David Nicol

David T. Nicol, PhD, is co-founder and Director of the Gaiafield Project (http://gaiafield.net) and the Institute for Subtle Activism. His recent book Subtle Activism: The Inner Dimension of Social and Planetary Transformation is the first comprehensive study of the idea that our focused collective intention can powerfully contribute to social change. He is also co-founder of BeThePeace, one of the world’s largest global meditation events that occurs annually on the International Day of Peace (September 21). He teaches on subtle activism in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies and for the Shift Network. A former environmental lawyer from Australia, he now lives in N. California with his wife Kate and dogs Jackson and Peaches.

David Nicol in Kosmos

Navigating the Storm of Global Change

I've long championed the term “subtle activism” to describe the application of consciousness-based practices like meditation, prayer, and ritual for collective rather than personal transformation. The idea is to broaden the traditional focus of our therapeutic and spiritual attention beyond individual concerns to include the main global issues of our times. And it is in relation to the healing of collective trauma, specifically, that I think an approach like subtle activism has a crucial role to play.

Published in Volume 22 Issue 3

Subtle Activism: A Way Forward through Chaotic Times

Subtle activism is a concept I have introduced to describe the potentially crucial role that consciousness-based practices like meditation, prayer, and ritual may play in supporting change in the world. Although in our modern Western culture these practices have more typically been used to support individual growth, they can also be harnessed for the purposes of social and collective transformation.

Published in Spring | Summer 2017, Volume 17 Issue 1

Coming Soon

The Village Way

Practices for Belonging in a Fragmented World

For thousands of years, we lived according to the principles of village life. Then, around the 14th Century, our lives were reorganized by rulers around growth and accumulation – often at the cost of community, equity, and the living Earth. What would it mean to return to simplicity, and mutual care?

Join us for a 9-month inquiry into this question, exploring how we participate together in a time that calls us back to community, resilience, and shared life,