Philosophy

I use the word ecstasy, which people think means being very, very happy- but in Ancient Greek it means ecstatic, which means standing outside. It's a moment where you go beyond your ordinary sense of self and feel connected to something great and new.

Ancient philosophy almost hasn't been bettered as a kind of therapeutic toolbox in 2400 years, and have a certain aesthetic to them which makes you feel part of a long tradition... You're part of a three millennia old tradition of wisdom that thousands and thousands of people have read the same book that you're reading, and found it therapeutic in very dark times.

The Ancient Greeks believed philosophy was a medicine for the soul. Socrates said 'I teach my student how to take care of their souls', which is where the word psychotherapy comes from. Cicero said, 'there's a medical art for the soul, and its name is philosophy'.

Philosophy is embedded in everything. We all have philosophies which form the basis for our motivations and what we do with our days. Everyone has their own philosophy of life; every institution has a philosophy... but for most of us, those philosophies are unexamined and more or less automatic and instinctual.

Our ability to do philosophy is one of the things that distinguishes us from other animals- in some ways, it is that which makes us sapiens, 'wise monkeys'. Only humans seem to have developed this capacity for higher order questioning…. asking 'to what end are we doing this?' – 'why are we doing this at all?'

examines the research behind diversity and discrimination while grounding them in personal narratives, highlighting our common humanity.

UN Secretary-General & Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation.

Indian Independence Leader & Pioneer of Nonviolent Civil Resistance

We all share the same 'planet in space'. When you take the time to think about it, that 'we're all in space' part is pretty compelling. I would argue though that small does not mean insignificant. It is a bit of a contradiction – seeing the beauty of Earth from space and the reality of how small our planet is in the grand scheme of the universe, but at the same time recognizing the significance in how perfectly placed in the universe our planet is to take care of us.

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

Going to space gave me the opportunity to separate from our planet, but in doing so it allowed me to feel more connected to it than I ever had on its surface in the middle of it all. I carry that with me all the time now.

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

There's a moment when you look at good art when time changes… It's as if time no longer exists, becomes longer, or is suspended. There's a moment of reverie when you're fully immersed in something apart from yourself. One experiences this sometimes in meditation. These inexplicable, wonderful and mysterious experiences we have never leave us.

Contemporary artist known for monumental sculptures and Vantablack installations

The need to express abstract registers of time and deep space, and something of the life of the body, has never altered. Art is not a luxury, an object of exchange, a profession or a career; it is an intrinsic part of being human.

British sculptor known for large-scale iron body cast installations

You have to put people first; you have to think about the society you're living in, what's good about it, and what kind of world you want. You have to also consider how that technology can have a positive impact on the world.

CEO and Chairwoman of Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation

The biggest of all perhaps is how life began. We still don't know how life started from a soup of chemicals – how molecules assembled, replicated, and managed to survive and evolve into incredibly complex life forms. We also don't know how likely this was, and if we ever able to answer that, it will give us a better idea of whether we're alone in the universe.

Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies

Digital technologies are now an unavoidable part of the infrastructure of life and society, and we have the capacity to design them in ways that promote, understand and respect people's goals and values in ways we simply couldn't in the pre-digital era. With many of these technologies, though, our deeper human goals get treated as secondary, or are ignored altogether, in favour of lower 'engagement' goals such as views or clicks.

A practitioner is the person who goes out and breaks the limits of the mind, the soul, the body. A practitioner listens, and understands that the voices who say things cannot be done are theorists.

Ultramarathon Runner, Navy SEAL, & Motivational Speaker

I need failure like I need air. Unless people understand what failure is, they can't grow. I find growth in suffering, in pain and in failure.

Ultramarathon Runner, Navy SEAL, & Motivational Speaker