Touching Your Perfect Body:
Love, Anarchy, Spirit, Revolution
(A Leonard Cohen Weekend)
La Terre Institute for Community & Ecology
Bayou La Terre Woodland Center
Equinox Weekend – Sept. 21/22
To celebrate the Fall Equinox and Leonard Cohen’s 85th birthday, La Terre Institute will present a weekend program devoted to Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song, and the politics and spirituality expressed in that powerful and delicate edifice. Lyrics for discussion will be sent to participants on registration. We will focus on the philosophical ideas expressed in the songs, the ways they reflect Cohen’s encounter with great spiritual traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and, through Zen, both Buddhism and Daoism), and their implications for our mode of being in and with the world. We will focus on group reflection on the lyrics. There will also be presentations on connections with spiritual and philosophical traditions, and other activities.
The program will be held at Bayou La Terre Woodland Center, on 88 wooded acres near Dedeaux, Mississippi, about an hour from the center of New Orleans (directions below). Please bring food for the group meals. There will be some indoor space, but those who plan to camp should bring tents and flashlights. There is no fee for the program, but donations are welcome to support our work, and participants are invited to join the trail crew from 2:00 to 5:00 Sunday. For further information and to register, please contact surregionalist@bellsouth.net.
The program will be limited to fifteen participants including presenters. Pre-registration is required to help with planning. We request that all participants commit to attending and participating actively in all activities from 1pm Saturday through 2pm Sunday.
Saturday
Noon-1pm Arrival
1pm-2:45pm Session 1
3pm-4:45pm Session 2
5pm-6:45pm Session 3
7pm-8pm Community Dinner
8pm-10pm Evening Program
Sunday
8am-9am Community Breakfast
9am-10:45am Session 4
11am-12:45am Session 5
1pm-2pm Community Lunch
2pm-5pm Hiking or Trail Work
Presenters
David Brazil is a pastor, poet, and translator. His third book of poetry, Holy Ghost (City Lights, 2017), was nominated for a California Book Award. His new edition of Beat poet Philip Whalen’s masterpiece, Scenes of Life at the Capital, is forthcoming from Wave Books in 2020.
Sarah Pritchard is a third-generation pastor as well as an experimental choreographer. Her recent dance work has focused on “praise-dance for self-defense.” Along with David, she is the founding pastor of the Agape Fellowship community church and the Abolition Apostles jail and prison ministry. Sarah is the executive director of the Broadmoor Improvement Association in New Orleans.
John Clark is Director of La Terre Institute, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Loyola University. His book Between Earth and Empire: From the Necrocene to the Beloved Community appeared recently, a new revised edition of The Impossible Community is forthcoming, and he is at work on Anarchy in the Big Easy, a graphic history of sweet rebellion under the moonlight, with artist and illustrator Vulpes
Essential Information for Participants and Visitors