By Travis Newbill
Fleet Maull will be hosting the “Waking Up through Service” day of our upcoming Free Online Conference: Awake in the World – October 19-24, 2014.
In our daily, weekly, monthly lives, the opportunities for stepping out of our comfort zone in order to directly help others are many. And sadly, the excuses for not doing so can be even more plentiful. Basically, we’d rather not! So, we often abide in routines geared towards pleasure, self-protection, and predictability.
From what I’ve learned about Fleet Maull, he’s made a life out of turning that tendency on its head. If he is feeling hesitant to make a personal sacrifice in order to help someone who is in need…he helps them anyway. Apparently, this brings joy rather than regret, because it seems that the longer he lives, the more he serves, and the happier he appears to be.
Quite appropriately, Fleet will be hosting the Waking Up through Service day of our upcoming Awake in the World conference. There is much to say about this amazing person which is beyond the scope of this blog. To get you started though, here are Four Noble Glimpses.
1. Prison Work
While serving a 14 year prison sentence, Maull says, he hit a wall of remorse upon realizing that by making selfish decisions, he’d caused a lot of pain for himself and others. He became tremendously motivated to turn things around, and so began practicing meditation, he says, like his hair was on fire. This brought him into closer touch with the needs of those around him and led him to form the Prison Mindfulness Institute (formerly Prison Dharma Network) and the National Prison Hospice. Since his release, his efforts haven’t lessened a bit. He has continued to work with inmantes, and provides heartfelt service to help those of us who are imprisoned in less literal ways as well.
2. From City Streets to Auschwitz/Birkenau
Fleet is empowered in Bernie Glassman’s Zen Peacemakers tradition to lead Street Retreats — in which a group of practitioners lives on the street for a few days — and to be a Spirit Holder at the group’s annual Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz/Birkenau.
3. Consultant and Coach
As a master consultant and executive coach, Fleet helps to bring out the wisdom in individuals as well as organizations through workshops such as Radical Possibility, which takes place this coming October.
4. Service as Path
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Awake in the World Free Online Conference, featuring Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, Roshi Joan Halifax, Tara Brach, Charles Eisenstein, Susan Piver, Lodro Rinzler and many more. October 19-24, 2014. To learn more, please click here.
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