Adam Bucko
Adam Bucko is an activist, spiritual director and co-author of Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation and The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living. He grew up in Poland during the totalitarian regime and spent his early years exploring the anarchist youth movement as a force for social and political change. At the age of 17, Adam immigrated to America where his desire to find his path towards a meaningful life led him to monasteries in the US and India. His life-defining experience took place in India when he met a homeless child who lived on the streets of Delhi. This led him to the “Ashram of the Poor” where he began his work with homeless youth. After returning to the US, he worked on the streets of various American cities with young people struggling against homelessness and prostitution. He eventually co-founded The Reciprocity Foundation, an award winning nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of New York City’s homeless youth. In addition to his work with homeless youth, Adam established HAB, an ecumenical and inter-spiritual “new monastic” fellowship for young people which offers formation in radical spirituality and sacred activism.
Contemplative Activism Panel
This panel discussion will explore the intersection of activism & the contemplative spiritual path and discuss how we can pursue justice in a the world in a way that is informed by a deeply rooted contemplative spirituality. The panelists come from a variety of spiritual backgrounds and disciplines and have found their own ways of integrating contemplation with action to manifest grounded, healing, and spiritually-infused methods of living out a justice-seeking life. Ways to bring this work home into your own context will be explored, examples of the work of those already manifesting contemplative activism will be offered, and there will be a discussion of practices which infuse the contemplative path into this work.