Acropolis News

During their forth encounter, the ‘Book Club’ discussed the work of Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha, the story of a hero who tries to restore lost values to humanity. Participants discussed the symbolism of the book as well as the relevance of Don Quixote with regards to our current times.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxOOOCxJ2jY

New Acropolis Mumbai organized a debate entitled “Empowering real change”, in collaboration with the Indian Express newspaper. Speakers included the educator and environmental specialist Sonam Wangchuk, the philanthropist Tsarina Screwvala (Swades Foundation) and the philosopher Yaron Barzilay (Director of New Acropolis in India).

With over 150 attendees, the presenters at this ’round table’ emphasized the need for a sustainable change in society, beyond quick and immediate fixes, which are of little relevance and lead to uncertainty and despair. A collective investigation showed that the “Post-truth” world  (Word of the Year 2016, Oxford Dictionary), leads to individuals’ inability to dream and to aspire to a better world. It turns out that our challenges could be more possible to carry out, redefining how society provides education. Ultimately, the responsibility rests with the individual at the time of choosing to participate in the change.

In the Eastern philosophies, Tibetans had a symbolic image to express how our fears, our limitations are illusions. They spoke of “paper doors.” We can think we are surrounded by walls, but these are only paper doors, which we could pierce by simply walking through them.

Philosophers of New Acropolis Montreal were in the streets all afternoon to meet Montrealers and offer them to experience the adventure of philosophy by crossing the paper door.