The Middle Way Society

We are joined by Bjorn Ihler who is a peace activist, writer and filmmaker working against dogmatism, particularly  in the forms of racism, hatred and violent extremism. His work is greatly founded on his experiences as a survivor of the attack on Utoya island in Norway in 2011. He’s written numerous articles for national and international newspapers and has been an inspiration to many activists t...

This week's guest is Susan Averbach. Susan has a Master's Degree in Jewish Studies from Gratz College and was ordained as a rabbi by the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism last year. One of her goals as a rabbi is to work towards integrating Buddhist practice with humanistic Judaism and to promote a more Middle Way perspective.

We are joined by the renowned economist and academic, Noreena Hertz. Noreena has been described by the Observer as ‘one of the world’s leading young thinkers’, she’s the author of several best-selling books including ‘The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the death of democracy’ and The Debt Threat: How debt is destroying the developing world. She’s the Honorary Professor at the Centre for th...

Evan Thompson, Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, is an expert in the fields of cognitive science, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Buddhist philosophy in dialogue with Western philosophy and science. He co-wrote the ground-breaking The Embodied Mind with Francisco Varela and Eleanor Rosch, which was the arguably...

We are joined by the renowned developmental psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik. As a leader in the field of children’s learning and development, she’s a proponent of the idea that children’s minds can help us get to grips with some of the most fundamental philosophical questions. She’s an authority on the theory of mind and also put forward the ‘theory theory’ which suggests that babies an...

We are joined today by Rod King, the founder and campaign director of ‘Twenty’s Plenty for us’ a movement set up to campaign for a default 20 mile speed limit in the UK. He’s going to talk about its rationale, the effect that it has had, the challenges it faces, how he sees it progressing and how this all might relate to the Middle Way.

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and research scientist and the author of more than 80 technical papers and numerous books. He’s perhaps most well known for his book ‘The Science Delusion’ and his morphic resonance hypothesis. These will be the topics of the discussion today as well as exploring the idea of science as an integrative practice.

Philip Kitcher is the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at the University of Columbia. He’s the first recipient of the American Philosophical Association’s Prometheus Prize for his work to expand the frontiers of science and philosophy. He’s written many books including ‘Philosophy of Science: A new introduction’, ‘Preludes to Pragmatism’ and ‘The Ethical Project’. His latest book is ‘Life after...

Lynne Franks was the founder of one of the UK’s best-known PR consultancies in the 1970’s. She has in recent years focused her attention on women’s issues especially in regard to women’s empowerment and sustainability and this is the topic of our discussion.

The philosopher Julian Baggini talks to us about his latest book 'The Virtues of the Table‘, how our relationship with food and drink is a great way to explore what it means to be human and how to try to live conscientiously.

The difference between self and ego, why we need to avoid beliefs about the self and to work with our experiences of ego. A talk given by Robert M Ellis of the Middle Way Society on the summer retreat 2014, and also including discussion with Barry Daniel and Martin Blundell

Pete Mallard is the manager of the Barn Retreat near Totnes in Devon. He talks about the Barn, what it does, the ethos behind it, the value of going on retreat and how all this might relate to the Middle Way.

James is a social studies teacher from Ohio, in the USA. He’s recently published a book aimed at helping teachers bond with students entitled ‘You’ve Gotta Connect’. This is the main topic of our discussion and how it might relate to the Middle Way.

A detailed talk and discussion on the four main Jungian archetypes (hero, God, anima/animus and Shadow), their projection onto people, and ways of working with them. Working with archetypes fits into the wider context of Middle Way Philosophy, and this talk and discussion was recorded on a Middle Way Society retreat in 2014.

Jean has a background in theoretical physics and is a strategy consultant and also a part-time academic at both Bath and Cranfield universities. She is passionate about the implications of complexity theory for management and policy development as well as its connection to spiritual traditions. It is this relationship between complexity theory and spirituality that will be the topic of our convers...

Gay Watson has a PhD in Religious Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. She trained as a psychotherapist with the Karuna Institute in Core Process, a Buddhist inspired psychotherapy. She is very much concerned with the dialogue between Buddhist thought, psychotherapy and the Mind Sciences and is the author of Beyond Happiness, Deepening the Dialogue B...

The author and Buddhist scholar Stephen Batchelor and the philosopher Robert M. Ellis, the chair of the Middle Way Society, discuss the idea of the Middle Way both within Buddhism and beyond it.

The science writer Michael Brooks holds a PhD in quantum physics  and as well as authoring several popular science books including, The Secret Anarchy of Science,  the bestselling 13 Things That Don't Make Sense and At the Edge of Uncertainty, he’s also written the novel Entanglement. In addition, he’s a journalist and broadcaster. He regularly writes for the Guardian,  he’s a former feature edito...

Elizabeth English is the founder Life at Work, a professional and personal development organisation. She has a  Masters and Doctorate from Oxford University in Buddhology. She’s a certified Nonviolent Communication trainer and, a teacher in Focusing with the British Focusing Teachers’ Association and the Focusing Institute. She’s going to talk to us today about Focusing, what it is, how you practi...

Dr. Rubin Naiman is the sleep specialist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona’s centre for integrative medicine. Dr Naiman is the author of several books on sleep and dreams including Healing Night, Healthy Sleep, the Yoga of Sleep and Hush. He regular blogs on sleep and dreams for the Huffington Post and Psychology Today. He talks about why so many of us are d...

Dr. Ha Vinh Tho is the Programme Director of the Gross National Happiness Centre in Bhutan. He’s here to talk to us about the project, it’s underlying philosophy, how it’s applied, the challenges it faces and how it might relate to the Middle Way.

In this latest member profile, Frank Ledwith, a retired university teacher and lecturer, talks about his early life, his interest and involvement with Buddhism, the work of Stephen Batchelor and what the Middle Way means to him.

Tim Kasser is Professor of Psychology at Knox College in Illinois and author of various books on materialism, values, well being and environmental sustainability including ‘The High Price of Materialism’ and ‘Psychology and consumer culture’. He’s going to talk to us today about a book he co-authored with Tom Crompton entitled ‘Meeting Environmental Challenges: The Role of Human Identity’ , how th...

My guest today is Steven Howlett who is a senior lecturer at Roehampton University business school and previously was a senior research fellow at the Institute for Volunteering Research where he was involved in many projects looking at the profile of volunteering, the management of volunteers and polices towards volunteering. He’s the co author of ‘Volunteering and Society in the 21st Century’ and...

My guest today is Shauna Shapiro who is a professor of psychology at  Santa Clara University, a clinical psychologist and an internationally recognized expert in mindfulness. She’s the co-author of the critically acclaimed book: The art and science of mindfulness: Integrating mindfulness into psychology and the helping professions.   She’s here to talk today about the IAA model of mindfulness, the...