John Bell

John Bell is a Buddhist Dharma Teacher who lives near Boston, MA, USA. He is also a founding staff and former vice president of YouthBuild USA, an international non-profit that provides learning, earning, and leadership opportunities to young people from low-income backgrounds. He is a certified peer counselor, an author, lifelong social justice activist, international trainer facilitator, father and grandfather. His blog is www.beginwithin.info and email is jbellminder@gmail.com. (12) His latest book is Unbroken Wholeness: Six Pathways to the Beloved Community.

John Bell in Kosmos

It’s Time for Beloved Community Circles

Beloved Community Circles is a network of small groups who make commitments to engage in spiritual practice and healing together and to participate in mindful action.

Published in Volume 24 Issue 6

Reflections on Gaza, Israel and our collective pain

I know that the situation in Gaza and Israel has impacted your heart and mind. Maybe, like me, you’ve alternately felt heartsick, angry, confused, judgmental, numb, compassionate, and more. I for one start with feeling humble and poorly informed before the enormity of the situation.

Published in

Envisioning the Beloved Community

After edging close to the brink of ecological and societal collapse and after enduring enormous suffering on our precious Earth, enough people of good will and skillfulness were able to do just enough to pull us back from that brink so that complex life on earth might continue. We now live in the Beloved Community.

Published in Volume 22 Issue 2

Freedom and Energy from Healing White Racism

Friends of color tell me they want primarily two things from white people: to show up for justice and to do our own work with white people at dismantling racism.

Published in Volume 20 Issue 2

Developing a Mindful Approach to Earth Justice Work

The story one tells oneself about climate change shapes individual feelings and actions. For example, are we on the verge of breakdown or breakthrough? There is ample evidence for both.

Published in Volume 19 Issue 2

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,