“The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell and hell of heaven,” wrote John Milton in Paradise Lost. However, what we do with our minds is a choice! We can either go down into a whirling spiral of victimhood or push ourselves up towards the highest pursuit, which Aristotle defines as Eudaimonia, meaning happiness, flourishing, or fulfillment. Happiness is not only a state of mind but involves continuous action towards self-fulfillment of our inner values. Sonja Lyubomirsky, a renowned psychologist, states that 50% of happiness is genetic, while only 10% depends upon the difference in life circumstances or situations. The remaining 40% depends upon our daily intentional activities, a pursuit worth undertaking. This is the recorded talk of online salon uncovering “the Pursuit in Happiness” to discuss how we can reclaim our happiness in current times of collective realignment.

“Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit..”, that’s how Tagore described Freedom in his Noble Prize-winning poem, Gitanjali. A couple of months ago, some of us could have described vacations away from work as Freedom, right now we are longing to be free to work. In short, Freedom can be about breaking away from social expectations. However, if we dig deeper, the real Freedom comes from meeting our expectations. It is not only about “what we are freeing from” but about “what we are freeing towards.” This time as we get our Freedom from administrations back, let’s not fall back into “dreary desert sand of dead habit,” but towards creating a future, we would love to live in. This is the recorded talk of the online salon on uncovering “the choice in becoming free” to discuss how we can choose our freedom.

As the world was suddenly disrupted, we have been forced to release, e.g., loved ones, businesses, and life-choices, without enough preparation time. With passing time, some things will probably be back in a refined way; however, some things are getting lost forever. The only thing we can do is to let go. Letting go is a potential response to something finishing, dying, or disrupting. Disruption is inbuilt in the universe. If we did not have Disruption or dying in the world of limited space and time, the past would not have created space for the present. Why do we hold on when we are aware of our dying bodies? How do we keep to move-on as we let-go? “And even after this. you will plant your feet on the floor. stand tall. and move forward once more.” wrote Jenna Doyle. And we will, as new potentialities (inner and outer) emerge in every Disruption. This is a recorded talk of online salon uncovering “the letting-go in disruption” to discuss how we can let-go to let-in in disruptive times.

“Is Love an art? Then it requires knowledge and effort,” wrote German psychologist Eric Fromm as an effort to wake us up from the slumber of passivity. We assume everyone knows what Love is and trust it is, which naturally happens. However, it is a creative art that needs to be cultivated. The exploration of Love is probably as old as human civilization. The English word “Love,” is derived from Germanic forms of the Sanskrit word lubh (desire), and is broadly defined and resolved to some extent by the reference to the Greek terms, Eros (desire and passion), Philia (friendship and loyalty), and Agape (universal compassion). Love had various flavors in ancient Greece; in Plato’s Symposium (385–370 BCE), a banquet was held, and speeches were made in praise of Eros, the God of Love. While Greeks intellectualized Love, a poet of Love and joy, Rumi wrote, “Your task is not to seek for Love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” This is a recorded talk of the online salon uncovering “the Psychology of Love” where we explored various facets of Love.

A mix of physics, philosophy and spirituality to explore some of the deepest phenomena in everyday life. We are so in the flow here. Hope you get the vibe and enjoy the video!

Deepak Bansal on lessons on contemporary leadership challenges from Bhagavad Gita. Presented April 3rd, 2018 at the Philosophy Cosmology and Consciousness and Ecology Spirituality and Religion retreat, Bishop's Ranch, CA. Filmed and edited by Chad Harris

As a graduating student of Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness program from CIIS, I made a case for a new world.