The Henry J. Leir Institute is pleased to announce a conversation series dedicated to exploring the intersection of Human Security and Contemplation. As complexity multiplies across all disciplines, the question of providing human security rests on fundamental aspects of what being human means. In this four-part conversation series, participants are invited to listen and engage in questions about how one determines one’s inner course of action before proposing and leading action into the world. Contemplation is in essence learning to quiet the mind, to make the temple of our being into a place where decisions are made mindfully and perhaps more humbly. Learning to engage honestly with inner inquiry and contemplation allows one to explore the ambiguities and uncertainties of making decisions – and to become a more effective listener and leader. This program is open to all who share a sincere interest in self-reflection. 

The fourth and final conversation will feature Dr. Yuria Celidwen, PhD, a native of Indigenous Nahua and Maya descent who works at the intersection of Indigenous studies, cultural psychology, and contemplative science. Her interdisciplinary work investigates the embodied experience of self-transcendence in world contemplative and Indigenous traditions in the way it enhances prosocial behavior. Grounded in her study of Indigenous contemplative practices across the world, she developed her thesis of the Ethics of Belonging, proposing an earth-based ecology that engenders wellness and purpose through relational ecological awareness. She emphasizes the reclamation, revitalization, and transmission of Indigenous wisdom and the advancement of Indigenous and planetary rights.

Participants are invited to listen and engage in questions about how one determines one’s inner course of action before proposing and leading action into the world. This program is open to all who share a sincere interest in self-reflection.

The program is hosted by Professors Mazurana, Jacobsen and Wilson, and the conversations will be led by Leir Senior Policy Fellow Anton George Barré.

The fourth conversation is on April 22nd at 10:30 am EDT.

Register here. Zoom link to follow.