Meditating, In Public, on Broadway For 24 Hours. No, I Am Not David Blaine
Wednesday November 4, 2009
by Ethan NichternThis Friday 7pm, Until Saturday 7pm, The Interdependence Project is putting on what promises to be a very cool event. We are meditating, as a group, for 24 hours straight, in the storefront windows of this place,...
Filed Under: Buddhism, David Blaine, environmentalism, Interdependence Project, Meditating in Public, Meditation, meditation retreat, metta, mindfulness, Public, shamatha, shambhala, vintage
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About One City: A Buddhist Blog for Everyone
Welcome to One City. You've lived here your whole life, whether you know it or not. One City blog is an outgrowth of The Interdependence Project, a Buddhist-inspired nonprofit organization led by Ethan Nichtern, dedicated to teaching the insights of Buddhism, meditation, mindfulness, and interconnectedness in the 21st century world.
If you're interested in how your mind works, are interested in meditation (but don't want to pretend you live in ancient Asia), care about the world, are into media, love contemporary culture, and above all, really dig the truth of interdependence-that nothing happens in a vacuum--then this blog is for you.
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Evelyn CashEvelyn is a Soto Zen practitioner and engineer living in Wichita, Kansas.
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Ethan NichternAuthor, founding director of the Interdependence Project, and the host of the I.D. Project’s popular weekly podcast
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Ellen ScordatoA business owner, editor, teacher, and board member of the Interdependence Project
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Jerry KolberA writer, producer, and director for television, film, and theater in NYC
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Jon RubinsteinJon writes about art and the media from a Buddhist perspective.
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Lodro RinzlerLodro Rinzler is a second-generation Shambhala Buddhist practitioner and teacher.
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Stillman BrownA photographer, writer, and meditation practitioner living in Brooklyn, NY
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I was more concerned with the possibility that meditators not used to doing it for 24 hrs straight might get freaked out from reaching states they haven't reached before, and confuse becoming disengaged/getting blissed out/fried with delirium from not eating/drinking/peeing etc..
Will you have medics around, just in case?
Ethan, I thought of you last night as I worked an overnight shift at the newspaper for election coverage. I hope you hold up better than I did. by 4 a.m., I couldn't make sense of anything. best of luck.
You'll be fine. Just don't combine it with a Tumo demonstration:)
And if you really have to pee, consider it as a direct message to you from the universe.
@Jules - to clarify, not every participant is sitting all 24 hours. There are 4-hour shifts; most folks signed up for one or two slots, and every half hour or so there will be walking meditation/tea/pee breaks.
The only folks signed up for 24 hours straight are very seasoned meditators. And they get walking/tea/pee breaks too.
I wish I could be in the NYC for this one, it sounds like a really cool idea. My fear would probably be that I'd spend too much time getting distracted by people watching and not actually meditating. It would be interesting to watch how people react to a window display of meditators as they walk by..
I wish I could be there with you! I have been meditating since 1974 and I know it will be an amazing experience for everyone - the meditators and the spectators! I sat a Vipassana Course in 2001 and it was 11 hour days for 10 days of meditation - I believe that taking 24 hours out of your life to meditate will bring you an awareness you have never known - no matter how long you have been meditating. My thoughts are with you as is my heart. I wish you the best!
Thanks for showing the public that there are better things to do with their time than sit idly in front of the TV or causing trouble or discourse.
Compassion and a spirit of cooperation can change the world.
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