The Centrality of Compassion in Human Life and Society
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
- Tuesday January 25 @ 7 and 9 p.m. (two showings with a Conversation Café between)
- Dana Commons second floor lounge
- In the fall of 2010, His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke at Stanford University in a series of events on Compassion, Science and Society. In this screened talk on compassion and altruism — characteristics that he sees as core to the survival of humanity — he asks in what practical ways we can enhance their presence in such settings as our schools, hospitals and prisons and in society as a whole. He speaks on the centrality of compassion in human life and society from the perspectives of such wide-ranging disciplines as education, social psychology and the neurosciences. (60 minutes)
A concern for compassion is at the heart of every major religion and of many secular spiritual, philosophical or humanistic pursuits. In Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism it is an attribute of God or certain Gods; in Buddhism it is the path and practice above all others. However, religious intolerance, rampant consumerism, ethnic division, and individualism pose severe challenges to compassion – even as the world’s suffering is made more vivid by our ever-present media and interconnectedness.
In this semester’s dialogue symposium, we ask, “Who cares?” — and turn the lens on ourselves: How is our own compassion nourished, challenged, and in what ways might that call us to action?
This event is part of the Difficult Dialogues Spring 2011 Symposium, “Who Cares?” It is sponsored by the Difficult Dialogues initiative of the Higgins School of Humanities.
