PREFACE

As we near a half a century of program work, we are reflecting on the mystery at the heart of Commonweal. This mystery is a way of being, a philosophy, a worldview, a relationship, a soul work, and a state of mind. It is at the heart of our healing work, our work with youth, our environmental health work, our polycrisis work, and at the very heart of the organism/ organization that is Commonweal.

The Commonweal Way is rooted in 50 years of being with people with cancer, physicians, youth, meditators, organizers, and many others at Pacific House at our Bolinas, California location and also online. It is rooted in the people of the Commonweal community: Michael Lerner, Burr Heneman, Rachel Naomi Remen, Waz Thomas, Jenepher Stowell—and the entire Commonweal and Cancer Help Program staff—who have held so many souls in circles of healing over decades of time. This way of being comes from the history of the place we’ve inhabited for almost 50 years and the effect that this land and its history continues to have on us— an effect that ripples out to every place in the world where our work happens today.

For this writing, we asked Commonweal co-founder Michael Lerner to offer his reflections on how the vision has grown into what our organization is today. This is only the first step, opening the door to the mystery we are trying to articulate. The Commonweal Way is not fixed in time or place. As the world around us changes, the Commonweal Way will change and grow with each new participant, staff person, program, and shared intention.

OREN SLOZBERG

Commonweal Executive Director

August, 2023