Summit with Dalai Lama

Fostering Universal Ethics and Compassion Through Museums: A Summit with His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 18, 2018 — Empathy-Building Through Museums is honored to be the co-chair, and the creative coordinator of the world’s first summit on “Fostering Universal Ethics and Compassion Through Museums” with His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama, which will take place in Dharamsala, India from October 28 through November 1, 2018.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama will receive a delegation of museum and multidisciplinary experts to discuss how museums and informal learning platforms can contribute to creating a more compassionate world. Inspired by His Holiness’ lifelong commitment to promoting universal ethics, values, and compassion education, the Summit intends to inspire dialogue and collaboration within and beyond the walls of museums in North America and around the world.

The small group of approximately 30 delegates will include representatives from a variety of museums mostly from North America (such as children’s, arts, science, natural history, civil rights, dialogue, and historic heritage sites), as well as experts in behavioral science, education, visual and performing arts, entrepreneurship, impact evaluation, information technology, and design.

The Summit is co-chaired by The Office of Tibet, in partnership with Jon Kolkin Fine Art Photography, and the Empathy-Building Through Museums Initiative.

Dr. Elif Gokcigdem, Co-chair of the Summit, Founder of Empathy-Building Through Museums Initiative, and the Author and Editor of two books on empathy-building through museums, said:

In an editorial published in LA Times on November 13, 2017, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama said: “Intolerance leads to hatred and division. Our children should grow up with the idea that dialogue, not violence, is the best and most practical way to solve conflicts. The young generations have a great responsibility to ensure that the world becomes a more peaceful place for all. But this can become reality only if we educate, not just the brain, but also the heart. The educational systems of the future should place greater emphasis on strengthening human abilities, such as warm-heartedness, a sense of oneness, humanity and love. (…) Empathy is the basis of human coexistence.”

His Holiness’ wisdom promotes universal ethics and compassion, which is essential for our peaceful coexistence. Empathy-Building Through Museums Initiative aims to create a more compassionate world through developing caring mindsets and compassionate worldviews that value the Whole –all of humanity and the planet. I am humbled and honored for this opportunity to receive His Holiness’ wisdom, and to facilitate a dialogue on how museums can contribute to a more compassionate world.

I believe at the heart of our world’s most pressing problems from inequalities to injustice to climate change, lies simple human behavior, and our ability to choose –whether to act, or not, towards the greater good. I believe empathy, our inherent ability to connect to another at an emotional level, is also the Achilles’ heel of our ego. Therefore, empathy could be an excellent portal through which we can discover, appreciate, and explore our inner world of emotions, those of others’ around us, and our interconnectedness with all of humanity and the environment. When we awake into our oneness, it is more likely that we would be willing to calibrate and harmonize our actions with compassion towards the greater Whole, of which we are all a part.

Museums, as informal learning platforms are best suited for us to discover our meaningful place within an interconnected existence: they provide historical context and the space for us to encounter with the “other” through dialogue, storytelling, experiential learning, art-making, and contemplation. Furthermore, museums can be the mirrors through which we can learn something about ourselves, and our own humanness –with its potential for doing good and bad, so that we may start recognizing and appreciating the same attributes in others.

Empathy is such a tool that shapes its user as much as the product that it is used for shaping. I am hopeful that this Summit will spark not only inspiration, but also a list of actionable ideas and solutions that will be implemented. The problems of our world are much greater for any single industry, or entity to solve alone. It is essential that disciplines and industries come together, collaborate, and create the sustainable ecosystems that can help us eliminate the empathy-deficit in our world, strategically and intentionally… Museums can play an essential role in this context. By acting as incubators for design, experimentation, and innovation, museums can help us develop and implement a cross-industries collective innovation strategy that can lead to positive personal, institutional, and social transformation.

For more information on the “Fostering Universal Ethics and Compassion Through Museums” Summit, contact: elif@elifgokcigdem.com.