Partnership Events
Upcoming Events
| Date | Partner | Event | Format |
May 25th - 27th, 2023 Upaya Zen Centre, USA | Upaya Zen Centre | VARELA INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM: Worldmaking/Sensemaking: Precariousness, Connectedness, Cooperation A 2-day workshop with leading researchers. | Hybrid (online and in person) |
VERALA INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
"Worldmaking/Sensemaking: Precariousness, Connectedness, Cooperation"
In partnership with Upaya Zen Center
- Date: May 25th-27th, 2023
- Location (hybrid): Online and in person at Upaya Zen Centre, Santa Fe, NM, USA
- Register to participate in person here!
- Register to participate online here!
Event Description
How do we make sense of our experience and our place in this very precarious world? Powerful recent approaches have appreciated the mind as a complex system, deeply connected with the experienced world. Sensemaking, in this view, is interdependent worldmaking and includes the experience of intersubjectivity arising in complex, cooperative social interactions. Sensemaking as worldmaking is thus grounded in the interactions of a sensing, moving, living organism and its environment being and acting in the world. In this view, all of life is worldmaking and sensemaking, with the complex dynamic systems of life interdependently giving rise to the world in which each being exists. These complex dynamic systems are in constant flux, existing precariously on the edge of chaotic disorganization.
The remarkable faculty for the 2023 Varela International Symposium includes leaders in the philosophical, cultural, and scientific exploration of this view and its implications related to the precarious processes throughout the universe, the cultural embeddedness of worldviews, and the emergence of moral action.
The symposium honors, and is named for the seminal contributions of neuroscientist, philosopher, and Buddhist practitioner, Francisco Varela, who, with colleagues Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch, initially challenged the then-dominant models in cognitive science, establishing the groundwork for the research and scholarship that the symposium faculty will explore.
Presentations and panel discussions occur along with contemplative practice during this unique program which is organized and sponsored by Upaya Zen Center and Institute, Santa Fe, NM and Mind and Life Europe.
Maximum Participants in person: 15
Tuition (Members): $585.00
Tuition (Non-Members): $650.00
(Detailed schedule forthcoming)
Previous Events
| Date | Partner | Event | Format |
March 6th - 8th, 2023 Lorentz Center, the Netherlands | Lorentz Center | "The Computational Approach to Neuro-Phenomenology" A 5-day workshop with leading researchers. | In person |
August 13th - 19th, 2022 Les Colloques de Cerisy, France | Les Colloques de Cerisy | "Francisco Varela, A Current Thought: Autopoiesis, Enaction, and Phenomenology" A week-long conference in French and English. | In person |
August 11th, 2022 18:00 CEST Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany | Tergar Meditation Community | "The Natural Qualities of the Mind" Panel Discussion with Mingyur Rinpoche, Dr. Antoine Lutz, and Dr. Marieke van Vugt, moderated by HolgerYeshe | Hybrid |
May 28th - 29th, 2022 | Upaya Institute and Zen Center, Nirakara, and L'Association pour le Développement de la Mindfulness | Varela International Symposium 2022: Laying Down a Path in Walking (Mind in Life) Interdependance and Encation | Online |
March 3rd, 2022 | Umbrella Films and Studio 23a | 'Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness' European Live-stream Premier | Online |
October 23rd, 2021 | Science & Wisdom LIVE | Science Day: "Appearance & Reality - Quantum Physics meets Buddhist Philosophy" | Online |
"The Computational Approach to Neuro-Phenomenology"
A 5-day workshop at the Lorentz Centre, the Netherlands, with 25 researchers in the fields of phenomenology, neuroscience, philosophy, and computational modeling.
- Cooperation partner: Lorentz Centre (The Netherlands).
- Type of event: Workshop (in-person). Click here to see the program.
- Dates: March 6th - 10th, 2023
- Registration ended
About the event:
The intention of this workshop is to explore the possibilities to naturalize phenomenology using modeling techniques developed in computational neuroscience and biology. Specifically, we intend to develop a new version of neurophenomenology as ‘generative passages’ (Lutz, 2002; Roy et al., 1999; Varela, 1997), based on methodological innovations that have emerged recently under the rubric of generative modeling (Friston, 2019; Hesp et al., 2021; Sandved-Smith et al., 2021). This approach represents a distinctive formulation of computational phenomenology because it applies methods from computational modeling directly to phenomenology. The aim of this workshop is to present a specific application of computational phenomenology to what phenomenological philosophers have called ‘constitution’, see Sokolowski (1964). The aim of such model is to map phenomenological constitution onto the notion of inference, as it is used in generative modeling to infer the (causal) structure of the process generating some data or, more simply, making sense of data.
During this workshop we will come together with 25 researchers in the fields of phenomenology, neuroscience, philosophy, and computational modeling to discuss how the recent advancements in computational modeling–specifically bayesian mechanics and the active inference framework–may inform the study of lived experience and vice versa. The program during these days will consist of one or two keynote lectures per day, discussion rounds, and working groups that are aimed to translate our discussions into a special issue for the neuroscience of consciousness journal.
FRANCISCO VARELA,
A CURRENT THOUGHT
AUTOPOIESIS, ENACTION, PHENOMENOLOGY
- Cooperation partner: Les Colloques Cerisy (France).
- Type of event: Conference (in-person). Click here to see the program.
- Dates: August 13th (7pm) - 19th (2pm)
- Language: French
- Registration: click here to register (registration in French and English language).
About the event:
Francisco Varela contributed significantly to the development of the field of cognitive sciences by proposing, as early as the 1970s, with his professor Humberto Maturana, the formulation of his theory of life, autopoiesis, whose resonance has been decisive, even beyond the field of biology, in the artistic and educational fields. In the 1980s and 90s, from the theories of emergence, he built a new theory: enaction. In contact with phenomenology, he forged an innovative approach to consciousness from neuronal dynamics while being irreducible to it: neurophenomenology. At the same time, he founded the Mind and Life Institute, a place for dialogue with the Dalai Lama and reflection on the possible links between science and contemplative practices, including meditation.
20 years since his passing, it is essential to revisit his thought and measure his influence in the many current fields and disciplines that make his thought bear fruit. He was present in Cerisy, especially at the 1981 meeting "Self-organization: from physics to politics" (Seuil, 1983), which opened a research program to which he contributed and drew many of his inspirations.
This symposium offers a dialogue between natural sciences and humanities, art and science, science and philosophy. It will also be an opportunity, through various artistic performances, to reflect on the practice of interdisciplinarity. Open to all those interested in Francisco Varela's thought, it is about studying its strength and international influence by giving voice to loved ones, scientific collaborators and philosophers, as well as Buddhist "meditators". Finally, videos will be broadcast testifying to the life contexts in which his work has deployed and matured, according to his multiple interactions.
NB: Since this symposium was originally scheduled for 2021, you can access its 2021 presentation: click here.
Scientific Committee:
Michel Bitbol, Amy Cohen-Varela, Natalie Depraz, Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau, Claire Petitmengin, Jean Petitot
Program Schedule
Saturday, August 13
Afternoon
Welcoming Participants
Evening
Presentation of the Center, the symposium and the participants, as well as the Foyer de création et d'échanges
Sunday, August 14
Morning
Amy COHEN-VARELA: Opening
A BROADER VISION OF SCIENCE
Jean-Pierre DUPUY: Francisco Varela, thinker of autonomy [videoconference]
Valérie BONNARDEL: Color, human experience and cyborgism
Afternoon
Shaun GALLAGHER: Reenacting ethics: Joining Varela's adventure
Urban KORDEŠ: Horizons of Becoming Aware
Evening
Around the movie Monte Grande: What Is Life? by Franz Reichle
Claudia VÁSQUEZ GÓMEZ: An artistic project in Monte Grande
Monday, August 15
Morning
MEDITATION IN ACTION AND NATURE OF THE MIND
The DALAI-LAMA: Testimony
Amy COHEN-VARELA: Mind and Life
Alan WALLACE: Toward a Renaissance in Contemplative Inquiry within the World's Religions [video]
Afternoon
ENACTION AND ART
Raphaële JEUNE: Varela on the adventure of art
Tuesday, August 16
FRANCISCO VARELA'S THOUGHT, A SOURCE OF EDUCATIONAL AND ECOLOGICAL INSPIRATIONS
Morning
Michèle DUZERT: Making Francisco Varela's breath dance: some situations experienced [videoconference]
Andreas WEBER: Skincentric Ecology
Afternoon
RELAXATION
Evening
Round table, moderated by Ivan MAGRIN-CHAGNOLLEAU, with Carole HOFFMAN (The emergence, in the oscillation of the in-between), Xavier LAMBERT (Autopoiesis and generativité), Célio PAILLARD (The emergence between: accumulation as a creative strategy) and Nico DOCKX (Through Time and Day
Wednesday, August 17
A VELEAN SIGNATURE: ENACTION
Morning
Pierre LIVET: Varela and her influence: self-organization, chasing or even extended mind, and social complexity
John PROTEVI: Political issues in Francisco Varela's thinking
Afternoon
Charles LENAY: Enaction and interaction: the question of the possible
Olivier GAPENNE: What can enaction do for reason?
Claire PETITMENGIN: Enaction as a lived experience [videoconference]
Evening
Ivan MAGRIN-CHAGNOLLEAU: Approaching emergence, autopoiesis and enaction from a phenomenological point of view in artistic creation and pedagogy
Thursday, August 18
PHENOMENOLOGY AT ITS LIMITS
Morning
Jean PETITOT: What does it mean to naturalize phenomenology? [videoconference]
Tom FROESE: Enaction as an irruption of consciousness
Afternoon
Natalie DEPRAZ: Cardiophenomenology. Or how to refine neurophenomenology?
Antoine LUTZ: Impact of awareness on perception and pain: neurophenomenological and computational exploration
Michel BITBOL: The dialectic of body and consciousness: a metaphysical translation of neurophenomenology [videoconference]
Evening
Presentation of the artistic works created during the symposium
Friday, August 19
Morning
Final round table and assessment
Afternoon
DEPARTURES
"The Natural Qualities of the Mind"
A panel discussion with Mingyur Rinpoche, Dr. Antoine Lutz and Dr. Marieke van Vugt, moderated by HolgerYeshe
in partnership with the Tergar Meditation Communtity
In a panel discussion, Mingyur Rinpoche and scientists from Mind and Life Europe explore The Natural Qualities of Mind.
Faculty:
- Mingyur Rinpoche, Tibetan Buddhist meditation master
- Dr. Marieke van Vugt, Bernoulli Institute of Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence of the University of Groningen
- Dr. Antoine Lutz, French Medical Research Institute (INSERM) in the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CNRL)
The panel discussion was moderated by HolgerYeshe.
Following the panel discussion we will show the film "Wandering... But not lost" in the presence of the filmmaker Paul MacGowan. (For in-person attendees only).
The film is a personal account of Mingyur Rinpoche's four and a half year retreat, interspersed with Rinpoche's own guidance on applying Buddhist wisdom to our daily modern lives, which will touch and inspire audiences everywhere. Info about the film HERE.
Date, Time, & Accessibilty
Date: Thursday, August 11th, 2022
Location: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany (for ticket holders)
Schedule:
- 18:00 - 20:00 Panel discussion The Natural Qualities of Mind (live-streamed on YouTube)
- 20:00 - 20:30 Break
- 20:30 - 22:00 Film screening "Wandering... But not lost" with director Paul MacGowan in attendance (no streaming for online attendees)
Watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel here!
Concept Note
What are the natural qualities of mind? How can we study them from both the third- and first-person perspectives? What do the Eastern and Western traditions have in common (or not) when it comes to the cultivation of a healthy mind? How can these two traditions interface with each other in light of the most recent advances in the study of the human mind?
In this evening of dialogue, we’ll take a cross-sectional look at the natural qualities of the human mind, reaping insights from Western neuroscience and the age-old wisdom of Buddhist thought and practice. Mingyur Rinpoche, known throughout the world as a clear and charismatic Tibetan Buddhist teacher, has long been interested in Western science and psychology. In this unique encounter, he will co-investigate the natural qualities of mind with two prominent European scientists who specialize in the neuropsychology of meditation practice. Dr. Antoine Lutz, who was trained by Francisco Varela and worked extensively with Dr. Richard Davidson, has been a pioneer in Europe for his work on the neurophenomenology of mindfulness and compassion meditations. Dr. Marieke van Vugt will offer key insights from her own body of work on mind-wandering and the cognitive processes underpinning meditation and mindfulness.
This conversation will be an important step in extending the long tradition at Mind & Life Europe of exploring how to integrate the third-person perspective of Western science with the first-person perspective of serious contemplative practice. We hope you’ll join us for the exploration.
VARELA INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
in partnership with Upaya Institute and Zen Center
Laying Down a Path in Walking (Mind in Life) – Interdependence and Enaction (Online 2022)
Over the past three decades, a transformative view of life, now known as “the enactive view,” has been developed and expanded by thinkers in philosophy and the sciences of mind; prominent among them was the late Chilean neuroscientist, philosopher, and Buddhist practitioner, Francisco Varela, for whom this symposium is named. The Varela International Symposium, 2022, with its extraordinary international faculty of scientists, philosophers, and contemplatives, explores the enactive view that living beings are fundamentally sense-making creatures that bring forth meaning in their interactions with their physical and social environments. As such, a subject enacts the world he or she is part of, including the physical environment, and this world reflects social, ethical and political values and structures. Recent contributions within the enactive framework by faculty in this year’s Varela Symposium have expanded how we understand social cognition, social interaction, and cultural institutions, including science, medicine, politics, and our relationship to the natural world. The 2022 Varela International Symposium will explore the potential outcomes and psychosocial impacts of shifting our extractive, reductionistic, mechanistic, predictive views to an enactive view that could be profoundly transformational at a personal as well as global level. Presentations and panel discussions will occur along with contemplative practice during this unique program which is organized and sponsored by Upaya Zen Center and Institute, Santa Fe, NM and Mind & Life Europe.
Varela International Symposium 2022 | Recordings
All recordings of the Varlea International Symposium are available to view on the MLE YouTube channel here.
| Date | Title | Speaker |
Saturday, May 28th, 2022 Morning Session 1 | "Enaction and the Dialetics of Nature" | Ezequiel Di Paolo |
Saturday, May 28th, 2022 Morning Session 2 | "Enaction: An Engaging Epistemology" | Hanne De Jaegher |
Saturday, May 28th, 2022 Afternoon Session 1 | "The Enactive View: Looking Back, Looking Forward" | Evan Thompson |
Saturday, May 28th, 2022 Afternoon Session 2 | "Science, Practice, and Encaction: Reminiscences of Francisco and Reflections of Embodied Engagement" | Richard Davidson |
Sunday, May 29th, 2022 Morning Session 1 | "On Doing Physics and Being a Subject" | Adam Frank |
Sunday, May 29th, 2022 Morning Session 2 | "Complexity and Machine Learning" | Abeba Birhane |
Sunday, May 29th, 2022 Afternoon Session 1 | "The Enactive Perspective" | John Dunne |
Sunday, May 29th, 2022 Afternoon Session 2 | Participant Q&A Session | Faculty |
'AWARE' EUROPEAN LIVE-STREAM PREMIER
in partnership with Umbrella Films and Studio 23a
'AWARE: Glimpses of Consciousness'
In partnership with Umbrella Films and Area 23a, MLE invited our community to the European Live-Stream of “AWARE” on Thursday, March 3rd at 7:00 PM CET (6 PM London Time, 1 PM NYC)
What is consciousness? Is it in all living beings? Why are we predisposed for mystical experience? And what happens when we die? With haunting cinematography, AWARE follows six of the world’s most brilliant researchers approaching the most mysterious of enigmas, consciousness, from radically different perspectives, from within and without: through high-tech brain research and Eastern meditation, by scientifically exploring inner space through psychedelic substances and delving deep into the consciousness of plants. Scientists are arriving at new insights – some which have been integral to Indigenous knowledge for millenia.
Following the film screening there will be a live discussion with Directors Frauke Sandig & Eric Black; Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., Director, Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research; Monica Gagliano, Professor of Plant Behavior & Cognition, University of Sydney; and Dr. med. Andrea Jungaberle Medical Director OVID Clinics I Co-founder of MIND Foundation.
'AWARE' reviews
“The most moving and beautiful depiction of deep understanding of consciousness and of who we are that I have seen depicted through film.”
-Jack Kornfield, author, and Buddhist teacher
“Consciousness-elevating food for thought.”
– Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times
"Stunningly Deep, Wise and Visually Arresting, the most Mind-Blowing Film the Maui Film Festival has presented in Twenty Years!"
-Barry Rivers Maui Film Festival Founder/Director
Science and Wisdom LIVE
October 23 14:00 - 22:00 CEST |
A dialogue with Prof. John Dunne, Dr. Michel Bitbol, Dr. Carlo Rovelli, Geshe Tenzin Namdak, and Scott Snibbe. This event was open to the public. | online |
About Science and Wisdom LIVE
Science & Wisdom LIVE brings meditation practitioners in conversation with scientists to address the problems of contemporary society and come to new possible solutions.
The dialogue between science and contemplative traditions can inspire positive action and inform an ethical response to the challenges of our times, grounded in the human values of cooperation, compassion and equality.
Website: https://www.sciwizlive.com/