SIGN UP BY DECEMBER 15th
SIGN UP BY DECEMBER 15th
Contemplative pathways
for meaning & purpose
Contemplative Pathways for Meaning & Purpose is an
eight-week course developed in close collaboration with the MIT Global Humanities Initiative (GHI), specifically its pillar on Cognition, Learning & Human Flourishing, coordinated by Jonas Mago and Justus Wachs.
Drawing from contemplative traditions, cognitive science, philosophy, and systems thinking, this course explores what it means to live well in a time marked by complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change.
It introduces meditation not only as a spiritual or therapeutic practice, but as a rigorous method for cultivating adaptive attention, deep awareness, and meaning-making capacities that help individuals and groups navigate modern life.
Rooted in the GHI pillar’s broader mission, the course examines how humans make sense of an ever-changing world, and how contemplative practices, across cultures and throughout history, have supported resilience, coherence, and flourishing. Participants will engage with practices that are relational, embodied, and lived, while also exploring how contemporary research in neuroscience, learning, and complexity can illuminate the inner transformations that shape ethical, purposeful action.
Upcoming Course
Starting February 6th
Weekly Meetings: Fridays, 2:00–3:30 PM
Live online sessions (with optional in-person opportunities if relevant)
This course is fully funded through the MIT Global Humanities Initiative and is free for all participants.
Enroll by December 15th.
Space is limited, and we encourage early registration.
What you’ll learn:
Techniques to cultivate steady, flexible attention and reduce cognitive fragmentation.
Methods for opening awareness, navigating complexity, and staying grounded under pressure.
Skills for mindful communication, emotional regulation, and collaborative sense-making.
Tools to clarify personal and collective purpose, strengthening alignment in teams and organizations.
Practices that enhance resilience, coherence, and well-being in rapidly changing environments.
A deeper connection to the sources of meaning that guide your life and work.
A more regenerative approach to creating meaningful, sustainable change.
Scientific foundation
This course is an interdisciplinary effort that brings together insights from cognitive neuroscience, educational sciences, contemplative studies, and the broader research vision of the MIT Global Humanities Initiative (GHI). Drawing on work in attention, awareness, neuroplasticity, complexity, learning, and meaning-making, the course integrates empirical research with wisdom from contemplative and philosophical traditions.
In line with the GHI pillar on Cognition, Learning & Human Flourishing, the course treats contemplative practice not only as a subject of study, but as a method of inquiry in its own right. Engaging in these practices together — exploring attention, awareness, meaning, and purpose — becomes a form of participatory research. Participants contribute to a living dialogue at the intersection of science, philosophy, and lived experience, helping to shape an emerging field concerned with how humans navigate complexity and cultivate flourishing.
This course is therefore grounded in research and enacted as research: a collaborative space where practice, theory, and reflection mutually inform and deepen one another.
Course overview
In an increasingly complex and fast-paced world, the ability to hold steady attention, make sense of experience, and stay oriented toward what truly matters is more essential than ever. Yet our mental landscape is often fractured by relentless demands, emotional overload, and the subtle pull of distraction. For many, this contributes to what has been called a “meaning crisis” — a deep sense of fragmentation, disconnection, and uncertainty about how to live well in turbulent times.
This eight-week course is designed for people from diverse backgrounds who are grappling with this crisis of meaning — professionals, academics, leaders, and contemplatives who want to find steadiness, clarity, and renewed orientation in their lives. Together, we train the mind in three core capacities: attention (stability and focus), awareness (openness and responsiveness), and metacognition (the ability to observe and redirect mental patterns).
Beyond cultivating these foundational skills, the course opens a deeper inquiry into meaning and purpose. We explore meaning as the sense-making frameworks, traditions, and stories that shape our lives, and purpose as the future-oriented compass that directs our energy toward what we most value.
Drawing on cognitive science, contemplative traditions, and leadership practices, the course creates a space for personal renewal, intellectual clarity, and systemic reflection.
Week 1
Opening & field of care
Clarifying motivations and values; establishing a supportive foundation for practice.
Week 5
Embodied presence
Cultivating interoception, emotional regulation, and grounding through body-based practice.
Week-by-week curriculum
Week 2
Attention
Training sustained focus and working skillfully with distraction through noting practice.
Week 6
Meaning
Investigating the stories, traditions, and systems that shape meaning-making.
Week 3
Awareness
Shifting from narrow attention to open awareness; understanding perception and responsiveness.
Week 7
Purpose
Clarifying what we are in service to; orienting action through values and future vision.
Week 4
Effortlessness
Exploring the balance of effort and ease; how release supports clarity and insight.
Week 8
Integration
Consolidating insights, designing sustainable practice, and integrating learning into daily life.