BRYAN MELTZ / EMORY UNIVERSITY
Emory University President James Wagner welcomes the Dalai Lama to Atlanta as a Presidential Distinguished Professor. The Dalai Lama accepted his first university appointment ever at Emory University in 2007.
144
“For more than 30 years I have been engaged in an ongoing exchange with scientists, exploring what modern scientific knowledge and the time-honored science of mind embodied by the Tibetan tradition can bring to each other’s understanding of reality,” said His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama. “This is important because the greatest problems humanity faces today must be addressed not only on a material level, but also on a psychological and emotional level. celebrations and intimate gatherings – are planned for what has been coined “The Visit.” Michael P. Kloss, Emory’s Chief of Protocol and executive director of the Office of University Events, orchestrates much of it. In the past six years, he has produced nearly 50 hours of live events with the Dalai Lama for more than 50,000 guests and 300,000 online viewers. The exclusive social events, critical for financial support, are sandwiched between the live public events. “We’ve welcomed the world to Atlanta in venues as varied as campus chapels, classrooms, Centennial Olympic Park, and just recently the Gwinnett Center having outgrown our campus facilities,” Kloss said. “One can feel nothing but privileged to be witness to these interactions, and to hear firsthand how lives have changed and more will follow. For the opportunity to play a small part in that greater good, I am deeply appreciative to Emory University.”
248
Event designer Tony Brewer, who has been involved with Emory’s private events for the Dalai Lama since 2007, says he has been honored and humbled to play a role. “To be able to provide the gift of beautiful surroundings to His Holiness, who has so enriched my own life, is the highest honor I could wish for,” Brewer said. The Dalai Lama has said that a “need for simple human-tohuman relationships is becoming increasingly urgent…Universal responsibility is feeling for other people’s suffering just as we feel our own. It is the realization that even our enemy is entirely motivated by the quest for happiness. We must recognize that all beings want the same thing that we want. This is the way to achieve a true understanding.” Through Emory University’s relationship with His Holiness, this pure and sincere hope is being heard across Atlanta and beyond.
SOUTHERN SEASONS MAGAZINE
|
33