In late 2019, Helen Weng, PhD was honored with the Mind & Life Institute Annual Service Award. The award is given to individuals who are distinguished by the breadth and depth of their involvement with Mind & Life, and who embody its core values of compassion, integrity, curiosity, inclusion, and excellence. Below is a tribute …
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Othering and Belonging
Othering and Belonging is the problem of the 21st century. In this talk, the presenter will describe how the changes in the world are creating deep stress and anxiety. This process is likely to increase for the foreseeable future. This stress is both biological and ontological. The way we respond is social. The underlying issue …
Breaking Habits: Self-Transcendence and Health Behavior Change
What promotes adaptive attitude and behavior change? In this talk, it will be proposed that self-transcendence, or the drive to care for the well-being of others beyond self-interests, is key to increasing receptivity to change. Psychological and neurocognitive mechanisms of self-transcendence that help make people more open to change in the domains of social attitudes …
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Toward a Whole World Ethic: The Role of Conscious Evolution
This is the second of two blog posts describing recent Mind & Life Conversations with the Dalai Lama and prominent thought leaders on the topic of “Compassion, Interconnection, and Transformation.” Photos by Phil Walker and Tenzin Choejor. At a time of sweeping change and daunting global challenges, what’s needed is a whole world ethic to unite …
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2019 Summer Research Institute
Political strife, immigration, cultural and racial conflict, environmental concerns, depression, and distraction—these issues and many more influence our daily lives as we struggle to find personal well-being and social harmony. How does the latest research on mental habits, contemplation, and compassion inform opportunities to create change for ourselves and others?
2019 Mind & Life Conversations with the Dalai Lama and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
The second session of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s conversations with key thought leaders on “Compassion, Interconnection, and Transformation” organized by the Mind & Life Institute at his residence in Dharamsala, India on October 30th and November 1st, 2019. Participants
Seeding Peace in the Heart of Conflict: A Think Tank Project in Colombia
Siblings Juan and Juliana Santoyo received funding from Mind & Life in 2017 to hold a Think Tank to design and plan the implementation of a contemplative practice-based program for ex-combatants in Colombia’s peacebuilding process (members of the program’s pilot pictured above). They believe that nourishing the ability to heal and transform individually and with …
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The Geopolitics of the Other
Written in collaboration with the Garrison Institute How do we emotionally and socially construct our notions of difference and “the other?” Are there core truths about otherness that transcend geographic or racial boundaries? In June, more than 130 scientists, scholars, students, and activists from 19 countries gathered at Mind & Life’s 15th Summer Research Institute …
Engaging in a Socially Unjust World with Love, Compassion, and Resolve
“It requires something more than personal experience to gain a philosophy or point of view from any specific event. It is the quality of our response to the event and our capacity to enter into the lives of others that help us to make their lives and experiences our own.”—Emma Goldman The relationship between contemplative …
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To Change the World, Start with How We Educate Children
Since early adolescence, I have carried a deep conviction that we all have the capacity to grow in ways that far exceed our imagination. At 22, when most of my friends had accepted high paying jobs after college, I opted for a backpack and spiritual growth, traveling from my home in Sun Valley, Idaho to …
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