Inquiries into Humanity’s Future, Step 2: Permanent Lines

Aviv Shahar with Kyriaki Nikandrou, Avshalom Zack, and Peter Barry

May 15, 2021

In the context of what you're offering about inquiry - and I think your invitation is, let's be daring, in the sense of being prepared to challenge almost any assumption we use, anything we take for granted, such that we are prepared to ask the questions that are fashioned by the very questions that we ask.

Because often when we frame inquiries we already have some working assumptions. And we need to ask about each of the inquiries we will frame. What are the assumptions that shaped that inquiry? And that's a legitimate and important provocation and challenge.

So here what I'm proposing is a simple practice because what we want to do here is approach the territory of inquiring into humanity's future whilst we also offer practical briefs, and practical tools, and practices that people can pick up and use.

deep questions

What I advise my daughters is that if any dogma is trying to hack you just run, run away from dogmas because they lock you, they lock your mind. And I think one way to approach things, if we really want to be finding pioneering and innovative approaches and ways of thinking, is that we must challenge dogmas. And we must actually turn upside down even the very stones that we are sitting on - otherwise, we're going backwards instead of forwards.

Kyriaki Nikandrou

Kyriaki Nikandrou

Kyriaki Nikandrou

I am seeking to be in conversation with others in search for keys, for tools of understanding and application and for the real questions, the ones that become portals to contemplative journeys, leading to uncharted territories that feel like home.

I believe we are on a trajectory of multiple and unpredictable changes; it is up to each one of us to rise to the challenge of our times. Now, more than ever before, is the time to be true to ourselves and fulfill our potential.

Avshalom Zack

Avshalom Zack

Many years ago, I woke up to the mysteries and wonders of the gift of existence. Thus, the quest for its purpose, meaning and fulfillment became a central theme of my life.

Shared with fellow pilgrims in exploring the human potential, and with gratitude and care towards Mother Earth, the well being of her many dwellers and the future.

Peter Barry

Peter Barry

I don't think I can remember a time when I wasn't asking, Why am I here? Or wondering, What is the purpose of life? Seeking not so much to simply solve the mystery, but rather to find the settlement that comes from knowing one's place, and finding one's home, in this great unfolding.

Perhaps, then, one can become part of the living process, which sets one free to go out into the world and discover what is new, what is needed, and ask the question: How can I help?

Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar

Aviv is the Founder of Aviv Consulting, helping leaders unleash strategic innovation, and is the author of Create New Futures: How Leaders Produce Breakthroughs and Transform the World Through Conversation.