TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.” It supports independent organizers who want to create a TED-like event in their own community.
About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations.
The Emerald Crystal has selected many TEDx presentations that will provide our visitors with relevant, often exciting, and always valuable talks from various speakers. We feel they will interest and inspire our guests to review and adjust their spiritual awareness, when and where desired. These talks are often perfect psychic tools to boost our consciousness to ever-higher levels of understanding. After all, it is what we here at The Emerald Crystal believe we are doing or should be doing with our lives.
We are put on this earth without a true guide of how to live or how to perceive our surroundings. So why not choose a perception that allows awareness in which we participate in the dance of life? Spirituality, however you define it, gives us higher consciousness; watching ourselves and knowing
Nussey’s secondary passion lies in spirituality and self-discovery. Having battled with depression and acute sensitivities to the world around her, Nussey speaks eloquently about her past and enjoys sharing ideas about what our ideal future will look like from the humanistic side.
James Rhodes is one of the most important concert piano players of our times and a great innovator of classical music. He has been the subject of documentaries for BBC and Channel 4. He writes for The Guardian and performs in concerts all around the world.
When Lesley Hazleton was writing a biography of Muhammad, she was struck by something: The night he received the revelation of the Koran, according to early accounts, his first reaction was doubt, awe, even fear. And yet this experience became the bedrock of his belief. Hazleton calls for a new appreciation of doubt and questioning as the foundation of faith — and an end to fundamentalism of all kinds.
At a moment when the world seems to be spinning out of control, religion might feel irrelevant — or like part of the problem. But Rabbi Sharon Brous believes we can reinvent religion to meet the needs of modern life. In this impassioned talk, Brous shares four principles of a revitalized religious practice and offers faith of all kinds as a hopeful counter-narrative to the numbing realities of violence, extremism and pessimism
The way we’re taught to live has got to change, says author Casey Gerald. Too often, we hide parts of ourselves in order to fit in, win praise, be accepted. But at what cost? In this inspiring talk, Gerald shares the personal sacrifices he made to attain success in the upper echelons of American society — and shows why it’s time for us to have the courage to live in the raw, strange magic of ourselves.
Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can — and should — be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life.
Right now, billions of neurons in your brain are working together to generate a conscious experience — and not just any conscious experience, your experience of the world around you and of yourself within it. How does this happen? According to neuroscientist Anil Seth, we’re all hallucinating all the time; when we agree about our hallucinations, we call it “reality.” Join Seth for a delightfully disorienting talk that may leave you questioning the very nature of your existence.
Oxford professor Richard Dawkins has helped steer evolutionary science into the 21st century, and his concept of the “meme” contextualized the spread of ideas in the information age. In recent years, his devastating critique of religion has made him a leading figure in the New Atheism.
In Tana Toraja, weddings and births aren’t the social gatherings that knit society together. In this part of Indonesia, big, raucous funerals are at the center of social life. Anthropologist Kelli Swazey takes a look at this culture, in which the bodies of dead relatives are cared for years after they have passed away — because relationships with loved ones don’t simply end when breathing does.
Jeff Lieberman, an MIT-trained artist, scientist and engineer, makes a scientific argument for mystical experience. He asks us to challenge our perception of what we are, our relationship to the universe, and our relationship to one another. Our minds are “thought-generating machines.” What would happen if we could turn off the machine? If we could transcend our individual experience of the world?
Anthony Jack has a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Oxford University, and a PhD in Experimental Psychology from University College London. He then trained in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL, London and the Dept. of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis Medical School. Since 2007 he has been leading the Brain, Mind and Consciousness lab at Case Western Reserve University. In 2014 Dr Jack also became the Research Director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence.
Tracey Lind believes in the inner voice of holy wisdom that resides in each and every one of us. She herself experienced this voice on a cold January afternoon in a McDonald’s. Lind has devoted her life to inspiring people to initiate the conversation, follow where it leads, and make the world a better place. Lind is the Dean at Trinity Cathedral – located on Euclid across from Cleveland State University and an Episcopalian minister.
.
Actress, Writer, Solo Performer and Vocalist Katie Rubin, continues to tackle addiction recovery and spirituality on stage. Only this time, she’s doing it Stand Up Comedy Style!
You can sabotage success by pushing too hard. Surrender is the antidote to stress in a world that relentlessly conspires to interrupt creative thought. Surrender boosts your brain’s endorphins–euphoric, opiate-like pain killers–and serotonin, a natural antidepressant that allows you to relax, have more fun, and succeed more wildly than ever before. Life becomes easier and more blissful when you can let go.
Lee Mun Wah is an internationally renowned Chinese American documentary filmmaker, author, poet, Asian folk teller, educator, community therapist and master diversity trainer. He is the Founder and Executive Director of StirFry Seminars & Consulting, a diversity training company that provides educational tools and workshops on cross-cultural communication and awareness, mindful facilitation, and conflict mediation techniques. His most famous film about racism, The Color of Fear, won the Gold Medal for Best Social Studies Documentary
Ram Dass first went to India in 1967. He was still Dr. Richard Alpert, an already eminent Harvard psychologist and psychedelic pioneer with Dr.Timothy Leary. He had continued his psychedelic research until that fateful Eastern trip in 1967, when he traveled to India. In India, he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, affectionately known as Maharajji, who gave Ram Dass his name, which means “servant of God.” Everything changed then — his intense dharmic life started, and he became a pivotal influence on a culture that has reverberated with the words “Be Here Now” ever since. Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for three generations, carrying along millions on the journey, helping free them from their bonds as he has worked his way through his own.
Dada Gunamuktananda has trained in meditation, yoga and natural health sciences in Australia, the Philippines and India. He has been a meditation teacher of Ananda Marga since 1995 and has taught and lectured on meditation in New Zealand, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East.
Synopsis: The exploration of inner space, our own consciousness, is ultimately connected to our discovery of outer space. Just as the world becomes a smaller place with increase in communication and transport technology, so the universe becomes a smaller place with the increase in meditation technology!
Tariq Ramadan is the Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University and President of the European Muslim Network. Through his writings and lectures he has contributed substantially to the debate on the issues of Muslims in the West and Islamic revival in the Muslim world. He is active both at the academic and grassroots levels, lecturing extensively throughout the world on theology, ethics, social justice, ecology and interfaith as well as intercultural dialogue.
Phil Borges, filmmaker and photographer, has been documenting indigenous and tribal cultures for over 25 years. His work is exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide and his documentary film CRAZYWISE explores what can be learned from individuals who have turned their psychological crisis into a positive transformative experience.
Religion is in decline across the Western world. Whether measured by belonging, believing, participation in services, or how important it is felt to be, religion is losing ground. Society is being transformed, and the momentum appears to be unstoppable.
You might be asking yourself two questions. Is it actually true? And even if religion is currently losing ground, could things change in the future?
Brian Luke Seaward is a renowned and respected international expert in the fields of stress management, mind-body-spirit healing and health promotion. Additionally, he is an award-winning author, photographer, teacher, celebrated film director/producer and much sought after inspirational speaker.
His mission, as expressed through his legacy of acclaimed books and public appearances, is to make this a better world in which to live by having each of us reach our highest potential.
Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon and Imam Jamal Rahman-now known as the Interfaith Amigos-started working together after 9/11. Since then, they have brought their unique blend of spiritual wisdom and humor to audiences in the US, Canada, Israel-Palestine and Japan. Their work is dedicated to supporting more effective interfaith dialogue that can bring greater collaboration to the major social and economic issues of our time.
Human morality is older than our current religions, and may go back to tendencies observable in other mammals. In a bottom-up view of morality, this talk is one man’s road to discovering an array of positive tendencies in animals at a time when competition and aggression were the only themes.
Ngawang Norbu was born in South India to a Tibetan refugee family. Ngawang was selected to the Science for Monks Workshop and through that experience he was selected to the Science Leadership Institute’s workshop as well as the Emory Tibet Science Initiative. He has participated in several science exhibitions designed and presented by monastics to create awareness on the importance of learning science for the monastic as well as the general Tibetan community. Currently Ngawang is studying science at Emory University as one of the six selected monk scholars with the goal of introducing a science curriculum into monastic education, which is the great vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Kai’s presentation, “Spiritual Change – The Journey to Rasta” will share with us, and the world, her personal and spiritual voyage.
Kai Davis represented her country as a dancer at a number of festivals between 1990 and 2002. She made a mark in modeling and pageantry, representing Antigua and winning events such as the Jaycee’s Caribbean Queen Show and the Carnival Queen Show. Internationally, Kai represented Antigua at the Hal Jackson Talented Teen International in New York in 1996 and the 2003 Ms. Universe Pageant in Panama, where she copped the Congeniality Award.
After joining the Rastafari livity in 2004, Kai became an Ambassador for her Faith, particularly in education. A member of the Creek Side Rastafari Community and the Nyahbinghi Theocracy Church of Haile Selassie 1st, she is a founding member of the Nyahbinghi Theocracy Church School which was established in 2005 and registered as a Community Home School in 2011. Kai recently completed an Associates Degree in Teacher Education from the University of the West Indies through the Antigua State College and is ready to fly the banners of Rastafari.
From religiosity to spirituality, Sri Pundrik Goswami ji talks about the journey of him when he transformed from just a religious devotee to a spiritual ascetic guru. Belonging to a family of enlightened scholars, he explains how his childhood studies in convent school and how the turn of events in his life led him to perceive that this world is a place only for peace.
H.H. Sri Pundrik Goswami ji is a mesmerising personality, enlightened guru, motivator, orator and Achrya of Madhva Gaureshvar Vaishnav Parampara, carrying the 600 years and 37 generation’s spiritual legacy with highest authenticity adding his modern education from Oxford University makes him the most needed modern guru for today’s younger generation.
H.H.Sri Pundrik Goswami Ji Maharaj is established as the meritorious Achayra to Madhava Gaureshvar Vaishnawas Peeth. He is following the path of his predecessors, in spreading the message of Sri Chaityna Mahaprabhu through discourses on various vaishnava scriptures all over the world so that people may benefit by knowing the real meaning of life. Sri H. H. imparts the wisdom of katha. He leaves his listeners spellbound with his divine explanations on glorious Hari Lila and is miraculous in rendering lengthy phrases flawlessly. He is well versed in Srimad Bhagvatam and revered for ambrosia discourses.
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Is depression, as most of us experience it, meaningless suffering? Dr. Lisa Miller presents research that lends meaning to the experience of depression and to our experience on planet Earth.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks a simple, but difficult question: Why do we search for self-transcendence? Why do we attempt to lose ourselves?
In a tour through the science of evolution by group selection, he proposes a provocative answer.
Radhanath Swami is a world renowned author, philanthropist and community builder. He has been a Bhakti Yoga practitioner and spiritual teacher for more than 40 years. He is the inspiration behind a free mid-day meal for 1.2 million school kids across India and he has been instrumental in founding the Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mumbai.
He has keynoted at Apple, Starbucks, Google and House of Lords. His work has led to meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Awakening to the discovery of your personal spirituality in recovery . The four basic questions of spirituality and what is spirituality?
The Venerable Bhikshuni Karma Trime Lhamo, an American-born Buddhist nun, is the director of the Princeton Buddhist Meditation Group. A practitioner for nearly 40 years, Ani Trime originally studied with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist masters to teach in the West, and she is now a student of the Tibetan teacher Anam Thubten. She has also studied and practiced to some extent in the Theravada and Zen traditions. Ani Trime’s down-to-earth, straightforward approach emphasizes meditation practice, kindness, and everyday experience, all presented with humor and warmth.
For thousands of years, the Amazon rainforest has provided food, water and spiritual connection for its Indigenous inhabitants and the world. But the endless extraction of its natural resources by oil companies and others is destroying the lives of those who live there, says Waorani leader Nemonte Nenquimo, and threatening the overall stability of Earth’s biosphere. In this powerful talk, she reminds us of the destruction that continues to happen to the world’s largest tropical rainforest — and demands respect for Mother Nature. “The forest is our teacher,” she says. (Filmed in Ecuador by director Tom Laffay and associate producer Emily Wright, in collaboration with Amazon Frontlines. In Spanish with subtitles.)
As a nature, travel and adventure photographer, John’s assignments have taken him from the spectacular volcanic eruptions on Iceland to the teeming wildlife of East Africa. He has been to the Himalayas, the Pacific Islands, the American Deserts, the Galapagos Islands and the Andes, Namibia, Alaska, the European Alps and has photographed almost all the wild land locations in Britain. John has ventured to 38 countries in the last 28 years always returning with a story — whether rafting down the Colorado River of the Grand Canyon or celebrating round a campfire with primitive Kalahari Bushmen, John’s tales make the beauty of our planet shine.
Linda Woodhead is Professor of Sociology of Religion at Lancaster University. She researches religion around the world, and tries to explain how much it has changed since the 1980s. Between 2007 and 2013 she directed a £12m national research programme called the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme, which involved 240 academics and researchers. She runs the “Westminster Faith Debates” with Charles Clarke. Her books include Religion and Change in Modern Britain, A Very Short Introduction to Christianity and The Spiritual Revolution,Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality. She is a regular commentator and broadcaster on religion and society.