Bo Lozoff is founder and director of Human Kindness Foundation. He and his wife, Sita, live at Kindness House, an interfaith spiritual community in North Carolina which runs the Foundation and also serves as a parole plan for prisoners from all over the U.S. Some members of their community and staff came to Kindness House directly from long periods of incarceration.
Human Kindness Foundation is best known for its Prison-Ashram Project, which helps prisoners and prison staff throughout the world to turn inward and use their harsh environments to develop wisdom and compassion.
Bo has lectured and led workshops in hundreds of prisons, universities and spiritual centers since 1973. He focuses on what he calls the threefold “spiritual common sense” of all genuine wisdom traditions: To live simply, devote one’s life to serving others, and take time for daily prayer and meditation. The Foundation’s quarterly newsletter, A Little Good News, is sent to approximately 40,000 people who try to integrate these principles into their lives.
Bo’s first book, We’re All Doing Time (now in five languages), has been called “the Convict’s Bible” by prisoners around the world. His other books include Lineage and Other Stories, Just Another Spiritual Book, Deep & Simple: a spiritual path for modern times, It’s a Meaningful Life – It Just Takes Practice, and his only book written especially for children, The Wonderful Life of a Fly Who Couldn’t Fly.
Bo is also an accomplished singer/songwriter with two CDs, Stumbling Toward The Light (1986), and Whatever It Takes (2004), as well as a woodworker and carpenter who has designed and built several passive solar homes, including all the residences at Kindness House, to demonstrate principles of simple, ecological housing.
In 1994, Bo and his wife, Sita, received the Temple Award for Creative Altruism for their lifelong work in peace and justice. In 1999, the Chicago Theological Seminary awarded Bo an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Laws), citing his commitment for bringing “God’s reign of mercy and justice” into the world. In 2003, One Spirit Interfaith Seminary of New York bestowed their “Partners With God” award on Bo and Sita for their longstanding contribution toward bridging the principles of all major faiths.
In 2004, Bo created a new nonprofit organization, Carolina Biodiesel Industries, to become NC’s first processor of biodiesel fuel and to serve as a job-training program for parolees and other ex-offenders.
Title of UFCSH talk: “An evening with Bo Lozoff: It’s a meaningful life – It just takes practice”
Thursday, January 27, 2005