Meet the Teachers
About Us
For the Love of Truth and Truth of Love
Bringing authentic non-dual teachings to the global awakening community
Vision
We dream of an awakened world grounded in love and truth
We envision a world where everyday life is grounded in a deep recognition of our fundamental nature, which is love and truth. This will lead to a world where peace, harmony, and creative cooperation will replace war, division, and domination.
Mission
Our mission is to bring authentic non-dual teachings to the global awakening community
In this time of multiple crises roiling our world, there is a great hunger for a deeper understanding of our place in this world. By offering authentic non-dual teachings through our various platforms, Open Circle is helping to satisfy that hunger. Contemporary non-dual teachings stand free from all previous spiritual traditions, while pointing to the heart of all of them. They offer a way of spiritual deepening in a language that speaks directly to the modern world.
Our Values
We were founded on a shared love of truth and a commitment to share it with a broader community. This love of truth is the guiding principle behind all we do.
The truth revealed by mystics across traditions is that Love is the foundation of all there is. It is this Love that inspires kindness, care, and mutual respect within and beyond our community.
Open-heartedness is a natural expression of non-dual understanding. It lies at the very core of what we are and how we serve.
Community is essential to our well-being. Open Circle fosters a global community of non-dual teachers and students, creating a sense of belonging where it is sometimes lacking.
We believe spiritual teachings are a basic human right. That’s why we strive to make them accessible to everyone by offering events on donation basis or by sliding scale, as well as by offering scholarships.
We envision a world that acknowledges, celebrates, and honors the universality of the mystical realizations of all traditions, understanding that at the root of all of them, is Love.
How It
All Started
Open Circle started as an idea in the head of Rob Schwartz, a Berkeley Zen Center student, in the early 2000’s. Together with his friend and fellow Zen student Kent Welsh, Rob began inviting teachers from around the world who were exploring the non-dual approaches to spiritual awakening to come and speak at local events held in Berkeley.
People were hungry for this type of teaching and the events grew.
In Honour of
co-founder Rob
Rob Schwartz moved from his native New Jersey to northern California to attend college in Berkeley in the 1980s.
A long-time Zen student, Rob had a vision of providing a platform for non-dual teachers and teachings which, at the time, were not very well known within the spiritual world. By doing so, he had a profound effect on so many people’s lives, both community members and teachers.
Non-duality is the English translation for the Sanskrit word advaita, and literally means “not two”. It is a spiritual orientation that recognises the unity or non-separation of all beings and all phenomena. Not merely as a belief, but as a perceived reality.
It is found at the mystic core of all the great spiritual traditions of the world, however much it may be obscured. As such, it is a universal and non-sectarian form of spirituality.
Why Open Circle?
Open Circle is a leading organization bringing non-duality to the west.
Open Circle specialises in presenting a multiplicity of non-dual teachers who each address the awakening process in their own unique way.
Open Circle is dedicated to making its programs as accessible and affordable as possible.
Open Circle emphasizes a more yin, or all-inclusive. approach to non-duality over the more yang, or absolutist, approach.
Open Circle offers a safe space for exploring the student-teacher dynamic.
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