Collection
In Search of Meaning
![Jesus, Buddha, and the Search for Meaning](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nullc0bd3984-29dd-4402-81d7-0cc9278b4499/48153889157_217d6afa88_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=474%2C0%2C712%2C1067&w=400)
Jesus and Buddha, separated by 3,000 miles and 400 hundred years, both speak to central questions of meaning. How similar — and how different — are their perspectives and how...
![Life Will Break Your Heart](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null29ebafa8-b092-425d-aa52-a5edf2c5df1d/48153048597_a690fa35c9_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C67%2C4000%2C2252&w=400)
Kate Bowler, a young scholar of Christianity, had just written a book called Blessed, about the Christian idea that good things happen to good people, when she was diagnosed w...
![Dare to Matter](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null53d71558-1320-45b8-9c74-1c7ebac2ac3f/48152371432_d30e963804_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C176%2C1230%2C692&w=400)
We all want to make the world a better place, but with busy, demanding lives, most of us struggle with the where, when, and how. And in a world awash in need, it’s easy to giv...
![Make Your Life Better with Rituals: Crafting Meaning with Intentional Acts](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null7928d70a-0843-4f7f-b227-1ba2307381fd/48152993207_db31b1f7a5_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C7%2C1599%2C901&w=400)
How do we create a culture that brings out the best in our personal and professional lives? Rituals are powerful tools for building a culture that better aligns your values...
![Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null9e41b3d7-23de-4305-a2aa-dd8495f92018/48153015737_f8cb5b9613_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=747%2C0%2C685%2C1026&w=400)
Although death is every bit as much a part of life as birth, we pretend it isn’t there. Perhaps it’s time that changed. The soon-to-be released HBO documentary Alternate Endin...
![Making Meaning in an Era of Disconnectedness](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nulla626fe60-80e1-4b29-8270-7f2acf2d1541/48146318952_d462bb6d72_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C1600%2C901&w=400)
The dramatic rise in suicides, violence, and addiction signal a society disconnected from meaning and a social fabric fraying at its seams. With participation in organized rel...
![Transforming Traditions: New Interpreters of Ancient Wisdom](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null92698ed5-964c-4f31-8938-0a9a84905b37/48146270676_0bc24622e4_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C1599%2C901&w=400)
A church in Denver that is at once ancient and of the future. A home-based experiment in Jewish life in Brooklyn. A Washington, DC, sacred space for artists and activists. Mee...
![The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nulle2ac6c14-0d27-4c6e-a03b-2ca49620f44f/48146445867_da73611009_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C1599%2C900&w=400)
During a personal low point of loneliness and pain, David Brooks wanted to write his way to a better life. For five years, he did just that, researching and writing about peop...