Big Tent Talks: Living Deliberatively with Existential Despair with Justin McDaniel
Can sadness, boredom, and existential despair actually deepen our connections to others? Justin McDaniel thinks so.
Join scholar Justin McDaniel, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Professor of the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, for a public presentation on the nature of connection in an age of distraction, uncertainty, and searching.
McDaniel is known for teaching two of Penn’s most talked-about courses: one explores monastic approaches to living deliberately, while the other invites students to slow down and pay closer attention through the practices of reading and looking. Across his teaching, writing, and research in religious studies and contemplative traditions, he challenges students and audiences alike to wrestle with questions of meaning, purpose, sadness, and what it means to live well. (Which includes time for boredom!)
In Living Deliberately with Existential Despair, McDaniel argues that boredom, uncertainty, and even despair are not merely problems to be solved, but experiences that can deepen our attention to the world and our connection to others. Blending lived experience, storytelling, and big-picture ideas, this Big Tent Talk will explore how practices of reflection, presence, and shared vulnerability can help us cultivate connection, care, and belonging in our everyday lives.
Presented by Spirit & Place with support from Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis and the IU Presidential Arts & Humanities Program. Spirit & Place Big Tent Talks are bold, community-wide conversations that bring nationally recognized thinkers, authors, and spiritual leaders to Indianapolis explore faith, spirituality, and public life.