After 20 years of international social justice work Chris and Phileena Heuertz launched Gravity, a Center for Contemplative Activism.
Learning from teachers like Mother Teresa, Jean Vanier, Richard Rohr and Thomas Keating, Phileena and Chris grew to appreciate contemplation as a key component to active service. Thus, they embraced contemplative activism as the way forward for the second half of their life.
Action without contemplation leads to hyperactive, frantic and frayed lives disconnected from their inner source that promotes peace, creativity and healing. A life of contemplative activism embraces rhythms and practices that affirm and nurture love of God, self and neighbor in a way that leads to enduring peace and social change.
One of the key components of Gravity’s work is their Contemplative Activist in Residence (CAIR) program, which encourages activists to take sabbatical as a way to recalibrate and bring a deeper sense of integration to the contemplative and active dimensions of their lives. The CAIR program helps leading social activists to thrive in their good work in the world.
Related: “God is Innocent, ” Reflections on the Genocide in Rwanda – by Chris Heuertz
The CAIR program supports leading, innovative activists who desire a sabbatical for renewal and personal, professional and spiritual development. CAIR is for bold and courageous leaders who have forfeited the American dream to actively dream of a better world for all of the earth’s citizens.
The CAIR fellowship includes participation on the Africa Solidarity Pilgrimage, spiritual direction sessions, weekly contemplative prayer sits, weekly mentorship meetings, participation at Gravity’s first spring Grounding Retreat, and housing provided by Gravity.
From February 28-April 17, 2014 Gravity, a Center for Contemplative Activism welcomes Nikole Lim as their first Contemplative Activist in Residence, a visiting practitioner sabbatical.
From documenting a widow with leprosy in the jungles of Vietnam, to providing scholarships for survivors of rape in Zambia, furthering social justice through the arts has been a vital part of Nikole’s international vocation. By providing the platform for voices to be heard, Nikole strives to shift paradigms by fighting against stigmas of oppression.
Related: Now on the Red Carpet…Nikole Lim
Nikole is the co-founder and executive director of Freely in Hope, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring dignity to survivors of sexual violence by providing educational opportunities and platforms for women to fulfill their dreams. Operating in sub-Saharan Africa, Freely in Hope provides psychological counseling, health care, entrepreneurial courses and high school and university educational scholarships for young women who are survivors of or vulnerable to sexual violence in slum communities. Nikole graduated with a degree in Film Production from Loyola Marymount University and resides in the Bay Area. Her heart beats for young women whose voices are silenced by oppression and desires to see every heart restored.
Watch Nikole’s Interview with Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo on RLC TV