Pico Iyer: Living with Silence
Presentation, Reception & Book Signing
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 4:30 pm
Chang Hou Hall, Science Center 101
Pico Iyer’s writing and speaking slows the pace of our ever more frenzied lives. He encourages us to find a space for silence from which we can better understand how best to act in the world. His most recent book, Aflame, is a beautiful meditation on over 30 years of retreats at a Benedictine monastery. Iyer first visited the monastery after his house burned down in a wildfire and he lost all of his material possessions.
Though he does not share the monks’ religious faith, Iyer has become close to the monastic community and found resonances there with the lessons he’s learned from two of his closest friends, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and the singer-songwriter (and sometimes Zen monk) Leonard Cohen.
Pico Iyer has written 15 books which have been translated into more than 23 languages. He has also given four TED talks, which together have received more than 11 million views.
A free copy of Aflame will be available for the first 50 Swarthmore College students who attend the event.
