Annual Themes

Most of us would like to believe in a form of power that is woven through with care, and a form of care that is robust enough to withstand the winds of the political arena. Yet, on most days, we are witness to a flagrant lack of care on scales of increasing alarm, as well as the many perversions of a global order that still abides by an ethos of “power over.”

In 2026, we will turn our attention to this paradoxical situation under the banner theme, “Empowering through Caring” using the epistemological tools we have at hand, from the enactive tradition and adjacent traditions, to critically assess the relationship between power and care, as well as our relationship to the dynamics of power and care of which we are co-constitutive.

If we take seriously the continuity between life and mind, then it would make sense to regard the conditions of our mind as none other than the conditions for the power structures that we are witness to in the world today—many of which are up for a critical reappraisal. What then are the conditions of (embodied) mind that would allow us to arrive at alternative expressions of power? What sorts of epistemological and ontological outlooks would be conducive to more caring and capacious power structures?

One important feature of enaction, as an epistemological, ontological, and ethical approach, is that it radically expands our view of relational dynamics. Instead of limiting ourselves to questions of power over, or even power to, it allows for a serious consideration of the power all around and in-between, locating us in an epistemology that is by definition immersive, inclusive, pluralistic, and sometimes contradictory.

For our perennial programming, we have at our disposal a broad constellation of methodologies, starting with foundational approaches such as enaction and neurophenomenology, but also including more recent approaches such as participatory sense-making and the PRISMA method, as well as kindred approaches that have a rich history of centering questions of power and care, and which likewise emphasise the primacy of listening, processes of emergence, and the viability of situated experience.

Through these various lenses, we might consider questions such as: What we can reasonably expect of the relationship between power and care in a world in which profligate abuses of power are all but commonplace? How can we develop an ethics of power and care that is precise and robust, without being prescriptive? What does it mean to be empowered (agentic) as an individual if our basic condition is to be embedded in a network of relationality? Is there a place for “epistemic activism” (José Medina), in how these approaches critically transform our cognitive-affective attitudes?

Inaugural Panel Discussion

On Wednesday 29th January 2026, we held our annual inaugural panel discussion with the intention of a conversational exploration, a lightly guided peregrination, among colleagues and friends, to generate new insights and horizons of inquiry for the year ahead.

For the panel this year, we had a stellar line-up of distinguished colleagues representing an array of (inter)disciplinary perspectives and a particular sensitivity to the dynamic interplay between epistemology and ethics:

Panel members:

• Dr Constanza Baquedano
• Prof Laura Candiotto
• Prof Bruce Clarke
• Dr Roshi Joan Halifax
• Dr Raphaële Jeune
• Dr Laura Mojica
• Prof John Protevi
• Prov Evan Thompson
• Amy Cohen Varela (co-moderator)
• Dr Johanna Magin (co-moderator)

Barcelonea International Conference

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION!

From 28th to 30th May 2026, we held an international conference exploring “Power and Care: Enactive Approaches and Critical Social Philosophy” in collaboration with Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Gathering together nearly 200 speakers and attendees from over 50 countries, our three days in Barcelona provided a unique incubator for interdisciplinary conversations that were as as poignant as they were polyvocal, many of which critically examined the crises of power in our world today.

There is good reason why one might look around and feel beleaguered and ill-equipped to
countenance the world as it appears before us. The challenges are too numerous and
fraught to name here. But let us simply consider the scale of many of the challenges before
us: if we take climate change, political polarisation, or social inequality, poverty, war, or mass
migration, the weaponisation of technology, addictive consumerism, or the spread of
misinformation, most of us would agree that none of these challenges can be solved by the
individual alone. Nor were they meant to be. For none of them are properly within reach of
the individual, at least in the way that they appear. And yet, we are still called to relate to
them in one way or another.

Being embedded and embodied beings, we need to acknowledge, on one level, the very
localised nature of our agency, and seek ways to relate to what is already ‘at hand’ in the
conventional sense. By acting from our situatedness, and working to refine our agency in
a granular way, it could be said that we are exercising the only real agency we have. Prof
Tim Lenton has spoken compellingly of the tipping points, both negative and positive, that
result from an accumulation of localised, grassroots efforts, and this is particularly true in an
age in which we are as intensely networked as we are today. Moreover, to suppose we can
abide purely in a ‘view from nowhere,’ as Thomas Nagel has suggested, strips us of the
only concrete engagement we can have with the world. The fact is, we always begin from a
situated perspective — our firsthand experience — and to deny it puts us at risk of
perpetuating erroneous assumptions.

But what if we were to nuance the above and question the very premise of a world existing
‘out there,’ as separate from the lone self ‘in here’. If we take the ‘view from within’ — an
enactive, organism-centred perspective — things begin to look quite different. For example,
we begin to see that self and world are co-constructed and co-evolving, and that even to
speak of the ‘world(s) at hand’ is somewhat of a misnomer. Because of our intimate
entanglement with the world, the world is in some sense always, already at hand, particularly if we understand the processes that make self and other possible as in-between
and all around (E. A. Di Paolo), rather than in here and out there (as Cartesian dualism
would have us suppose). In this view, acting from a situated perspective necessarily affects
a much larger field — beyond, precisely, what is perceptually ‘at hand.’

If this is the case, on what can it be said that we are acting? Where does our agency lie if we
are so inextricably bound up with the world? What would prevent us from simply resigning
ourselves to passive disengagement, precipitous relativism (“anything goes” or “everything is
equally valid”), or spiritual bypassing (“all is well” or “all is one”)? How can we live in a way
that honours the imminence of the world and our entanglement with it, while also
taking personal responsibility for effecting change in the world? Moreover, how can we
honour the plurality of the many life-worlds that are at play when we consider how to act?
Can we imagine “liv(ing) in one world that includes a multiplicity of worlds,” as Gábor Karsai
spoke of in our November 2024 MLE Community Call? Can we work from the premise of
“difference without separability” (Édouard Glissant), a vector of heterogeneity, rather than homogeneity? Is there a “lived, living logic” (Hanne De Jaegher) we can draw upon to
honour both entanglement and differentiation, immanence and otherness?

Inaugural Panel Discussion

Watch the recording here!

On January 29th 2025 we held our annual inaugural panel discussion with interdisciplinary panelists representing philosophy, cultural ecology, neuroscience, enactive education, gender equality, contemplative practice, and more. Together, we explored how we can “relate to the world(s) at hand” and seek ways to act consciously in these critical times. 

Panel members:

• Dr David Abram
• Dr Sāgaradevī Barratt
• Stephen Batchelor
• Dr Ezequiel Di Paolo
• Dr Antonino Raffone
• Dr Hanne De Jaegher
• Dr Erin Manning
• Dr Jennifer Branlat
• Amy Cohen Varela (co-moderator)
• Dr Johanna Magin (co-moderator)

Some questions that might guide us in our exploration:

What is implied by open space? Does it imply the absence of boundaries and edges, or is it in fact inclusive of such boundaries and edges? How might it decenter the subject and disrupt our habitual understanding of the subject-object relationship? How might open space help us to interrogate and reimagine our tired narratives based on “either/or” thinking?

How does open space relate to the notion of groundlessness, which figures prominently in many of the world’s great contemplative traditions? What does groundlessness have to teach us about the condition of life on this planet, as well as about how we live and think and work together? What does groundlessness look like when brought to bear in the field of relationality?

As humans, is it possible to rest in open space without shutting down? How does open space affect us on a cellular level, a cognitive (sense-making) level, and a symbolic level? Is it possible to achieve clarity in our thinking and our actions without solidifying a particular position? How can we grow our tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity, and find within those qualities a source of epistemic robustness? How can we attend to the “unfinished business of knowing,” as Hanne De Jaegher puts it, without falling into an overdetermining attitude or a form of passive disengagement? What might we learn from summoning a “listening epistemology,” as described by contemporary enactive thinker Ezequiel Di Paolo? Can open space in fact be generative of a certain form of clarity, one which is perhaps closer to wisdom than to knowledge?

If we truly take up open space as an attitude or a way of being in the world, what sort of epistemological outlook is required of us? What sort of ethical-social understanding thereby becomes possible? Might this change the ways that we do science and philosophy, and collaborate in academia more generally? What does it mean to put an attitude of receptivity, openness, and permeability at the center of our relations in our lives and work? Could doing so transform us into more powerful practitioners of care?

Finally, beyond its epistemic value, does open space lend itself to a particular form of aesthetic expression (whether that be had in art, architecture, religion, philosophy, or otherwise)?

Inaugural Panel Discussion

Watch the panel discussion here!

On January 24th 2024 we held our annual inaugural panel discussion with interdisciplinary panelists representing philosophy, science, contemplative traditions, anthropology, and business to explore how we can “open up the space between us” and seek clarity in these critical times.

Panel members:

• Dr. Jay Garfield
• Dr. Laura Candiotto
• Dr. Perla Kaliman
• Erick Rinner
• Ven. Gendun Losang
• Dr. Joanna Cook
• Br. Pháp Linh
• Amy Cohen Varela (co-moderator)
• Dr. Johanna Magin (co-moderator)

What is the right time to begin something? Which people should one listen to? What is the most important thing for one to do?

– Leo Tolstoy, paraphrased from “The Three Questions”

In a world that is inherently precarious and inclined toward bewildering complexity, what does it mean to care for life and to know what ‘the most important thing’ is at any given moment? How do we understand the multiple valences of care (i.e. care as a form of attention, care as an expression of sentience, care as a praxis for the here and now, care as an ethical imperative, care as a mode of moral reasoning, care as a form of relatedness…)? How can the work we do at MLE – rooted as it is in the enactive perspective – help us to both critically reflect on caring and apprehend it as something not separate from our very mode of being in the world? Can caring also be a deliberate practice? What might it look like in the mind and life of a scientist, a philosopher, a contemplative? Is there a care that can be as robust and radical as the other groundbreaking intellectual traditions to which we are indebted?

In 2023 we will attempt to unpack – playfully, enactively – the notion of care, in not just its theoretical guise, but as a form of ethical know-how and ecological imperative.

Inaugural Panel Discussion

WATCH THE discussion now!

“Standing at the Edge” will investigate the edges between established disciplines as well as between the human mind and embodied experience.

How do we “stand at the edge” in a way that is productive and expansive, without falling into an abyss of despair or a blind attachment to outcome?

What potential is there in the “edge states” as we experience them, both in our individual minds and bodies and in the collective body of society?

Is this time in history a particularly “edgy” time, or have we always been walking along some horizon of disintegration and becoming?

What do the edges between different disciplinary perspectives reveal to us about emerging fields of knowledge, such as contemplative science, embodied cognition, and neurophenomenology? 

Through interdisciplinary dialogues and other thought-provoking events, we will explore how to ‘stand at the edge’ from a variety of perspectives. Ultimately, we will be exploring our capacity for resilience and flourishing through our willingness to encounter the edges of human experience and the edges between different modes of knowing.

Inaugural Panel Discussion

Watch the discussion now!

In 2021 we were paying tribute to two anniversaries: the 20^th of Francisco’s passing in 2001 and the 30^th of the publication of The Embodied Mind. Hence the overall title of our programme series: Embodiment and Enaction – Varela & Friends 20/30.

We used these symbolic landmarks to re-examine the work of one of our Mind & Life founders along with those friends who inspired him and collaborated with him in developing a novel vision of life, mind and how they are articulated. When The Embodied Mind was written and published the sciences of mind were coming to an understanding of mind that was not bound to brain structures and function. The body was coming back into the picture. The book is a milestone in the embracing of embodied cognition – of mind and cognition as being anchored in the body and situated in a context, a world of culture that both precedes mind and is constituted by it. It is also in this work that the authors unfold the alternative view of mind that follows from taking embodiment seriously – enaction.

Since The Embodied Mind, this novel understanding has given rise to a wealth of research in the sciences of mind that has had profound theoretical, experimental and practical effects on the world. Thus, we offered our 2021 programme, Embodiment and Enaction: Varela & Friends 20/30 to be an occasion not only to look at the roots and genealogy of embodied, enactive mind, but also to look beyond it, to explore the contemporary work of the scientists, social scientists, philosophers, educators and artists who have continued to lay this path down in walking in their own singular ways.

Book: The Embodied Mind

The book The Embodied Mind is a milestone in the embracing of embodied cognition – of mind and cognition as being anchored in the body and situated in a context, a world of culture that both precedes mind and is constituted by it. It is also in this work that the authors unfold the alternative view of mind that follows from taking embodiment seriously – enaction.

‘Embodiment’ and ‘Enaction’ are two key terms elaborated by Francisco Varela – and by the co-authors of The Embodied Mind, Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch –  from his experience as a neurobiologist and meditator.

These concepts help us understand the intertwined nature of our thoughts and actions and how the articulation of these two components requires constant inner reflection within the deeper recesses of our minds. As we, human beings and all sentient beings on the planet, face so many challenges, it is essential to explore further how our motivations for action can be transformed in a beneficial way for all creatures on our planet. We need thinking and acting, good theories and practices, to be based on science and our inner findings.

History of Anniversaries

Mind & Life has celebrated the life and work of neurobiologist and cognitive scientist and Mind & Life founder Francisco Varela with several events, including a tribute meeting with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala in 2002 (Dialogue X, ‘The Nature of Matter, the Nature of Life’) and a Summer Research Institute tribute on the 10^th anniversary of his passing in 2011. His work was also paid tribute to in numerous homage conferences over the world, including major events in Paris, France, where he lived and worked: École Polytechnique in 2003 and Sorbonne 2004.

The Embodied Mind was celebrated notably on its 20 years anniversary in 2011 during a summer school in San Sebastián, Spain.

Life and Work of Francisco Varela

Aim of the lecture series

The goal of the ‘Ouroboros Seminars’ is to create an online research and discussion group centred around the work of Francisco Varela. The main activities of the group consists in reading, presenting, and discussing Francisco’s research spanning different time periods and different topics. 

Motivation

Francisco Varela was an extremely prolific and creative thinker whose interests encompassed many disciplines, ranging from biology and cognitive neuroscience to phenomenology and wisdom traditions. However, due to his untimely death, the many strands of his life and thought have never been integrated into a coherent, unified whole. This is unfortunate, as it has often led to some of his ideas being overlooked, misunderstood, or even distorted. The activities of the group will be geared towards achieving a better understanding of the various dimensions and implications of Francisco’s work, and discussing how they could be creatively explored and developed further in contemporary philosophical and scientific discussions. 

Format

• The group meetings were held online (on Zoom). They took place bi-weekly (in the first and the third Wednesday of each month), and covered 12 pre-selected papers.
• At each session, a 20-to-40-minute presentation of the selected paper was followed by a 60-minute discussion.
• Each paper was presented by an expert in the field under scrutiny, preferably by one of Francisco’s friends, colleagues, or collaborators.
• The meetings were live-streamed and uploaded on YouTube so that they may attract wider audience and instigate further discussion.

Discord channel

If you would like to join the Discord channel which has been created for further discussions and questions in the context of the ‘Ouroboros Seminars 2021’, please send an email to metanoia.ouroboros@gmail.com.

Time frame

March – December 2021; starting time: 18:00 CEST (duration: 90-120 mins).

Organiser

Sebastjan Vörös (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts), Metanoia (Slovenia).

Overview: dates

Season 1

DATE	TOPIC / TEXTS	SPEAKER
March 17, 2021(18:00 CET)	Varela, “A Calculus of Self-Reference” (1975) and Varela & Goguen, “The Arithmetic of Closure” (1978) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Louis Kauffman
April 7, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Varela, “Not One, Not Two” (1976) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Evan Thompson
April 21, 2021(10:00 CEST)	Varela, “Autonomy and Autopoiesis” (1981) and Varela, “Steps to a Cybernetics of Autonomy” (1986) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Tom Froese
May 5, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Varela, Palacios, Thompson, “Ways of coloring: Comparative color vision as a case study for cognitive science” (1992) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Adrian Palacios
May 19, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Varela, “Organism: A Meshwork of Selfless Selves” (1991) and Varela, “Patterns of Life: Intertwining Identity and Cognition” (1997) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Ezequiel Di Paolo
June 2, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Varela, “Whence Perceptual Meaning – A Cartography of Current Ideas” (1992) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Mog Stapleton
June 16, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Varela, “A Cognitive view of immune system” (1994) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Hugues Bersini

Season 2

DATE	TOPIC / TEXTS	SPEAKER
September 1, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Varela, “Neurophenomenology. A Methodological Remedy for the Hard Problem” (1996) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Antoine Lutz
September 15, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Varela, “The Phenomenology of Sunyata. I” (1998) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Michel Bitbol
October 6, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Varela, Depraz, Vermersch, “The Gesture of Awareness. An account of its structural dynamics” (1999) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Claire Petitmengin
October 20, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Varela, Weber, “Life after Kant: Natural purposes and the autopoietic foundations of biological individuality” (2002) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Andreas Weber
November 3, 2021(18:00 CET)	Varela, Depraz – “Steps to a Science of Inter-being: Unfolding the Dharma Implicit in Modern Science” (2000) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Hanne De Jaegher
November 17, 2021(18:00 CET)	Varela, Depraz, “At the Source of Time. Valence and the constitutional dynamics of affect” (2005) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture and read the summary written by Metanoia.	Natalie Depraz
December 1, 2021(18:00 CET)	Final Session: Varela, “Intimate Distances – Fragments for a Phenomenology of Organ Transplantation” (2001) Click here to watch the recording of the lecture.	Amy Cohen Varela

The webinar series: ‘Francisco & Friends: an Embodiment of Relationship’

In 2021 Mind & Life Europe paid tribute to two anniversaries: the 20th of Francisco’s passing in 2001 and the 30th of the publication of The Embodied Mind. Hence the overall title of our programme is ‘Embodiment and Enaction – Varela & Friends 20/30’.

On May 28th, 2001, our dear friend, co-founder of Mind & Life, Francisco Varela passed away. In June 2021 we launched a new webinar series within the overall programme, spanning throughout the rest of the year, titled “Francisco & Friends: an Embodiment of Relationship”. In this series Francisco’s friends, colleagues and dialogue partners share their personal experiences and insights working with him, and where their special relationship led them in their life and work. We started this series with two special minds, great friends of Francisco, The Dalai Lama (June 9), and Evan Thompson (June 14).

In autumn 2021 we continued the series with more great friends, Jon Kabat-Zinn (September 9), Roshi Joan Halifax (September 23), Antoine Lutz and Jean-Philippe Lachaux (October 13), Amy Cohen Varela (November 10), Wolf Singer (November 25) and Valérie Bonnardel (December 9).

About the series of webinars: in the context of our celebratory year, we center the contributions to this webinar series on the themes of friendship and relationship linked with Francisco Varela, and on the life and influence of the book he wrote with Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch, The Embodied Mind, in which the concept of enaction is introduced.

• Title: ‘Francisco & Friends: an Embodiment of Relationship’.
• Dates and speakers: click here to find an overview.
• Access: click here to watch the series so far.

>> Back to: Varela 20/30.

Themes & Questions

Each webinar of the ‘Francisco & Friends’ series is dedicated to a particular theme, related to a question. The themes cover the following topics:

• Relationships to Francisco and his work: We are particularly interested in the ethical dimension, in the transformative aspect of relationship, and in how interaction (what Francisco used to call ‘rubbing’) may give rise to moments of insight, and to experiences that are so particularly striking that they cause a lasting change in us, deeply shaping ourselves and our paths.
• Novel research programmes set in motion at the founding of Mind & Life
• Enaction: Enaction is an approach to living and knowing that is based on relationship, and in this sense, we feel it can act as a ‘teacher’ for us at Mind & Life Europe, helping us to align what we do with how we do it. Here the ethical dimension of the bond, the responsibility yoked to all friendship, is fully in play. Enaction is pertinent for our ‘self-regulation’ as an organisation, how we engage with one another and with the world, for how we envision our life as a community, and also for how we envisage our science, discern our ‘content’ and choose the paths that are useful for us to pursue. The Embodied Mind is the groundbreaking book where the enactive approach is introduced and unfolded, and we would like to celebrate its 30th birthday in the ‘Francisco and Friends’ webinar series.
• Relationship of spirituality and science

>> Back to: Varela 20/30.

Dates & Overview

Previous Events 

DATE	QUESTION / THEME	FRIEND
June 15, 2022(18:00 CEST)	The highs and lows of gamma oscillations: what neuronal synchronization tells us about the brain Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Sergio Neuenschwander
May 11, 2022(18:00 CEST)	The Secret Sauce of Mind and Life: The Entrepreneur (Adam), the Contemplative (the Dalai Lama) and the Academic (Francisco) Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Adam Engle
May 4, 2022(18:00 CEST)	Francisco: In Love with the World Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Richard Davidson
April 20, 2022(16:00 CEST)	Francisco, Integrating Life, Work, and Dharma Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Tsokyni Rinpoche
February 23, 2022(18:00 CET)	The Little Black Dog and Other Tales – Travels with Francisco and Science in the Foothills of the Himalayas. Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Clifford Saron
December 9, 2021(18:00 CET)	Why is color still a good case study of embodied cognition and enaction? Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Valérie Bonnardel
November 25, 2021(18:00 CET)	Why would a neurobiologist become interested in Buddhist Philosophy? Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Wolf Singer
November 10, 2021(18:00 CET)	Mind & Life – Whence a Beautiful Idea? Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Amy Cohen Varela
October 13, 2021(18:00 CEST)	The Francisco Varela experience – are you experienced? Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Antoine Lutz and Jean-Philippe Lachaux
September 23, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Continuous Groundlessness, Continuous Discovery – Meeting Francisco in Practice Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Roshi Joan Halifax
September 9, 2021(18:00 CEST)	Where is the Ground? Reminiscences on Early Conversations with Francisco on the Gesture of Awareness, Embodiment, and MBSR Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Jon Kabat-Zinn
June 14, 2021(18:00 CEST)	What is Enaction? A New Relationship Between Our Mind and the World Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	Evan Thompson
June 9, 2021(05:30 CEST)	Dialogue for a Better World – Remembering Francisco Varela Click here to watch the recording on the MLE YouTube channel.	The Dalai Lama

Please note: all ‘Francisco & Friends’ webinars were live-streamed on our MLE YouTube channel and are accessible there afterwards.

>> Back to: Varela 20/30.

Previous events in 2022

Live webinar with Sergio Neuenschwander

Theme: The highs and lows of gamma oscillations: what neuronal synchronization tells us about the brain

Sergio Neuneschwander writes: “A central tenet of Francisco Varela’s work is that the brain is a closed system. When I arrived in Paris in 1989, Francisco encouraged me to focus on gamma oscillations as a way to study interactions among neuronal populations instead of analyzing single-cell responses. Since then, gamma synchronization has become an all-in-one mechanism responsible for encoding, forming neuronal representations, and controlling the flow of information in the brain. Several experimental studies in awake monkeys and humans have found evidence that gamma plays a key role in cognitive functions such as perceptual binding, attention, and memory. However, many other studies have failed to do so. In my presentation, I will discuss the ups and downs of the neuronal synchronization hypothesis, which, while certainly not solving the problem of perceptual binding, helped us to better understand the mechanisms of integration in the brain.”

Date, time and public access

This webinar with Sergio Neuenschwander took place at 18:00 CEST on June 15th over Zoom. It was live-streamed on the MLE YouTube channel.

Click here to watch the recording!

About Sergio Neuenschwander

Sergio Neuenschwander is a neuroscientist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil, and heads the Vislab research group. Sergio obtained a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris, under the direction of Dr. Francisco J. Varela, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, under the direction of Prof. Wolf Singer. He was a Principal Investigator at the Max-Planck Institute (1998-2010) and has experience in multi-electrode recording of the retina and cortex and behavioral studies in non-human primates focused on visual perception mechanisms and neuronal oscillation dynamics. He has collaborated with Rivane Neuenschwander on various films, including Lovelettering 2002, Sunday 2010, and Enredo 2016; and teaches Neurocinema to undergraduates.

Live webinar with R. Adam Engle with French Interpretation

Theme: ‘The Secret Sauce of Mind and Life: The Entrepreneur (Adam), the Contemplative (the Dalai Lama) and the Academic (Francisco)’
 

Adam Engle, who co-founded and led Mind and Life for 25 years as Chair and CEO, has held a singular perspective on the enduring value of these dialogues for the Western mind and heart. A social activist at the core, he came to see these dialogues as a skillful means to shift the public perception of contemplative practice from an esoteric religious tradition to a form of mental and emotional fitness training. From the beginning, he keenly understood the cardinal role that Francisco Varela played in envisioning the collaboration between modern science and the contemplative world, and shaping and structuring the early dialogues. Through a combination of Francisco’s deep personal connection with the Dalai Lama and his embodiment of interdisciplinarity, as well as Adam’s courageous and lifelong investment in an ostensibly risky venture, these dialogues evolved from a mere idea in a couple of friends’ minds to the unique meeting ground that they are today between science and contemplative wisdom. 

In this talk, Adam offers us stories and perspectives that give a rare bird’s-eye view of the evolution of Mind & Life and the salience of this interdisciplinary work as it continues today. 

Date, time and public access

This webinar with Adam Engle took place on May 11th at 18:00 CEST over Zoom. It was also live-streamed on the MLE YouTube channel.

Watch the recording here!

About R. Adam Engle

R. Adam Engle, B.A.; J.D.; M.B.A.; co-founded, and led the Mind and Life institute for 25 years as Chair and CEO before retiring in 2012. Previously, and during the early phases of Mind and Life, he worked as an anti-war lawyer during the Vietnam War; was general counsel of GTE Iran in Tehran in the mid 1970s; and founded and led other business and nonprofit organizations, both in the United States and internationally.  He holds a BA in economics from the University of Colorado (1964);  a JD from the Harvard Law School (1967); and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of business (1986).

Live webinar with Richard Davidson (May 4th, 2022)

Theme: ‘Franciso: In Love with the World’ 

Reflecting on Francisco’s singular influence on Richie as a person and a scientist, Amy and Richie consider the broader questions of Richie’s own personal and scientific evolution throughout his years of working in “contemplative science,” within and outside of the Mind & Life family. Amy offers the following guideposts for their conversation:

– What were the ideas, concepts, or discoveries that were turning points for Richie in his thinking?

– How does he experience the imbrication of experimental work in the lab and on the cushion?

– What do the teachings of people like His Holiness the Dalai Lama and others mean for his work as a scientist?

This dialogue provides an intimate window on the life and work of one of the world’s great contemplative scientists today, and should be of interest to anyone curious about the development of the field and the spirit of the work of people like Francisco and Richie. 

Date, time and public access

This webinar with Dr. Richard Davidson took place on May 4th at 18:00 CEST over Zoom. It was also live-streamed on the MLE YouTube channel.

Watch the recording now on our YouTube channel!

About Richie Davidson

Dr. Richard Davidson is the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he has been a faculty member since 1984. Dr. Davidson is also the Founder of Healthy Minds Innovations, which translates science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Psychology, Psychopathology & Psychophysiology with a minor focus in Behavioral Neurology and Neuroanatomy; and a B.S., in Psychology from New York University.

Live webinar with Tsokyni Rinpoche (April 20th, 2022)

Theme: ‘Francisco: Integrating Life, Work, and Dharma’ 

Tsoknyi Rinpoche admired Francisco’s contribution to Mind & Life and enjoyed learning about his pioneering work as a scientist of unusual brilliance, but also his warmth and openness as a long-term dharma practitioner. Rinpoche once said: “Human beings like Francisco help us all remember something precious about how to live life fully, with a clear mind and an open heart.” One quality Rinpoche particularly appreciated was Francisco’s insights into the interconnections across, and at times within, various disciplines that are typically separated.

Please join us for this intimate moment of sharing with Rinpoche, a beloved Buddhist meditation teacher, author, and member of Mind & Life Europe.

Date, time and public access

This webinar with Tsokyni Rinpoche took place on April 20th at 4pm CEST. It was live-streamed on the MLE YouTube channel.

Click here to watch the recording!

About Tsokyni Rinpoche

For over 25 years Tsoknyi Rinpoche has been teaching students worldwide about the innermost nature of mind in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Born into a family respected for its spiritual attainments, he was identified while still a small child as the third Tsoknyi Rinpoche and given the special education and upbringing of a tulku, or reincarnate lama. His teachers include some of the most renowned masters of Tibet. Widely recognized as an outstanding meditation teacher, he is the author of three books: Open Heart Open Mind, Carefree Dignity, and Fearless Simplicity. Tsoknyi Rinpoche teaches worldwide at more than 50 retreat centers for monks and nuns who follow his spiritual direction. His most current humanitarian project is completing a large school for impoverished young girls in Nepal with both Western and traditional buddhist educational curriculums.
 

Live webinar with Clifford Saron (February 23, 2022) with French Interpretation

Theme: ‘The Little Black Dog and Other Tales – Travels with Francisco and Science in the Foothills of the Himalayas’ 

With heartfelt remembrance and the curiosity of a wilderness explorer, Cliff walked us through stories, insights, and anecdotes from some of the early encounters between the Dalai Lama and Western neuroscientists, Francisco Varela chief among them. Much more than a talk, Cliff offered us an immersive experience, replete with his own photographs from those early days that show the singular context out of which the original Mind & Life dialogues arose. In particular, he reflected upon Francisco’s single-minded commitment to a certain ‘totality’ or truth when meeting with the Dalai Lama; the extraordinary cross-fertilization that was made possible between Western science and Tibetan Buddhism through these dialogues; and the intimate links between his own long career in neuroscience and the very personal insights gleaned from those early dialogues. It was at once a story of friendship and collaboration and a profound illustration of the mutual ‘rubbing’ that can occur between different cultures and different methodologies for studying the human mind.

Date, time and public access

This webinar with Dr. Clifford Saron took place on February 23, 2022 at 6pm CET and was live-streamed to the public on the MLE YouTube channel.

Watch the recording here!

Be part of the story and join the dialogue! 

About Clifford Saron

Dr. Clifford Saron is a Research Scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain and MIND Institute at the University of California at Davis. He received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1999. Dr. Saron has had a long-standing interest in the effects of contemplative practice on physiology and behavior. In the early 1990s, in collaboration with Francisco Varela, Alan Wallace, Richie Davidson and others he conducted field research investigating Tibetan Buddhist mind training under the auspices of the Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama. A faculty member at Mind and Life Summer Research Institutes in the US and Europe and a former member of the Mind and Life Institute Steering and Research Councils, he received the inaugural Mind and Life Service Award in 2018. Dr. Saron directs the Shamatha Project, a multidisciplinary longitudinal investigation of the effects of intensive meditation on physiological and psychological processes central to well-being. In 2012, Dr. Saron and his research team were awarded the inaugural Templeton Prize Research Grant in honor of H.H. the Dalai Lama. Currently his research team is investigating how meditation experience may mitigate the effects of the pandemic on chronic stress and cellular aging, as well as examining consequences of compassion vs. mindfulness training on engagement with suffering. His other research area focuses on sensory processing in children with autism spectrum disorders to better understand how these children experience their everyday sensory environments.

Previous Events in 2021

Live webinar with the Dalai Lama (June 9, 2021)

Theme: ‘Dialogue for a Better World – Remembering Francisco Varela’

The Dalai Lama developed and maintained a very special relationship with Francisco, leading to the creation of Mind & Life and its field-defining interdisciplinary work at the intersections of sciences and contemplative practice. Pier Luigi Luisi, Amy Cohen Varela and Elena Antonova will enter into a shared space of remembering Francisco and of dialogue on friendship and its effects on the world with the Dalai Lama.

We are embedded in a habitat of relationships and our singular life and our life’s work are formed and indeed, sometimes transformed by them. Francisco had an extraordinary openness to relationships, their comforts and their risks. He was both single-pointed and gregarious, concentrated and porous. Each stage of his life was marked by significant encounters with others who inspired and shaped his thinking. Mind & Life sprouted from a friendship, a strong connection that flowered into a scientific project.

Of course, both Francisco Varela and the Dalai Lama came to the first meeting (1987) with their motivations: Francisco had a vision of meditators as exemplary experts of mind, his object of study, and the Dalai Lama had a well-known interest for Western science, and this interest might have had a wider aspect of preserving and disseminating the Tibetan Buddhist heritage, and an even wider goal of promoting an ethics of common humanity. Although these ideas have been paramount to developing the research programs of our organisation, what is key to the long lifespan of the organization are the relationships, the friendships that spawned it and gradually spread to connect a large community of scientists and scholars.

Date and time

Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 05:30am CEST (11:30pm EST).

Public access

The webinar with the Dalai Lama was live-streamed on the MLE YouTube channel. Click here to watch the recording.

Be part of the story and join the dialogue!

>> Back to: Varela 20/30.

Live webinar with Evan Thompson (June 14, 2021)

Theme: ‘What is Enaction? A New Relationship Between Our Mind and the World’

We dedicated this webinar to a concept forged by Francisco to think about mind, called enaction. Francisco Varela was a rigorous experimental neuroscientist who did not think that mind could be reduced to brain function. In ‘The Embodied Mind’ he and Evan Thompson developed the concept of enaction as a way to think about mind and human experience as they are embedded in the body (not just the brain!) and engaged with the world.

Enaction, according to Francisco, is an epistemology of human experience and engagement. This is a way of thinking about human cognition that not only takes into account the notion of interdependence but makes human connection the very ground from which we think and act. Thinking about cognition from the enactive perspective has great ethical implications.

Date, time and public access

This webinar with Evan Thompson took place on June 14, 2021 at 6pm CEST and was live-streamed to the public on the MLE YouTube channel. Click here to watch the recording.

Be part of the story and join the dialogue!

About Evan Thompson

Evan Thompson is a writer and professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He works on the nature of the mind, the self, and human experience. His work combines cognitive science, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Asian philosophical traditions. He is the author of Why I Am Not a Buddhist (Yale University Press, 2020); Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy (Columbia University Press, 2015); Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind (Harvard University Press, 2007); and Colour Vision: A Study in Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Perception (Routledge Press, 1995). He is the co-author, with Francisco J. Varela and Eleanor Rosch, of The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience (MIT Press, 1991, revised edition 2016). Evan is an Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Evan received his A.B. from Amherst College in 1983 in Asian Studies and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto in 1990. He was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto from 2005 to 2013, and held a Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Science and the Embodied Mind at York University from 2002 to 2005. In 2014, he was the Numata Invited Visiting Professor at the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He has also held invited visiting appointments at the Faculty of Philosophy, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, the Ecole Polytechnique (Paris), the Center for Subjectivity Research at the University of Copenhagen, and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

In 2021, Evan served as the President of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association. He has co-directed, with Christian Coseru and Jay Garfield, two National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institutes: Self-Knowledge in Eastern and Western Philosophies (2018) and Investigating Consciousness: Buddhist and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives (2012). Evan also served for many years on planning committees of the Mind and Life Institute.

>> Back to: Varela 20/30.

Live webinar with Jon Kabat-Zinn (September 9, 2021)

Theme: ‘Where is the Ground? Reminiscences on Early Conversations with Francisco on the Gesture of Awareness, Embodiment, and MBSR’

Jon Kabat-Zinn shared his experiences of Francisco Varela, and his read on the enormity of Francisco’s influence. He also talked about The Embodied Mind and how deeply struck (and supported) he felt by it, and how it came about that he wrote the Foreword to the 2nd edition. The conversation touched the key concepts or emotions he experienced collaborating with Francisco, as well as the long-lasting effects of their relationship, both personally and on his work.

The talk was a conversation with MLE’s Board chair, Amy Cohen Varela (appr. 40 mins) plus a Q&A with the online participants (appr. 40 mins).

Date and time

Thursday, September 9, 2021 at 6pm CEST.

Public access

The webinar was live-streamed on our MLE YouTube channel, you can watch the recording here.

Be part of the story and join the dialogue!

About Jon Kabat-Zinn

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine emeritus at UMass Medical School, where he founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (in 1995), and its world-renown Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic (in 1979). He is the author of 14 books. His work has contributed to a growing world-wide movement of mindfulness within medicine, psychology, health care, neuroscience, schools, higher education, business, social justice, criminal justice, prisons, the law, technology, government, and professional sports. Pre and post Covid-19, he teaches and lectures around the world in person. During the pandemic, in addition to many Zoom presentations for various professional groups, he offered 13 straight weeks of guided meditations every weekday, followed by dialoguing with the participants, 66 episodes in toto, from March 25 through June 26, 2020. These are available on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2efOoRF_pw

Live webinar with Roshi Joan Halifax (September 23) – with French interpretation (avec traduction en français)

Theme: ‘Continuous Groundlessness, Continuous Discovery: Meeting Francisco in Practice’

Roshi Joan Halifax, a leading Zen practitioner, had a really special friendship with Francisco Varela, they “met in practice”. The common journey of understanding ‘groundlessness’ led to great discoveries for both.

A conversation between Roshi and another dear friend of MLE (appr. 40 mins) plus a Q&A with the online participants (appr. 40 mins).

Date and time

Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 6pm CEST.

Public access

The webinar was live streamed on our MLE YouTube channel, you can watch the recording here.

Be part of the story and join the dialogue!

About Roshi Joan Halifax

Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD, is a Buddhist teacher, anthropologist and author. She is co-founder of the Mind & Life Institute, founded the Ojai Foundation, the Prajna Mountain Buddhist Order, is Abbot and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center, and co-founder of the Zen Peacemaker Order. She is a pioneer in the end-of-life care field, and is well known internationally for her work in engaged Buddhism. She was an Honorary Research Fellow at Harvard University and a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Library of Congress.

Live webinar with Antoine Lutz and Jean-Philippe Lachaux (October 13)

Theme: ‘The Francisco Varela experience – are you experienced?’

This webinar with Antoine Lutz and Jean-Philippe Lachaux was a dialogue between two doctoral students of Francisco (40 mins) followed by a live Q&A (40 mins) with online participants.

Date, Time and Public access

This webinar took place on October 13 at 6pm CEST and was live streamed on our MLE YouTube channel. Click here to watch the recording.

About Antoine Lutz

Dr. Antoine Lutz is currently a director of research at the French Medical Research Institute (INSERM) in the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CNRL) where he co-leads the Experiential Neuroscience and Mental Training Team (EDUWELL). After a Master degree in engineering and a BA in philosophy at the Sorbonne under the direction of Natalie Depraz,  he did his PhD in cognitive neurosciences in Paris, France, with Francisco Varela where he applied for the first time his neurophenomenology program to study the neural correlates of attention and perception. Since 1998, he has studied meditation with various teachers including Mingyur Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Matthieu Ricard and Joseph Goldstein.

During his postdoctoral work with Richard Davidson, at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, he studied using neuroimaging techniques meditation practices such as mindfulness or compassion meditations in expert meditators and in novices who learnt to meditate using the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR). In 2008, Richard Davidson and him were awarded a NIH-NCCAM grant to fund in Madison the first American Center of Excellence on Research dedicated to neurophysiological study of meditation practices. After working for ten years in the US as a research scientist, he joined the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center in France in January 2013. His current research group focuses on the neurophenomenology of mindfulness and compassion meditations and on the impact of these practices on consciousness, attention and emotion regulations, and pain perception as measured by cognitive, affective and social neuroimaging paradigms using EEG, MEG, intra-cortical EEG, and fMRI.  This research is currently funded by a European ERC consolidator grant (Brain&Mindfulness, 2014-2021).

He is also currently collaborating to a European research consortium investigating the impacts of meditation practices on ageing and well-being as measured by brain imaging (PET, IRMf, DTI, EEG), biomarkers of ageing, and psycho-affective and cognitive behavioural measures (Meditageing, H2020, 2016-2021, study coordinated by Gaël Chételat, INSERM Caen, https://silversantestudy.fr). He recently started a collaboration investigating the neurocomputational principles of meditation (ANR MindMadeClear, coordinated by Hugues Mounier, CNRS).

About Jean-Philippe Lachaux

Dr. Jean-Philippe Lachaux leads the EDUWELL team with Antoine Lutz at the Neuroscience Research Center of Lyon, France. He obtained his PhD in 1997 under the supervision of Francisco Varela, showing that high-frequency neural activity picked up by intracranial EEG (iEEG) reveals neural activation and deactivation with millimetric and millisecond precision in the human brain. Since then, he has used that appraoch extensively to reveal the large-scale dynamics of major cognitive functions, including attention, language and memory. He turned that technique into the first system to map and monitor human cognitive networks in real-time and ecological conditions (BrainTV). More recently, he has developed the first French progam to teach attention in schools (ATOLE), with tens of thousands children now learning nationwide.  

Live webinar with Amy Cohen Varela (November 10)

Theme: ‘Mind & Life whence a Beautiful Idea?’

Amy Cohen Varela discussed the origins of Mind & Life, Francisco Varela’s vision, and how she and colleagues have experienced Francisco’s work on cardinal themes such as embodiment, enaction, neurophenomenology, and more. This event consisted of a dialogue between Amy and Association member Leslie de Galbert (40 mins) followed by a live Q&A (40 mins). 

Date, time and public access

This webinar took place on November 10 and was live-streamed on the MLE YouTube channel. Click here to watch the recording!

About Amy Cohen Varela

Amy Cohen Varela is the Chairperson of the Mind & Life Europe Board and has been involved with Mind & Life since its inception. She is also a clinical psychologist specialized in psychodynamic therapy and philosophy. Amy studied comparative literature at Brown and Columbia universities before moving to Paris in the early 1980s, where she received her degree in clinical psychology (with a specialty in psychodynamic theory and practice) at the University of Paris 7, and in parallel she completed the psychoanalytic training.

Live webinar with Wolf Singer, November 25, 2021 (avec une traduction simultanée vers le français)

Theme: ‘Why would a neurobiologist become interested in Buddhist Philosophy?’

In a very rich talk, neurobiologist Wolf Singer will talk about his formative experiences and dialogues with Francisco Varela and some of the influences Francisco had on his thinking and his relationship to Buddhist philosophy. He will also talk about how he joined Mind & Life and how this special community of researchers, philosophers, and contemplatives influenced his life and work. 

Date, time and public access

This webinar with Wolf Singer took place on November 10 and and was live-streamed on the MLE YouTube channel. Click here to watch the recording!

About Wolf Singer

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolf Singer studied Medicine in Munich and Paris, obtained his MD from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, and his PhD from the Technical University in Munich. He is Director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt and Founding Director both of the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and of the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in cooperation with Max Planck Society. His research focuses on the neuronal substrate of higher cognitive functions, in particular on the question of how the distributed sub-processes in the brain are coordinated and bound together in order to give rise to coherent perception and action.

Live webinar with Valérie Bonnardel, December 9, 2021 (avec une traduction simultanée en français)

Theme: ‘Why is color still a good case study of embodied cognition and enaction?’

This webinar with Valérie Bonnardel took place on December 9 and consisted of a presentation (40 mins) followed by a live Q&A (40 mins) with online participants. 

Public access

This event was live-streamed on the MLE YouTube channel. Click here to watch the recording!

About Valérie Bonnardel

Valérie Bonnardel is a reader in Experimental Psychology at the University of Winchester (UK). She obtained her PhD supervised by Francisco Varela at the Institute of Neuroscience, University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. Since then, her research has focused on colour sciences in its various aspects including sensation, perception, cognition with a particular interest in inter-individual and cross-cultural differences. Valérie held a research chair at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad (India), she was also the chair of the Colour Group Great Britain and is a member of the Association Internationale de la Couleur (AIC) executive committee.   Influenced by the work of Francisco Varela, since 2016 she has been teaching a module on Embodied Cognition and Contemplative Practice studies to psychology students. 

Varela International Symposium

• Title: Varela International Symposium – An Exploration of Uncertainty and Emergence in Self and Society
• Cooperation partner: Upaya Institute and Zen Center (USA), Nirakara (Spain), Association pour le Développement de la Mindfulness (France/Switzerland/Belgium).
• Type of event: conference (online). Please click here for more information on registration and translation.
• Date/s: May 14-16, 2021.
• About the event: The Varela International Symposium brings together a remarkable faculty to explore cutting edge areas of science, philosophy, and contemplative practices, such as Buddhism. Our world is rapidly shifting, with little that seems certain or predictable. The forces that both reflect and have influenced this tipping point, range from a viral pandemic to world-wide protests, from the climate catastrophe to economic instability. These global shifts have made it increasingly apparent that unique personal and social transformations emerge from the changing, dynamic interactions within the complex systems of our own brains and bodies, and within our equally complex societies and our environment. In the program of 2021 – co-organised with Mind & Life Europe, Nirakara and L’ADM – we had the opportunity to explore with leading scientists and scholars insights regarding the nature and consequences of uncertain emergent phenomena in complex systems, and what possibilities emergence creates for bringing forth a more equitable, just, and caring world.
• Language: English. All presentations were translated into Spanish and French.
• More information:  Varela International Symposium.

Les Colloques Cerisy – Tribute Day

• Title: “Francisco Varela, a Thinker for Our Time” (Francisco Varela, une pensée actuelle) – A Tribute Day for the 20th anniversary of his passing in 2001
• Cooperation partner: Les Colloques Cerisy (France).
• Type of event: conference (online). Click here to see the program.
• Recordings: click here to watch all recordings of the Tribute Day on our MLE YouTube channel.
• Date/s: May 20, 2021.
• Language: French and English (depending on the particular presentation; more information will follow soon).
• Registration: click here to register (registration in French and English language).
• About the event – Tribute Day (May 2021): It all started with the project of organizing a week-long Conference dedicated to Francisco Varela?s scientific work, philosophical thought and Buddhist anchorage at Cerisy-la-salle, a longstanding famous place in Normandy, France, for cultural international events, along with artists? performances in the evenings. All this being meant to attest to the genuine «enaction» (his innovative concept) of his thought and to the true embodiment of his words. This Conference was to take place in July, 2020, but the life of the planet decided otherwise: we adapted – faithful to Francisco?s «natural drift» (a remarkable expression in The Embodied Mind, 1991, the 30th anniversary of which we also celebrate this year) – and the Conference was postponed to 19-25 May, 2021, so near to the very date of his passing, on the 28th of May, that it seemed impossible to postpone again? But yet? The Tribute Day took place on the 20th of May 2021 as a visio-event honoring Francisco’s memory and offering an appetizer or kick-off (according to the metaphor you prefer) to the anew postponed Conference, which will take place hopefully entirely «in flesh and blood» (Husserl’s expression) this time between 13-19 August, 2022. During this first Tribute Day, we wanted to embody Francisco’s thought and his international intellectual vibrancy by giving voice to some persons who knew him well as friends, scientific and philosophical collaborators, Buddhist meditators, and by projecting short videos showing some of the most important life-contexts of his work and scientific interpersonal interactions. And to begin with, his presence at Cerisy at various moments of his career, namely first for the famous Conference L’auto-organisation: de la physique au politique (1981): a seminal research program, which Francisco emblematized so genuinely.
• Organization: Natalie Depraz, Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau; Scientific Committee: Michel Bitbol, Amy Cohen Varela, Natalie Depraz, Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau, Claire Petitmengin, Jean Petitot.
• Sponsored by: Équipe de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les aires culturelles (ERIAC) – EA 4705 [Université de Rouen Normandie], Archives Husserl – UMR 8547 [CNRS // ENS], Laboratoire Perception Représentations Image Son Musique (PRISM) – UMR 7061 [CNRS // Aix-Marseille Université], Mind & Life Europe
• More information: Les Colloques Cerisy – 2021.

Program: Tribute Day (May 20, 2021)

Opening of the Day / Ouverture de la journée (10:00 – 10:10)

Amy Cohen-Varela, Natalie Depraz, Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau

I. Francisco Varela in Cerisy / Francisco Varela à Cerisy (10:10 – 11:20)

TIME	THEME	PRESENTER/S	TYPE
10:10-10:25	Francisco’s presence in 1981 and 1990: Jean-Pierre Dupuy’s testimony (text read) and a video showing Francisco discussing Castoriadis’ ideas on autonomyles présences de Francisco au Colloque sur L’auto-organisation en 1981 et au Colloque Castoriadis en 1990: témoignage de Jean-Pierre Dupuy (texte lu) et vidéo de Francisco Varela sur Castoriadis et l’autonomie	Edith Heurgon	live(French)
10:25-10:40	Francisco Varela : living autonomy together : how interactions go beyond representations?Francisco Varela: l’autonomie à plusieurs, des interactions qui dépassent les représentations?	Pierre Livet	live(French)
10:40-11:20	Life, The Living, Autonomy, Self-organisation: dialogue with Tom Froese and Andreas WeberLa vie, le vivant, l’autonomie, l’auto-organisation : dialogue entre Tom Froese et Andreas Weber	Tom Froese, Andreas Weber	live(English)

>> SHORT BREAK / PETIT PAUSE (11:20 – 11:25)

II. Francisco Varela and buddhist meditation / Francisco Varela et la méditation bouddhiste (11:25 – 12:20)

TIME	THEME	PRESENTER/S	TYPE
11:25-11:45	Meeting FranciscoMa rencontre avec Francisco	Matthieu Ricard	pre-recorded(English)
11:45-12:05	Meditation with Francisco and Chögyam TrungpaLa méditation avec Francisco et Chögyam Trungpa	Fabrice Midal	live(French)
12:05-12:20	How to live in a world without grounds: opening the way from systemics to buddhismVivre dans un monde sans fondement: comment Francisco Varela ouvre un chemin de la systémique au bouddhisme	Alexis Lavis	live(French)
12:20-12:40	INTERMEZZO I – An enactive approach to artistic creationUne approche enactive de la création artistique	Raphaële Jeune, Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau, Nico Dockx	live(French)

>> LUNCH BREAK (12:40 – 14:10)

III. Francisco Varela in Paris: from CREA to LENA (naturalisation of phenomenology and neurophenomenology) / Francisco Varela à Paris: du CREA au LENA (naturalisation de la phénoménologie et neurophénoménologie) (14:10 – 14:50)

TIME	THEME	PRESENTER/S	TYPE
14:10-14:30	The story of a companionshipHistoire d’un compagnonnage	Jean Petitot	live(French)
14:30-14:50	The birth of the paradigm of neurophenomenologyAu LENA : la naissance du paradigme de la neurophénoménologie	Antoine Lutz	live(French)

IV. In quest of first-person lived experience: The View from Within (1999) On becoming aware (1996-2004) / En quête de l’expérience vécue en première personne (14:50 ? 15:30)

TIME	THEME	PRESENTER/S	TYPE
14:50-15:10	The discovery of the explicitation interview and the fertility of the first person methodologyLa découverte de l’entretien d’explicitation et la fécondité de la méthodologie en première personne	Claire Petitmengin	live(French)
15:10-15:30	From the immersion in Husserlian phenomenology to its enaction in first person methodsDe l’immersion dans la phénoménologie husserlienne à son enaction via les méthodes en première personne	Natalie Depraz	live(French)
15:30-15:50	INTERMEZZO II: Living together one’s educational autonomy (in films, audios and photos)Vivre ensemble son autonomie éducative (en films, photos et audios de Francisco)	Michèle Duzert	live(French)

V. Tributes in books and A book-anniversary: The Embodied Mind (1991) (15:50 – 17:05)

TIME	THEME	PRESENTER/S	TYPE
15:50-16:10	Le Cercle Créateur (Ecrits 1976-2001), Seuil, 2017.Michel Bitbol (éditeur / editor)	Michel Bitbol	live(French)
16:10-16:30	Phenomenology and the Cognitive Science: Francisco as a founding editor. A first Tribute 2003/Special Issue 2004.Francisco éditeur. Un premier Hommage (2003)/Un numéro special (2004).Natalie Depraz et Shaun Gallagher (first editors / co-éditeurs)	Natalie Depraz and Shaun Gallagher	live(English)
16:30-16:45	Ten Years of Viewing from Within. Journal of Consciousness Studies 2009.Claire Petitmengin (editor / éditrice)	Claire Petitmengin	live(French)
16:45-17:05	Thirty years after The Embodied Mind «Locating Francisco Varela?s work in the ‘4EA cognition’ paradigm»Trente ans après – L’inscription corporelle de l’esprit (1989-1991) «Situer le travail de Francisco Varela dans le paradigme de la cognition 4EA»	John Protevi	live(English)

>> TEA BREAK (17:05 – 17:35)

VI. Francisco Varela in Dharamsala: the Mind and Life Institute and the Dalai Lama / Francisco Varela à Dharamsala: l’Institut Mind and Life et le Dalaï-Lama (17:35 – 18:20)

TIME	THEME	PRESENTER/S	TYPE
17:35-17:45	Francisco with the Dalaï-Lama in Dharamsala (video)Francisco avec le Dalaï-Lama à Dharamsala (vidéo)	-/-	pre-recorded(English)
17:45-18:00	The Advantages of Wearing Multiple Hats: the Legacy of Francisco Varela in the meeting of Buddhism and Science (pre-recorded video)Les avantages qu’il y a à avoir plusieurs casquettes: l’héritage de Francisco Varela dans la rencontre entre le bouddhisme et la science (vidéo pré-enregistré)	Alan Wallace	pre-recorded(English)
18:00-18:20	The Mind and Life Institute – beginnings and new developmentsL’Institut Mind and Life: commencements et nouveaux développements	Amy Cohen Varela	live(English)

VII. Departing words / Envoi (18:20 – 19:20)

TIME	THEME	PRESENTER/S	TYPE
18:20-18:50	Forum: Francisco after FranciscoForum: Francisco après FranciscoFrançois Sebbah et Charles Lenay: Francisco at the Université de Technologie de Compiègne et après? – And after?Valérie Bonnardel: 1986-1991, Jussieu, Quai Saint Bernard, 6e étage: le laboratoire de Francisco Varela – Francisco Varela’s lab?Jean-Daniel Thumser: Reading Husserl and Varela: the dawn of a new paradigm? – Relire Husserl et Varela, l’orée d’un nouveau paradigme?	François Sebbah et Charles Lenay, Valérie Bonnardel, Jean-Daniel Thumser	live(French)
18:50-19:20	Francisco in Monte Grande and afterwards ? Franz Reichle’s triptych-film: «Monte Grande»/ «Mind and Life»/ «Cisco Pancho» (projection of extracts)À Monte Grande et après – Le triptyque de Franz Reichle: «Monte Grande»/ «Mind and Life»/ «Cisco Pancho» (projection d’extraits)*	Franz Reichle	pre-recorded(English)
19:20-tbd	Concluding words/cyber-appetizer: what’s next?Mots de conclusion/cyber-apéro: et après?	Edith Heurgon avec Amy Cohen Varela, Natalie Depraz et Ivan Magrin-Challogneau	live(French)