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Sometimes Look Up

Words with Gods

Friday, April 10, 2015
7:00 PM–8:30 PM
Free

“Words with Gods” are short cinematic meditations on faith and consciousness masterminded by writer-director Guillermo Arriaga. The full omnibus will have its theatrical release later in the year. Here is a chance to see five of the short films in advance. The screening for each individual short is followed by a rich dialogue between a faith practitioner and a mind scientist.

“Sometimes Look Up,” directed by Bahman Ghobadi

“”¦Employs a restlessly rotating camera and splintered sound design to convey the dual perspectives of conjoined twin brothers — one more dedicated to Islam than the other — who must negotiate an even trickier impasse when one wishes to pursue a sexual relationship with a woman.” ““ Variety

I live in an area in which each day I witness and hear of fratricide, due to differing religious ideologies. After years of staying in this region, I realized the acts carried out are not spiritual and heavenly, but the issue is religion manipulated by man. The religions are manipulated by man, to use against another man; all the while, we humans have forgotten the real story and the beauty of truth. Whether I believe in God or not, I believe in this. – Bahman Ghobadi

Followed by a conversation with Dr. Hussein Rashid of islamicate and psychoanalyst Pilar Jennings of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science

Presented with the Auburn Seminary and the Nalanda Institute of Contemplative Science.

About the Speakers

Hussein Rashid, PhD, is founder of islamicate, L3C, a consultancy focusing on religious literacy and cultural competency. He is a contingent faculty member most often associated with Hofstra University. He is a term member on the Council of Foreign Relations, a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, The Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship, the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, and the Truman National Security Project. He is on the advisory boards of Deily, Everplans, Project Interfaith, Anikaya Dance Theater, and Al-Rawiya. He served on the advisory board of the British Council’s Our Shared Future Program. He currently working with the Children’s Museum of Manhattan as a content expert.

Pilar Jennings, Ph.D., is a psychoanalyst in private practice who has focused on the clinical applications of Buddhist meditation. She received her Ph.D. in Psychiatry and Religion from Union Theological Seminary, and has been working with patients and their families through the Harlem Family Institute since 2004. Prior to this training, she earned a Masters in medical anthropology from Columbia University, where she focused on illness narratives, and a Bachelor’s in interdisciplinary writing from Barnard College of Columbia University. Pilar is a researcher at the Columbia University Center for Study of Science and Religion and Co-chair of the Columbia Faculty Seminar on the Slavery of Memory, where she explores the intergenerational transmission of trauma. She is the author of Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism.

Tickets: $20.00

Member price: $18.00

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