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We spend a lot of time working. How can we make our work lives more meaningful?
The average American spends a third of his or her life working.
Jesus and Buddha, separated by 3,000 miles and 400 hundred years, both speak to central questions of meaning. How similar — and how different — are their perspectives and how do the teachings, rituals, and histories of each tradition complement or contradict each other? Take the one-hour version of this popular Princeton course and explore how Jesus and Buddha understood t...
Across the United States, from rural areas to cities and suburbs, people have been hitting the streets to protest racism and police brutality.
The average American will spend a third of his or her life working. What is the secret to achieving happiness because of our work and not in spite of it? How can we make a job into a vocation? David Brooks and Arthur Brooks have both studied and written about these questions, and they argue that in all kinds of work the answer is to find meaning. In this conversation, the...
The dramatic rise in suicides, violence, and addiction signal a society disconnected from meaning and a social fabric fraying at its seams. With participation in organized religion on the decline, and fewer traditional places to do the work of fellowship and ritual, what other places are people turning to to define their values and explore the big questions? To probe what...
When is the truth the truth, a lie a lie, and what constitutes mere BS in an era that many refer to as “post-truth”? We address the kinds of critical and largely ethical questions we confront in our modern-day discourse across this deep dive, exploring the intent of the First Amendment (does it protect lies?), the reasons we lie (or, in fact, are we just strategically misl...
How do we create a culture that brings out the best in our personal and professional lives? Rituals are powerful tools for building a culture that better aligns your values and priorities with your everyday practices. Our work shows how rituals help people bridge transitions, get to flow, deal with conflict, and increase bonding. In this session, we’ll share some of the...
Despite discussion of work-life balance, work is not something separate from our life, but integral to it. Good work is a critical component to a good life. As societies across the globe struggle with economic division and working people who feel left behind, can companies invent a world of work that is more sustainable? The Eileen Fisher company is a certified B corporati...
It's already difficult to talk about politics in a polarized United States, but a few choice words are making it even harder.
How has extreme individual freedom led to a crisis of isolation?
Yale's Laurie Santos gives a crash course on how to feel less stressed and depressed.
Should rules govern demeaning, disparaging, and degrading speech directed at certain groups?
Whether you love setting New Year’s resolutions or ignore them entirely, there’s still a certain mix of nostalgia and excitement over the ending of one year and the possibilities that lay ahead. We’ve gathered five big ideas that offer some food for thought as you head into 2024, including a new mindset for thinking about careers, a glimpse into the history of the cosmos,...
History has made the term "socialism" vague and unproductive, according to linguistics professor John McWhorter. Should it be retired?
What is feminism, and is anyone doing it right? As the movement has gone mainstream and come under greater scrutiny, it seems any consensus on the meaning of “feminism” has been lost — but was there ever agreement on what it was? In this panel, a collection of leading thinkers will define feminism and attempt to answer what makes a good feminist in 2018. How can we get les...
Kate Bowler, a young scholar of Christianity, had just written a book called Blessed, about the Christian idea that good things happen to good people, when she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at the age of 35. Suddenly confronted with this devastating news, and people’s well-meaning but often lacking responses to it, Bowler wrote a book, launched a podcast, and became a...
Looking around and experiencing the suffering and injustice in the world can make it difficult to believe that happiness exists. But the Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that it’s sinful to succumb to despair, and we have a responsibility to ourselves and others to try and find our way through dark times. On the other hand, when you avoid suffering, you avoid meaning, and...
In today’s world, we tend to switch jobs more frequently than previous generations, and are more likely to have multiple jobs. Side gigs where we express passions or find meaning are also common, and many juggle additional roles as caregivers and community members, as people always have. In short, many of us are focused on a lot more than just climbing a corporate ladder....
People are in constant conversation with their dogs, says dog scientist Alexandra Horowitz, and dogs pick up on things like our tone of voice. "We think meaning is all in the words but for them, the meaning is in the context, and they’re working very hard to understand it.” Horowitz studies dog cognition and the relationship between dogs and their human owners. She runs th...