Description
064: Beauty and the Abundance of God
Curt Thompson, M.D.
Being Known, LLC
4822 24thSt. N
Arlington, VA 22207
Summary
Much of human attention is drawn, rightly and understandably, to our awareness of distress in all of its neuropsychiatric and spiritual spectrums. This is not unhelpful… and is even necessary. One unintended consequence of this is that we practice seeing the world as one of scarcity rather than abundance. However, interpersonal neurobiology, reflecting a biblical vision of what it means to be human, suggests that, as Dostoevsky wrote, it is beauty—not scarcity—that will save the world. This plenary session will explore the relationship between attention, neuroplasticity, and the construction of human narratives, as well as the role beauty plays in drawing all of them toward a world of human flourishing.
Learning Objectives
Participants will:
• Comprehend the significance of the roles of attention, neuroplasticity, and attachment-based narrative formation in human development
• Identify the importance of selective attunement in regulating affect
• Discover the effect of attuning to beauty on the development of integrated states of mind
• Apply practices that enhance one’s capacity to anticipate, access, and appropriate beauty as a means of developing integrated states of mind, both intra- and interpersonally
