Remembering Earth through Embodied Spiritual Ecology (In Person)

• This is an in-person conversation event with audience Q&A. You can also register for the livestream.
• Books are available to add to your order at check-out.

In a time of great unraveling, Sufi teacher and author Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee offers an embodied, spiritual path of remembrance and kinship, guiding us back to the sacredness of creation and our place within the more-than-human world.
Drawing from decades of Sufi teaching, a deep relationship with nature, Emmanuel guides us beyond today’s ecological and cultural crises to the heart of the matter: our collective forgetfulness and the severing of our primordial bond with Earth. Following the entwined threads of grief and love, he explains how this moment of crisis holds within it the seeds of transformation and regrowth.
Join Emmanuel for an inspiring conversation exploring how remembrance, prayer, praise, and intimacy with Earth can restore our sacred relationship with the living world. Sharing insights from his latest book, Remembering Earth, Emmanuel discusses ways to experience radical belonging through practices in six key areas—Breath, Heart, Step, Listening, Time, and Prayer. He invites you to move from observer to participant in the sacred web of life, offering an embodied spiritual ecology that moves beyond ideas into lived experience.

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee is a Sufi teacher in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya tradition. He is the founder, podcast host, and executive editor of Emergence Magazine, a Webby Award–winning and National Magazine Award–nominated publication exploring the intersections of ecology, culture, and spirituality. His books include Requiem, Invitation, and Celebration: A Collection of Seasonal Practices; Song of the Seasons: A Meditation on Cycles, Story, and Humility; and Remembering Earth: A Spiritual Ecology (Shambhala Publications, 2026). An Emmy- and Peabody-nominated filmmaker, he has directed over twenty documentary films, including Taste of the Land, The Last Ice Age, Aloha ʻĀina, The Nightingale’s Song, Earthrise, Sanctuaries of Silence, and Elemental. His films have been screened at leading festivals such as the New York Film Festival, Tribeca, SXSW, and Hot Docs; exhibited at the Smithsonian and the Barbican; and featured by PBS, National Geographic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. Prior to his work in film and media, he performed with renowned jazz artists, releasing two acclaimed records—Previous Misconceptions and Borrowed Time. Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee leads retreats on Sufism and spiritual ecology worldwide. His work invites a deeper relationship with the living world through story, practice, and devotion.

Laura Pustarfi is a lecturer in Philosophy and Religion and Director of the Psychedelic Certificate Program at CIIS. She teaches in both the Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion program as well as in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program. Her scholarly work examines trees and plants in Western thought with particular focus on an arboreal and vegetal ontology and ethics that respects plants themselves.

She is co-editor with Dr. David Macauley of the volume The Wisdom of Trees: Thinking Through Arboreality, published by SUNY Press in June 2025. Laura has presented at academic conferences nationally and internationally including those of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP), TORCH Oxford, the Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition (PACT), the International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE), the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research (ICPR), and Awareness Lectures on Psychedelic Science (ALPS). She is on the board of The Plant Initiative, an associate editor of the Plant Perspectives journal, and she also has an enduring interest in the arts.

We are grateful to our Bookstore Partner

Marcus Books is the nation’s oldest Black-owned independent bookstore celebrating its 60th year. Marcus Books’ mission is to provide opportunities for Black folks and their allies to celebrate and learn about Black people everywhere. Learn more about Marcus Books.

Accessibility Information
If you need to request accessibility accommodations, please email [email protected] at least one week prior to the event. For more information, explore our Accessibility web page.

Recording Policy
Ticket holders will have access to an ad-free replay of the event for one month after the live event, after which unlimited viewing with ads will be available. Portions of the audio will also be released on our podcast. Only registered ticket holders who choose to watch live can participate in the chat and Q&A.

Attending as a Prospective Student?
Contact Admissions at [email protected] to learn about complimentary tickets.

Refund Policy
All tickets and add-ons purchased for this event are nonrefundable.