Exploring the past and future of contemplation
Our Mission
We are dedicated to creative approaches to the past, present, and future of humanity’s extraordinary capacity for contemplation in religious, spiritual but not religious, and secular contexts. We aim to integrate support for the vibrant sustenance of traditions with dynamic innovation for new contexts. Our initial pilot is the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, but we plan to expand to other traditions.
Programs
The Generative Contemplation Framework
The heart of our work is a theoretical framework understanding contemplative traditions as profoundly generative. Embodied contemplative fluency in a tradition allows for the creative generation of diverse forms of practice based on deep mastery of a lexicon of fundamental elements, a grammar governing how those elements can be woven together, and contexts that animate those practices in their full dimensions.
The Contemplative Encyclopedia
Using the generative theory, we are doing deep exploration of specific contemplative traditions and practices in many variations to uncover these underlying principles of generativity and fluency, as well as analyze and interpret the deep dynamics and meaning of specific forms of meditative practices. These are presented in an encyclopedia that includes textual details, images, audio-video, bibliographies, and more.
The Contemplative Library
The library organizes our holdings by asset type (text, audio-video, bibliographic source, image, and so forth). It includes all Encyclopedia content, though organized differently, but also presents other resources whether or not they are indexed by the Encyclopedia. The library thus allows us to offer resources in other traditions for which we are not yet ready to present in a systematic form within the Encyclopedia.
The Contemplative Design Lab
Our Contemplative Design process reimagines design thinking as grounded in contemplative processes, while drawing upon our generative analysis for design tools. It can be used for intentionally fashioning new contemplative practices, and contemplative perspectives on products, processes, experiences, and environments. We are exploring design in specific contexts with an initial focus on leadership and the environment.
