Navigating the Romantic Fantasy
Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown
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What You’ll Learn:
- Explore compassion, heartbreak and the construction of romantic fantasy in modern culture
- Navigate the modern love tradition in different cultures
- Hear about the importance of making friends with our own solitude
- Experience a guided lovingkindness practice to help move from loneliness to aloneness
About Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown
Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., is professor of Religious Studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she has taught since 1978. She served as Dean of the Shambhala International Teachers’ Academy for nine years, and teaches internationally for Shambhala. Her teaching specialties are meditation practice, Shambhala teachings, Buddhist philosophy, tantric Buddhism, and contemplative higher education. Her book, Dakini’s Warm Breath (Shambhala 2001), explores the feminine principle as it reveals itself in meditation practice and everyday life for women and men. She has also edited Meditation and the Classroom: Contemplative Pedagogy for Religious Studies (SUNY 2011). She and her husband, Richard, have two adult children and three grandchildren.
Thank you, Judith! For this insightful and beautiful session. The Practice of the Four Wishes just resonated with me.
With much gratitude for the opportunity to be able to watch all of this.
AM Samuel
Many thanks Judith for explaining the origins of romantic love and sharing your teaching. It helped me to better understand loneliness and aloneness.
Judith, I first had a glimpse of the issue of Romantic Love on something you wrote many years ago, and it was eye oppening.
Thank you for giving us this second step.
Many blessings Acharya
Sylvia M. Calderón
Mexico
Beautiful!
Thank you I could relate my experience absolutely with what you said.
Being alone together feels indeed great. Love doing that in a choir, with guys practicing Qi Qong or in a meditative group of which tradition I don’t completely adhere to, but I like the guys there. Thank you for sharing this talk !
Thank you. This talk was exactly what I needed. It was very thought provoking. I am grateful to you. Thank you.
Thank you. The world filled with western romance needs words like yours. To a rookie like me it seems difficult to change the view on that one, but I thank you for teaching me. Perhaps one day the false consept will be destroyed in my mind.
I am so grateful that Trungpa Rinpoche met with students in the West that to this day have the generosity and the skilful means to bring his teachings on in their own personal way. Thank you from my heart!
This explains why power is a solitude.
Superb, thank you, very helpful
That was a very moving loving kindness practice Thank you for your help and insight
Deep gratitude – precious precious teachings 🙂
Thank you Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown!
Dear Judith…Ah if only I had studied with you years ago…Such a clear insight into the fantasy and evolution of romantic love in the West that so many of grew up with and have struggled with most of our lives…How freeing to see the fallacy so clearly and embrace the full spectrum of real love and true connection and the raw humanness and beauty of living…Thank you beyond words and thank you for the loving kindness meditation.
WOW !!! Your explanation makes perfect sense in every cell and fiber of my being. In gratitude
Judith, thank you for such a clear exposition, shared mindfully and compassionately. I sense the illusion slipping, if only just a little bit:-)
Well stated. Most people in Western society I believe are unaware that the myth of romantic love is specific to their culture. They are under the perception that the only notion of love is “romantic love”. A lot of frustration and suffering would probably be eliminated if people would stop searching for love primarily outside themselves.
Every word resonated so well with me. Thank you Judith.
Thank you Judith,
This came along just at the right time for me. Just identified that I was feeling lonely when recording in my daily journal
Thank you!
Thank you, Judith! A deeply grounded and beautifully delivered teaching. Many bows for sharing your practice and skillful ways…