Heart and Mind in Balance with Meredith James (Hybrid)

Portland Design Thinkers is excited to announce our November event: Meredith James, Heart and Mind in Balance with our friends at CHIFOO on a special day and time! This hybrid event will be on a Wednesday, register with CHIFOO for the virtual presentation.

With all of the speculation surrounding AI, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that people have navigated similar technological transformations throughout recorded history. Our era is no different, and the questions we face are the same questions that every generation has faced—how best to live in the world, reduce human suffering, and ground our activities in enduring human values.

Yet, these questions are only rightfully answered when our hearts and minds are in balance, and there is one societal domain in particular that underscores this balance: Spirituality. Within long-standing, authentic spiritual traditions, we find guiding principles that are perennially relevant and offer constancy as a counterpoint to the uncertainty of the future.

Through a Theravāda Buddhist lens, Meredith will present how spiritual wisdom can help us chart our way forward, both as designers and as citizens.

About our speaker:
Meredith James serves as an Associate Professor in the Jordan Schnitzer School of Art, Art History and Design at Portland State University. Her scholarly research is focused on design theory, and how to develop a culture of design that is more reflective, equitable, humanist, and self-aware. James has presented her work across the US and Europe, speaking in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Brighton, and Paris. Her writing can be found in Ethics in Design and Communication: Critical Perspectives, and Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History. Meredith received her MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Event is in person and online
We are in person at the Jordan Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design
5:00 - Doors open to tour the new art school building
6:00 - intros and event
Zoom link to be posted several days prior to event on the CHIFOO event page.

Accommodation requests
If you have any accommodation requests, please contact us.

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If you have any questions or would like to connect with other members of PDT, join our Slack community.

PDT is a volunteer-run Oregon nonprofit organization, and as you can imagine, organizing events can be expensive. We rely on sponsors and donations to help us offset these costs. If you would like to help, we accept donations through Venmo @PortlandDesignThinkers.