David W. Robinson-Morris, PhD

Category / branch (in the tree of contemplative practices): Generative & activist

In moments of deep dis-ease, confusion, unrest, and inhumanity it is important that we re-member the contemplative audacity of rooted of things, of beings who are at home with themselves in every environment and who by nature of their individual and collective transformation force, transmute, and/or alchemize the environments that they find themselves planted within. This is the audacity of rooted things and the ultimate act of contemplative resistance—to be so centred, so grounded, so rooted and at home with self and others that we become unshakable; we become so energetically in tune that we can shift the energy and ride the air.

This must be the possibility that we embody and project into shaping an unknown future in spite of any barriers.

We access this audacity—this embodied hope—through action and the imagination.

The imagination is not a cognitive engagement but a super sensory rendezvous, a bodily attunement with the energy of the seen and the unseen. The imagination is the ultimate projection of new possibilities of how we and the world can and might be different, new, and whole. The imagination transgresses the conditions of the present and refuses the lie that we must and the world(s) we inhabit must remain as they are.

This practice allows us to come home to self, access the imagination, and embody hope. This practice calls us to rise from our chairs, our desks, our pillows transformed and ready to act to collectively to make real a world where all can thrive.

May these words take root.
May you embody the audacious hope of rooted things.

And we begin.

The meditation

Breathe.

Take the deepest breath you have taken all day.

Begin by arriving.
Wherever you are, feel the weight of your body finding its place in the world.
Let yourself settle.
Let yourself be held.

Take a slow, steady breath in through the nose—
the deepest breath you have taken all day.
Let it release from the mouth like a long exhale of permission.

You are here.
We. Are. Here.

Welcome yourself home.

Bring your attention to the meeting place between your body and whatever supports you.
Feel the rootedness available to you even now
Feel the stability of the earth beneath,
the quiet truth that you, too, are a rooted thing.

With every breath, allow yourself to drop gently into your centre.

Say quietly inwardly:
I root myself in the truth of who I am,
and the becoming that is already unfolding.

Breathe.

Let your breath widen.

Let your breath deepen.

Let it welcome you home.

Bring your attention the centre of your chest.
Feel the beat, the pulsing of your heart space.

Imagine a seed.
Imagine a seed planted at the centre of your chest.
This small, persistent seed is full of ancient knowing.
It knows its way toward light.
This is the seed of audacious hope.
This is the seed of hope that refuses despair,
Hope that grows through, up, and around concrete.
This is the hope that moves toward seemingly undetectable light in empty darkness.

Imagine this seed.
See this seed commanding it roots downward and outward
Deep, steady, unflinching, searching for water in places unseen.

Imagine this seed.
See its shoots rising—rising unbowed upward
Seeking, probing, striving toward light
Possibility: a future not yet made manifest, a becoming.

Whisper:
I carry the audacious hope of rooted things.
I am the audacious hope of rooted things.

Breathe.

Let this image fill you.

Let the roots grow.

Let the stalks expand.

Do not resist.
Notice.
Embrace.
Befriend.

Contemplative audacity is not denial.
It is the immense courage to stay awake, to feel, to witness and choose to remain rooted in possibility and action.

Speak to yourself:
Even here. Even now.
Even now, I am becoming; transformation is possible.

Breathe.

Now, imagine the roots of your seed extending,
extending outward and intertwining with the teeming, searching, tenacious roots of others.
See yourself as part of an ecosystem
An ecosystem of seekers, educators, dreamers, organizers, healers, students, and reimaginelutionaries.
Feel the determination of this interconnected root system, this web of audacious hope.
Feel the possibility it carries, the generative potential it encapsulates.
Feel the liberation that becomes imaginable when we root together.

In the quiet assurance of our still small voice, we ask:
How might we become otherwise, together?

Breathe.
Let this question rest in and on your body.
Let it live there.
Listen.

What do you hear?
What are you imagining?
What does this otherwise, together look like?
What does this otherwise, together feel like?
What does this otherwise, together sound like?
What does this otherwise, together taste like?
Who is present?
What has been transformed?

This is the practice of imagining.

Breathe.

Hold on the vision.

Remember the feeling.

It is your senses that will allow you to know.

Place your hand over your heart or your abdomen.

Feel the warmth of your own touch.
Remember that you are here,
You are whole,
You are becoming—higher, deeper, more connected.

May I all the seed of hope to root and flourish.
May I root deeply.
May I be at home in my body.
May I embody hope.
May I resist with love.
May I imagine higher and think deeper.
May I meet inhumanity with greater humanity.
May I become what I called forth.

Take one final deep breath.

Accept what you are ready to hold and let go of what cannot remain.

When you are ready return gently to the room.

Additional resources

The accompanying lecture that Dr. Robinson-Morris presented for the 2025 Contemplative Pedagogy Summit at Concordia University can be found here.