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CLAL to Explore the Spiritual Impact of Technology at Aspen Institute

By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Relations

In a world driven increasingly by technology and materialism, what about the spiritual or human needs of individuals? This is the question to be addressed by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, Director of Leadership and Communities for CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, at Colorado's Aspen Institute on July 20, 2000. Entitled "Spirituality in Contemporary Life," the seminar will look at people's search for inner meaning and purpose in a world driven by external forces.

"Today, we are looking at spirituality in a new era," says Rabbi Hirschfield. "How do you create a conversation between technology and other advances and the spiritual lives of individuals? How do you use the richness of a tradition in a broader way? These are the conversations we need to examine, as we move towards a path of sacredness."

The Aspen Institute is a global forum that convenes leaders from diverse disciplines to address critical issues that confront societies, organizations, and individuals. Utilizing the rigorous discipline of informed dialogue and inquiry, the Institute's seminar and policy programs enhance the participants' ability to think clearly about such issues, mindful of the primacy of the moral perspective and the importance of differing viewpoints.

Joining Rabbi Hirschfield will be Father Thomas Keating, former Abbot of Spencer and Saint Benedicts Monasteries in Colorado. Session moderators will include Professor Elaine Pagels, a Board Trustee of the Aspen Institute and teacher at Princeton University, and Dr. Edward W. Bastian, founder and publisher of aspen.com and a Buddhist scholar. The seminar is open to Aspen Institute Fellows. It will include periods of learning, lecture and discussion.

"Judaism offers the gift of a profound inherited wisdom," says Rabbi Hirschfield. "With this gift, we can begin to explore a bigger spiritual conversation-one that embraces our differences and celebrates our uniqueness. The sacredness is in the search, not the conclusion."