Living with Intention
Join us for a four-part, biweekly guest-speaker & dinner series exploring how Islam is lived through ethical practice, service, and principled engagement. Saturdays, 4:00PM-6:00PM
Living with Intention
4 sessions | Dates
For something so central to our lives, we rarely pause to examine how, and why, we connect as we do.
On 22 September join Alain de Botton and The School of Life for a gently illuminating evening exploring the three major attachment styles: secure, anxious and avoidant.
This isn’t a lecture or a diagnosis. It’s a communal investigation, featuring playful prompts, curious questions and thoughtful exchanges that help uncover what makes us, and those we love, tick.
With a spirit of humour, warmth and psychological insight, we’ll reflect on our patterns of closeness and distance, and perhaps find comfort in realising we’re far from alone in our quirks.
Expect:
– Clear, psychologically informed guidance from Alain
– Light-hearted exercises to map your tendencies
– Honest, consoling conversation in warm company
Join us for an evening of insight, comfort, and conversations that stay with you long after the
night ends.
Weekly Themes
Week 1: Purification (tazkiyah) as Ethical Emptiness (April 15)
Examining the Qur’anic concept of tazkiyah, in light of a wide range of theological, philosophical discussions from both Sunni and Shi’a perspectives.
Week 2: Self-Dissolution (fanā’) as Emptiness of the Soul (April 22)
Reading selections from Rumi’s Mathnawī to explore the mystical notion of self-dissolution.
Week 3: Solitude (khalwah) as Social Emptiness (April 29)
Investigating solitude and retreat in Islam.
Week 4: Hunger (jūʿ) as Embodied Emptiness (May 6)
Understanding embodiment and its role in cultivating emptiness.
Week 5: Silence (ṣamt) as Aural Emptiness (May 13)
Exploring the relation between silence, time, and emptiness.
Week 6: Emptiness in Islamic Literature (May 20)
Analyzing literary works that engage with emptiness as a central theme.
Week 7: Emptiness in Islamic Art (May 27)
Exploring the concept of the void (khala’) and its manifestation in visual culture.