Hope and Joy: An Author Event with Douglas Abrams

Dear friends and fellow readers,

I’m so excited to announce To the Lighthouse’s next author event:

HOPE AND JOY

A conversation with Douglas Abrams

co-author of the bestsellers The Book of Hope with Jane Goodall and

The Book of Joy with the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu

Thursday, March 23 2023 * 5:00-6:00PM PT * SandBox in Sand City AND via Zoom

Jane Goodall’s hope is well-earned.

Her accomplishments are a list of the seemingly impossible, among them: changing fundamental scientific views about the capabilities of chimpanzees, eliminating medical research on these remarkable animals, standing up a worldwide network of eco-engaged youth, and working locally in Africa to dramatically decrease poaching. Despite having witnessed some of the worst conditions on the planet, for both animals and people, Jane is hopeful, specifically about the capacities of human beings to meet and adapt to the challenges of a warming planet. To her, hope is not optimism or wishful thinking. Although it can be cultivated, it’s not even really a choice, but a “survival trait” lodged deep in the human psyche.

In a remarkable series of conversations with author and visionary “truth hunter” Doug Abrams, Jane explains the reasons we should have hope in the future of the human race and the ways we as individuals can engage in the world as a “messenger of hope”. These wonderfully nuanced and smart dissussions are recorded in the NYT bestseller The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times.

Abrams aims “to bring people together in a cultural conversation through books and media that transform lives and ultimately the world.”

After his discussions with Jane, he organized an historic visit between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, shortly before the Archbishop’s death, in the Dalai Lama’s home-in-exile in Dharamshala in northern India. Answering Abrams’s thoughtful and probing questions, these two luminaries — arguably the greatest spiritual leaders of our time — described how to establish and maintain an unshakable inner joy. The Dalai Lama has spent decades exiled from Tibet and from the Chinese occupiers who would have him killed, leading an entire nation driven from its homeland. Archbishop Tutu witnessed countless atrocities during apartheid and the freedom movement in South Africa and during the groundbreaking Truth and Reconciliation Commission he led there. Both men discuss these difficulties with astounding patience and open-hearted wisdom. Through conversations that flowed freely between world engagement and deep spiritual practice, His Holiness and the Archbishop fully embodied the joy they described and the love and compassion that necessarily attends it. It was a once-in-a-lifetime transmission of much-needed wisdom, captured in the bestseller The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World.

I am honored to have the opportunity to discuss these two remarkable books with Doug Abrams at 5:00pm PT on March 23 at SandBox, an exquisite collaborative arts space in Sand City.

You can also register as a virtual attendee, if you can’t make it in person. Registration includes a signed copy of the book of your choice. There will be time at the event for you to ask Doug a question. A light reception with follow.

If you have questions, please reach out to me at jennifer@tothelighthouse.net. I hope to see you there!