale – In this first talk we look at the relationship between grief and joy. Looking at myths of the underworld, Christian and Hindu stories as well as the work of Dante, T.S. Elliot, Brene Brown, and the poet John Keats idea of ‘Negative Capability’, we explore how wildness and the capacity to feel beauty relates to being able to feel loss and grieve potently.

**2nd Talk: Wildness and Civility – Using the Russian poet Anna Ahkmatova as our jumping off point and working off of ideas from the previous lecture on heartbreak, we begin now to explore the relationship between wildness and civility. The Tibetan teacher Chogyam Trungpa offers us a recipe in the form of a haiku for how to be in the world with wild vitality.

**3rd Talk: Vulnerability and Desire – In the last part of this series we look at the Romantics of the 1800’s, Christian thinker Father Simon Tugwell, OP and the Muslim poet Mirabai to explore how desire and
the ability to risk vulnerability open us up to the vitality of wildness in our day-to-day lives.

Mondays October 23rd, November 13th, & December 11th

5:30pm – 7:00pm

Donations welcome

  Will Duncan has taught throughout the world including Asia, Europe, Eastern Europe, South America and throughout the United States. He is a lecturer, meditation teacher, consultant, hospice chaplain and lavender farmer.

  Known for his down-to-earth humor and ease, Will’s passion is in helping people find new ways of accessing intimacy with the profundity of their lives. Will teaches by way of inquiry and lively discussion, pushing people to think clearly for themselves and to uncover their own      insights.