Few friends in Bengaluru are coming together to continue the conversation broadening inclusion beyond economic terms. In particular, not only is "everyone good at something" that can be employable, but everyone can also be great at giving those gifts. 

On Tuesday, Dec 19th, 2017, we're delighted to host a special Inclusion circle with Nipun Mehta and Pavithra (and a few other visiting friends).

11:00am -- Sit together in Silence and Stillness
11:10am -- Circle of introductions/sharing
11:45am -- Nipun's reflections and stories, Q&A
01:00pm -- Lunch

Kindly RSVP below to help us plan lunch accordingly.

The question we want to hold together is: how do we design a world for deep inclusion? Typical pleas for inclusion are either a call for sympathy, or a call for efficiency, or a call for boosting market oriented goals. But we want to ask deeper questions.

Currently, our world largely operates in hierarchies; that's great for efficiency but when everything is whittled down to transactions, we lose multi-dimensionality of capitals, intelligences and ultimately human potential.  Instead of a majestic spectrum of colors, everything falls into a black-and-white binary modality.  Circles, on the other hand, are optimized for many-to-many relationships where we everyone is able to connect with each other in a contextual way.  Still, circles have the weakness of having an in-group and out-group; it can easily start to create "other", even if that other contains a big community.  So, in ServiceSpace, they use the metaphor of a circle in the form of "mobius strip", where some of the chairs are in the circle and facing out while others are facing in.  What is a mobius circle, how is the right balance of inside-out and outside-in, how do we cultivate the skilfulness to hold such a circle, and what kind of "laddership" sustains mobiosity in a regenerative way, and what is the architecture of deep inclusion?

These questions are pertinent, not just in context of temporarily-abled bodies ("normal") and different-abled bodies ("disabled"), but in a much larger context of us-versus-them that is currently playing itself out in dramatic ways around the globe. With the advent of AI and eugenics, we are racing down a path of what Yuval Noah Harari calls a "useless class". When Hitler tried to purify Aryan race of "undesirable traits" during the Holocaust, people might've cringed -- yet in America alone, 90% of Downs Syndrome fetuses are aborted. Now, scientists are able to control -- or "edit" -- color of eyes, sexuality and even IQ of the child.  How will that redefine underprivileged, and how can change the narrative now, to head down a direction of deep inclusion?

About the Speaker: At the age of 25, Nipun Mehta quit his job to become a "full time volunteer." He is the founder of ServiceSpace, an all volunteer-run organization using technology to inspire greater volunteerism. What started as an experiment with friends is now a global ecosystem of over 500,000 members who have delivered millions of dollars in service for free. Their projects include DailyGood, KarmaTube, KindSpring and KarmaKitchen -- and has garnered Dalai Lama's Unsung Hero of Compassion award and more recently, President Obama's appointment on a council to address poverty and inequality. What started as his personal journey into meditation and service has now rippled to millions around the globe, as he has tirelessly addressed hundreds of gatherings in person. Very inspired by Gandhi, Nipun reflects on his walking pilgrimage across India and articulates a "Gandhi 3.0" possibility of bridging the "inner net and Internet." His mission statement in life reads: "Bring smiles in the world and stillness in my heart."

It would be great to have you join us, share a contemplative space of reflection, and plant seeds for co-creating inclusive world. To join, simply RSVP below with your email id and we'll email you the location details as soon as we have them.