"Contemplative Day of Work and Play" Offers Time Out for Reflection as Exam Week Nears

A lecture by a physicist who has a close working relationship with the Dalai Lama and a presentation and performance by a jazz musician who uses meditation in his approach to improvisation are on offer next Tuesday, May 1, during Bryn Mawr's first "Contemplative Day of Work and Play." The program is designed to offer an opportunity to take a deep breath before the final, stressful push of exams and papers. The events, sponsored by the President's Office, the Department of English and the programs in film studies and Africana studies, will invite audiences to explore connections among contemplative practices, scholarly creativity and learning. Both events are free and open to the public.

Amherst College Professor of Physics Arthur G. Zajonc will give a talk titled "Contemplative Intelligence" at 4:15 in Thomas Great Hall. Zajonc, whose physics research focuses on laser-atom interactions and the experimental foundations of quantum physics, has also devoted significant research time to the relationship among the sciences, the humanities and contemplation. He is the director of academic programs at the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, a nonprofit organization that "works to integrate contemplative awareness and contemporary life, to help create a more just, compassionate and reflective society." The center's academic program helps support the integration of contemplative practices that aim to cultivate a personal capacity for deep concentration and insight into higher education. In 1997, Zajonc served as scientific coordinator for the "Mind and Life" conference, a series of discussions involving five quantum physicists, a historian and the Dalai Lama. The proceedings were published in The New Physics and Cosmology: Dialogues with the Dalai Lama (Oxford 2004). Since then, Zajonc has hosted or moderated several more conversations between the Dalai Lama and scientists.

Ed Sarath, a jazz musician and educator who directs the program in creativity and consciousness studies at the University of Michigan, will round out the day's program with a concert/presentation on creativity, consciousness and jazz from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Thomas Great Hall. Sarath has performed with top jazz luminaries and has published widely on improvisation, creativity and consciousness. At Michigan, he has developed a bachelor of fine arts degree program in jazz and contemplative studies, one of the first degree programs to integrate meditation and related practices and studies with a full slate of musical and academic coursework.

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