Mark Matousek

Ripeness is All: How To Be A Mature Human Being:

Here's what others have to say about Mark:

As a teacher, Mark had the unique ability to guide me into the depths of my being to the center of my truth. Then, his insightful, provocative questions challenged me to tell the dark feelings and secrets. His quiet assurance and acceptance created a safe space not only for me, but also for all workshop attendees and our work became genuine, profound and captivating.

— Diane Harkin, Interfaith Minister

There comes a moment in every seeker's life when it's time to stop seeking. After years of gathering wisdom, trawling for answers, traveling the world (within and without) in search of ourselves - in pursuit of more - we arrive at the doorstep of our own proverbial house ready to settle in, to savor what we've found, to dig deeper (in one place) and know ourselves "as if for the first time." We understand, finally, that ripeness is all (in the words of King Lear) and that we are sufficient - as writers, practitioners, devotees, lovers - exactly as we are. We learn that seeking can become evasion, that striving can become an excuse for not being happy, never being satisfied, with the life we have.

During this intensive weekend, we will be exploring the themes of sufficiency, repleteness, and satisfaction. How can we know when enough is enough. How, in a culture where more is more, where the Hungry Ghost is our national mascot, and saying "enough" is called resignation, can we learn to stop and smell the rhododendrons?

During this weekend you will learn:

• When it's time to deepen, enrich, be replete
• How to accept of "unacceptable" things
• When seeking becomes evasion
• The purpose of celebration and blessing
• Why we are deepened, made wiser, by loss
• The benefits of a Sabbath day
• How mindfulness in writing can change your life

About Mark Matousek:

Author. Teacher. Mentor. Speaker. My work is devoted to showing you how to achieve creative and spiritual freedom through self-inquiry. By learning to tell the whole truth about things, you will awaken to a whole new life. Truth... Story... Transformation.

Mark was born in Los Angeles on February 5, 1957, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1979, and received a fellowship to Worcester College, Oxford, the following year, with an M.A. in English Literature from the UCLA in 1981.

After graduation, he moved to New York, where he worked as a stringer for Reuters, International, then in Newsweek Magazine's letter department, before being hired as a proofreader at Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine. He was the magazine's first staff writer, and became senior editor the following year, conducting hundreds of interviews with figures well known in film, television, books, fine art, politics, design and science. In 1985, he quit his job and spent most of following decade as an itinerant dharma bum and freelance journalist, traveling between Europe, India, and the United States. Shifting professional gears from pop culture to psychology, philosophy and religion, he was a contributing editor to Common Boundary Magazine, where his back page column, "The Naked Eye," appeared from 1994-1999. He received a National Magazine Award nomination for "America's Darkest Secret" (about the epidemic of incest in the U.S.) and published essays in numerous magazines, including The New Yorker, Details, O: The Oprah Magazine, Tricycle, The Utne Reader, AARP Magazine, Out, Good Housekeeping, and Harper's Bazaar.

After working with Sogyal Rimpoche on The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, he collaborated with religious writer Andrew Harvey on Dialogues With A Modern Mystic (interviewing Harvey for Britain's Channel One documentary of the same name). His first book, Sex Death Enlightenment: A True Story (1996) became an international bestseller published in ten countries and nominated for two Books for a Better Life Awards. Having served as co-editor on Ram Dass's book, Still Here, he published his second memoir in 2000, The Boy He Left Behind: A Man's Search for His Lost Father (Los Angeles Times Discovery Book, Randy Shilts Award, excerpted in the Sunday supplement of the London Guardian). He has taught creative non-fiction writing at Manhattanville College and published essays in numerous anthologies, including Wrestling With the Angel, Voices of the Millenium, A Memory, A Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer, Oprah's Best Life. He is also a contributing editor to O: The Oprah Magazine, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and a frequent blogger for The Huffington Post. His most recent book is When You're Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living (2008). Also, he is collaborating with Eve Ensler as the Creative Director of V-Men (the male arm of VDay, Ensler's organization for ending violence against women and girls) and to curate their online essay series (Vday.org). Currently, he is at work on a performance piece called "Ten Ways To Be a Man," which will serve as V-Men’s artistic vehicle and will premier in September, 2011.

For more information on Mark Matousek, visit:
www.markmatousek.com