Co-exploring Emptiness and Peace: A Relational Path to Bridging Divides

Bio: Ørjan Bergan just completed writing his Master’s thesis at the Centre for Peace Studies (CPS) at the Arctic University of Tromsø (Norway). The title of the thesis is “Letting Go and Getting Closer: A Constructive Critical Study of the Experienced Application of Buddhist Understanding and Practice of Emptiness in Peace and Conflict Transformation Work.” Ørjan  is a trained Gestalt therapist at the Norwegian Gestalt Institute College (2016-2020), and has a clinical practice.  He plans to continue with the themes of his Master’s thesis in a PhD program.  During his studies, he worked for the Norwegian Gestalt Institute College (NGI) as a research assistant. Ørjan has practiced meditation within the Rinzai and Soto traditions since 2002, and as a former residential practitioner at the San Francisco Zen Center (2014–2015), and has also participated in numerous longer meditation retreats, as well as having taught and led meditation sessions on several occasions since this stay.  He has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Tromsø, a master's degree in sociology from the University of Chicago, and now a Master’s in peace and conflict studies from the Arctic University of Tromsø. LinkedIn page https://www.linkedin.com/in/oerjanbergan Email  orjan.bergan@gmail.com