The Middle Way Society was founded to promote the study and practice of The Middle Way. The Middle Way is the idea that we make better judgements by avoiding fixed beliefs and being open to practical experience. We challenge unhelpful distinctions between facts and values, reason and emotion, religion and secularism or arts and sciences. Though our name is inspired by some of the insights of the Buddha, we are independent of Buddhism or any other religion. We seek to promote and support integrative practice, overcoming conflict of all kinds.
In this talk Stephen Batchelor highlights the two main existential threats facing humanity and the planet today, namely the Climate Emergency and the Corona Virus crisis. These are both explored within the wider contexts of Buddhism and the Middle Way
This talk was given at the Virtual Festival of the Middle Way, conducted on Zoom on 18th April 2020, with Barry Daniel as chair.
Meditation and mindfulness are spreading through society, prompting talk of a ‘Mindfulness Movement’. Drawing on Vishvapani’s experience of both Buddhism and Mindfulness, this talk suggests that – for all the movement’s limitations – these developments represent a significant new focus on the mind and mental states that has the potential to create a new kind of social change.
Vishvapani Blomfield is the Buddhist contributor to Thought for the Day and the author of ‘Gautama Buddha’. He works with the Welsh Government on bringing the mindfulness into the Welsh Health and Education systems.
This talk was given at the Virtual Festival of the Middle Way, conducted on Zoom on 18th April 2020, with Nina Davies as chair. The talk is followed by discussion.
Here is Robert M. Ellis’s recent talk on the Christian Middle Way at the Virtual Festival of the Middle Way, 18th-19th April 2020, (followed by discussion). His powerpoint can also be downloaded.
Here is the edited video from the first session of the Virtual Festival of the Middle Way: What is the Middle Way? There is also a copy of the powerpoint and saved chat.
An extract from an interview with Stephen Batchelor for the Middle Way Society about his latest book ‘The Art of Solitude’ in which he offers some reflections and advice on how to deal with self-isolation during the corona virus emergency.
