Radical Mindfulness: Why Transforming Fear of Death is Politically Vital

Welcome to the “Radical Mindfulness: Why Transforming Fear of Death is Politically Vital” reading group.

This is not your typical book club. Beginning September 14th, the Rowe Center will host a weekly online gathering to explore Radical Mindfulness by author James K. Rowe. Every Sunday in 90 minute sessions, we will read and reflect together, offering space for discussion, questions, and shared insight. There’s no homework or need to prepare; we will encounter the text together as the book is read aloud. We expect to cover 10 to 15 pages each week. This is an invitation into the heart of contemplative practice as a path toward both personal liberation and collective transformation.

With insight from many thought-leaders of other cultures and traditions, the author examines fear of death as a root cause of systemic inequalities. Radical Mindfulness moves beyond the individualistic version of mindfulness often promoted in mainstream culture and invites us to engage mindfulness as an act of resistance and healing in a world shaped by colonization, capitalism, and systemic oppression. The central thesis is that the existential fear of death—a fear of our own mortality- underlies much of our personal suffering and fuels social systems built on domination, control, and denial. Together, we will consider how mindfulness can help us meet this fear directly, explore our own mortality, and uncover a path to freedom, compassion, and courage.

The author has generously offered access to a free PDF of the book. The publisher (Routledge) is offering a 30% discount to participants who wish to order a physical copy. You’ll receive access to both upon registration.

Sessions will be recorded and posted to Radio Rowe (YouTube) so you can follow along even if you aren’t able to attend in person. Additionally, meditations lead by the author James K. Rowe will be shared so we can practice what is proposed in Radical Mindfulness.

In a world increasingly shaped by ecological crisis, social fragmentation, and ancestral grief, this weekly gathering is a small act of hope, clarity, and connection. We welcome activists, caregivers, students, artists, seekers—anyone drawn to the possibility that collective mindfulness practice can be a radical act. Facing death can awaken us to life.

Multiple facilitators will guide this special book club, including mindfulness educator and end-of-life doula Kelly Butler, MHSc. More to come on fellow hosts!

Come with your questions, your uncertainty, and your longing for something more. We will read, reflect, and remember together what it means to be fully human, fully alive.