About our work
The need
Where do you turn …
If you want a quiet place away from home to light a candle for a friend you’ve lost?
If you want to talk through an important life decision with someone whose values you share, but with some distance from your friend group?
If you simply want a moment to celebrate your past month with the support of people you trust?
We call moments like these “honoring our human journey.” We believe it’s one of the most important things for us to do as human beings: Owing to our inherent human dignity, our experiences of joy, sorrow, and transition intrinsically deserve moments of care and respect.
Yet in our social fabric, we’re missing space for honoring our experiences — at least one that’s accessible and authentic to many of us.
The invitation
What if we created the spaces we deserve for honoring our human journey in San Francisco?
Our purpose
The San Francisco Contemplarium is a neighborhood institution for honoring our human journey, where you can engage with contemplative events & programs, installations, and community.
We approach our work with the following intentions:
Affirming the equal and inherent dignity of every person, we lift up the humanity in ourselves and in our neighbors, within a container of trust created through mutual agreements.
As a public cultural institution belonging to us all, we serve neighbors from all walks of life, backgrounds, beliefs, and affiliations.
Representing the richness and robustness of our communities, our work is people-powered by local neighborhoods, and enriched through collaboration with honoring professionals.
For a deeper dive into our purpose, read our short manifesto, A San Francisco That Honors, and a longer manifesto by Founding Director Seanan Fong, A People Who Honor.
What we do
Public Events
Our public events create regular containers for people in the community to honor their human journey alongside their neighbors.
Our flagship Reflection Jams, on the first Sundays of every month, offer guided journaling and sharing to chill lo-fi rhythms.
We also host Salons and Ingatherings throughout the year to honor our seasonal themes: Flourishing (realizing our fullest selves), Encounter (with existential limits), Origins (what makes us who we are), and Becoming (the kind of person we want to become). Read more about our thematic calendar.
Installations
Our installations in parks and other public spaces provide self-guided rituals that allow folks to honor their own and neighbors’ experiences.
When the weather is right, we create pop-up Reflection Stands in San Francisco parks, where people can give voice to their own experiences by writing and posting, and honor the experiences of their neighbors by infusing a pebble with a good intention and dropping it into a vessel of water. Passersby call it “a moment of pause … just what I needed today … should be on every corner.”
Community
As a people-powered institution, community is the Contemplarium’s energetic engine. This community realizes the mission of the Contemplarium by helping create and hold the spaces for our neighbors to honor their human journeys, and by supporting each other in living out the values of the Contemplarium in their own lives.
Our flagship program for deepening this community is our Journey Groups, where small groups of 6–8 meet regularly over a three months to honor their human journeys in a more intimate setting.
… and more
As we build the Contemplarium, we are constantly experimenting and testing new ways we can help our city honor our human journeys.
Who is behind this work
Seanan Fong, Founding Director
As Founding Director, Seanan brings the SF Contemplarium to life. A minister turned designer, Seanan combines a grounded empathy and a builder’s imagination to reweave our missing moral infrastructure.
Flamekeepers
The Flamekeepers are a diverse group of individuals who offer their time, energy, and ideas to realize the mission of the SF Contemplarium.
Supporters
The Contemplarium is a fiscal sponsee of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Beloved. The Contemplarium’s work would not be possible without support from the Mira Fellowship, Build IRL, and the Hinckley Fund, and from generous supporters like you who give to the SF Contemplarium. Thank you.
What’s next in 2025
Since our launch in August 2024, we’ve been blown away by the energy and momentum that has rallied behind our mission to honor our human journey here in San Francisco:
Monthly Reflection Jams: Our flagship program now regularly draws 25+ participants for guided reflection and connection. Participants like Justin describe these as "a lovely way to spend a Sunday evening" and appreciate how the jams help them "slow down and sit with the triumphs, disappointments, and transitions."
Seasonal Gatherings: We've established quarterly gatherings aligned with natural cycles, including our Fall Ingathering, which helped participants honor losses and transitions through ritual and community support; our Autumn Equinox event with an end-of-life chaplain exploring death as part of life; and our Winter Solstice event exploring identity through gingerbread cookie decorating.
Pop-up Reflection Stands: These installations in parks and community spaces have engaged hundreds of San Franciscans in moments of reflection and connection, with participants describing them as "just what I needed today."
Community Building: We've cultivated a dedicated group of "Flamekeepers" who help steward our vision and programs, while building partnerships with venues like The Commons SF, Noisebridge, and other community spaces.
Most importantly, we've validated our core thesis: San Franciscans deeply desire cross-sectional spaces to honor their human experiences in community, especially those who may not connect with traditional religious institutions. As Lorrie, a participant and Flamekeeper, noted, "I didn't know I had so much to honor."
In 2025, we want to build on this success with a new focus: deepening the community that will drive the mission of the SF Contemplarium moving forward. We’ve learned that great institutions are people-powered: we need a committed and engaged community to be the spiritual engine of the SF Contemplarium’s mission to create space in our city to honor our humanity. By creating sacred space within a committed community – building and modeling the capacity to honor our human journey – we can then become a wellspring for a deep and sustainable impact on our wider city as a whole.
It promises to be a difficult but profoundly meaningful journey, one that will bring us closer to our vision of a San Francisco that honors. Join us by subscribing to our newsletter or being in touch.
I can’t wait for this journey together.
— Seanan Fong, Founding Director
January 23, 2025
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