The New Mindscape: An Online Educational Channel by Prof David A Palmer
The New Mindscape is founded by Prof David A. Palmer 宗樹人, Asian Religious Connections Research Cluster (ASIAR) at Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Sociology Department of the University of Hong Kong, an anthropologist who is passionate about exploring different realities.
It is an online educational channel, open to all, developed from the HKU Common Core Course – CCHU9014 Spirituality, Religion and Social Change, which has been taught by Prof. Palmer since 2013.
In our daily lives, have you ever noticed that:
- We are programmed to think and act in certain ways without ever questioning why;
- We are reduced to a consumer-producer relationship or to a random collection of algorithms and statistics;
- We are defined as whom we are not, and yet we don’t know who we truly are;
- We feel like something is missing because what we value for ourselves has no place in the dominant value system.
In the meantime, depression, anxiety, and fear are experienced by a growing number of people and our societies are polarized across multiple differences. There is even talk, in this period of the Anthropocene, of the extinction of the human race. What might we do? Perhaps, there are alternative ways to imagine more flourishing futures for all of us. Where shall we get started? If you are curious about these questions, The New Mindscape is the place for you to embark on a spiritual adventure guiding you to be:
- Enlightened by the wisdom of great thinkers from ancient to modern times;
- Nourished in the religious traditions of both East and West; and
- Integrated as ONE humanity that crosses borders of all kinds.
Each week, we’ll be engaging with one of the following themes with inspiring quotes, images and videos:
- Introduction: Why do we need a new Operating System for ourselves and society?
- Designing and Cultivating your Mindscape
- The Meaning of Life and Death
- Mindfulness practice: Meditation and Observing your Mindscape
- How we conceptualize Body, Mind and Spirit
- An Enchanted World: Spiritual Views on Nature
- Rituals, Mythology, and Society
- Human Nature and Religion
- Spiritual Capital: Faith and Volunteering
- Axial Revolutions and Controversies of Religious Institutions
- The Crisis of Religion and Its Modern Responses
Other than providing online resources, we also aim to hold regular community activities, reading groups, and field trips to harness our collective wisdom and energy among and beyond the HKU community in the near future.
Are you ready to re-imagine and re-build the self and society? Here are the ways you can start the journey with us!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm12hc5rwdbs62j11Fj5yIQ