What I learned at the recent International Symposium for Contemplative Studies.
The recent International Symposium for Contemplative Studies (ISCS), held in Denver, opened with a guided meditation-turned-keynote address by mindfulness pioneer Jon Kabat-Zinn, sitting cross-legged on his Zafu cushion.
But as eminent and enlightened as Kabat-Zinn appeared on stage, his message was that the audience should not be intimidated by the Tibetan monastics, scientific icons, or other spiritually accomplished thinkers in the room. Instead, we were encouraged to embrace our common humanity—our shared aspiration to relieve suffering and cultivate happiness in life. “We are all contemplatives,” he reassured.
That was arguably the main message of the three-day symposium as a whole. It was possibly the biggest and most far-ranging event organized to date by the Mind and Life Institute, which has been championing dialogue between Buddhist scholars and forward-thinking scientists for 20 years, and it offered a powerful reminder of how vast and mainstream contemplative science has gotten in that time.
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