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In May 2025, Zen Zeist is organizing a Bearing Witness day at Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee—one of the most polluting industrial sites in the Netherlands. This initiative is part of our Ecodharma Workshop Series and embodies the Three Tenets of Zen Peacemakers in every step.
Not Knowing is practiced by stepping into a complex and emotionally charged environment with openness—free from fixed opinions about pollution, industry, or climate justice.
Bearing Witness takes form through silent meditation, shared reflection circles, and rituals honoring both the pain and resilience connected to the ecological crisis. Participants sit facing the steel plant, walk through dunes and coastline, and reflect on their own position within the crisis.
Taking Action emerges not as direct protest, but as a deepened commitment to life, expressed through collective presence, storytelling, and community building. Participants are invited to engage with nature and each other from a place of gratitude, pain, new vision, and intention—following Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects spiral.
The impact is both personal and collective: participants report greater clarity, emotional connection, and a renewed sense of responsibility. This initiative strengthens our community’s ability to act from compassion and interconnectedness, even in the face of uncertainty.