On the cover:
The Study of Spirituality FIU seeks to develop hearts and minds

The new center was inspired by His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s 1995 visit to FIU when he emphasized that education should nurture both a strong mind and a warm heart. Featured on the cover is His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet during his September 2004 return to FIU, described by FIU President Modesto Maidique as a “once in a lifetime privilege” for students. The Dalai Lama’s lecture, “Compassion: The Source of True Happiness,” attracted more than 5,000 students, staff and faculty.

By Deborah O'Neil

Something about the words — spoken gently, but with absolute conviction — was unforgettable. From another mouth, they might have rung like an indictment. But coming from the tranquil monk in the saffron robes, they sounded like something else altogether. They sounded like an inspiration.

“In the modern education system, you pay attention to the proper development of the brain, but you do not pay adequate attention to the development of the warm heart,” His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet told a rapt audience on that day five years ago at Florida International University’s Panther Arena. “The development of the good heart, the warm heart, and the development of the good brain — these must go together.”

“A poetic notion. Simple yet profound.

That was the seed. Those words, those ideas, embedded themselves into Professor Nathan Katz’s mind, slowly working into his psyche, melding with concepts honed during a lifelong journey of religious scholarship and personal faith. It took years for Katz to fully grasp their meaning, to understand how deeply compelled he had become to convert those inspiring words into a living testament.

His vision, born of a holy man’s wisdom, came to fruition last fall when Katz, who 10 years ago was founding chair of FIU’s Religious Studies Department, unveiled the university’s Center for the Study of Spirituality. The center’s mission is to stimulate a conversation, a dialogue between faculty, students and the community about the role spirituality plays in modern life — in health and science, education and the arts, human development and family. As Katz envisions it, that conversation can take many forms, from innovative research projects and intimate classroom discussion circles to blockbuster campus appearances by the greatest religious and spiritual thinkers of our time.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet and FIU Religious Studies Professor Nathan Katz first met in 1973 when Katz was studying Tibetan language in India. Here, they confer just before The Dalai Lama's second presentation at FIU in 2004.

Fittingly, the sage who inspired the spirituality center was the focal point of one of its first acts. In September, the center arranged for the Dalai Lama to make a rare second appearance at the same venue, a return to Florida International University, where he planted an idea five years ago that sprouted and grew.

“Florida International University is extraordinarily fortunate,” said President Modesto A. Maidique in introducing the Dalai Lama. “I know I speak for everyone who participated in that 1999 celebration when I say I felt profoundly blessed to be in the presence of this great spiritual master. Since then, it has been my sincerest hope that future classes of FIU students might also have the same once-in-a-lifetime privilege.”

“To 5,000 students, faculty and staff present the Dalai Lama shared another message, one that represents the culmination of his temporal and spiritual learning: Compassion is the source of happiness.

[ 1 - 2 - 3 ]