The Chautauqua Institution, founded in 1874, is tucked away in a restored Victorian village beside a fish-filled lake surrounded by the mountains of upstate New York. In this tranquil setting, people from all over the U.S. gather to enjoy distinguished intellectuals speak. There is no powerpoint, and not even a slide projector! It is all about a thoughtful speaker standing before a few thousand highly informed and influential listeners, eager to catch the winds of new social, political, ethical and religious ideas.

In October of 2004, the Rev. Joan Campbell, director of the department of religion at Chautauqua, attended a conference convened by the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love on the subject of love and justice. Shortly thereafter the idea of having a week based on Unlimited Love at Chautauqua began to take shape. We decided to treat Unlimited Love broadly, but to weave it into a special thematic focus on the brain. Here was a unique opportunity to bring the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, founded in 2001 with a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, into public view.

Studies at the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love focus on deeply unselfish love for others — the kind of love enshrined in the golden rule, encouraged by the world’s great spiritual traditions and affirmed as the “Ground of Being” by theologians and mystics. This love motivates all the human behaviors that are deemed “good” — the nurturing of children, abiding marriage, loyal friendship, helping the needy, high creativity and even the global political quest for a peaceful world. Forgiveness, gratitude, joy, justice, compassion, respect, tolerance — all are at bottom expressions of unselfish love in different contexts.

So here was a week at Chautauqua to understand this love in a way that integrates science and spirituality, and that assumes an amplifying resonance between our naturally evolved capacities for love and a Higher Being of pure and unbounded love. In a time of daunting global fragmentation and the spread of fear-based behaviors, there is great need to understand the very heart of positive action in scholarly as well as practical ways.

Week nine at the Chautauqua Institution is the last of the season, and usually sees a drop in attendance as families head home for school. Remarkably, however, interest in Unlimited Love was so great that this was the best attended week with upwards of 3,000 people listening attentively to morning lectures in the amphitheater, and as many as 1800 at each of the afternoon sessions in the Hall of Philosophy.

Highlights? Everyone was dazzling intellectually, but also deeply personable and loving. You had to be, because it was impossible to walk down the path without someone approaching you with an idea or a comment on his or her definition of Unlimited Love.

Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr., M.D., president of the John Templeton Foundation, reviewed the Foundation’s research initiatives and concluded with a presentation on Unlimited Love, generosity and thrift. Dr. Templeton’s thoughtful face-to-face interaction with enthusiastic supporters over the course of the week brought the work of the Foundation to a knowledgeable group of civic leaders and philanthropists.

Dr. Edward Hundert, president of Case Western Reserve University, spoke eloquently about the idea of a leading national research university centering a curriculum, research and activities on the theme of unselfish love and a shared humanity. Drs. Templeton and Hundert, both graduates of Yale University and Harvard Medical School, discovered that they share a vision about the importance of dialogue between science and spirituality.

Dr. Everett Worthington flew in from England for the week to give a presentation on forgiveness as an expression of love, leaving the audience mesmerized. Dr. Worthington, who chaired the Templeton Campaign for Forgiveness Research, inspired thousands with his reflections on the science, theology and practice of forgiveness.

Dr. Esther Sternberg, a premier research scientist on the brain and emotion, offered her insights into why unselfish love seems to have so many benefits, not just to the recipient, but also to the giver. Her presentation was so popular that for three days she was besieged by people with questions and encouragement for her pioneering work. Her books were sold out before the assigned hours for author signing, and a whole second order had to be shipped.

Dr. Sherwin Nolan of Yale addressed the interface of science, unselfish love and human nature with a degree of depth and seriousness that defies easy description. Cathy Lewis, a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, spoke from her heart about how central unselfish love is to every aspect of goodness. Dr. John Ratey, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, spoke of parental love and child neurological development. Dr. Gerald M. Edelman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine and chairman of neurobiology at the Scripps Research Institute, spoke broadly of the brain and emotion.

The impact of this week is incalculable. The Chautauquan Daily ran lengthy articles on the Unlimited Love presentations, and Krista Tippett, host of the NPR national show Speaking of Faith, recorded interviews for airing in the months ahead. Total attendance for all presentations was an estimated 5,000 per day, or 25,000 total. People of tremendous distinction and accomplishment were there to celebrate the theme of Unlimited Love, ask demanding questions and challenge us to move forward.

Since inception, the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love has funded over 50 scientific research projects at universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and Case Western Reserve University. It provides competitive awards for high-level scientific research; for course development in colleges, universities and secondary schools; and for essay and book publication. In 2004 an international course competition for college and university professors resulted in 11 course awards. In April 2005, more than 20 of the science and theology faculty teaching these courses gathered to begin preparation of a textbook to be used in future courses around the world.

The Institute seeks the point of convergence where evolution, religion, neurology, social science, biomedicine, spirituality and human development become a gateway to the moral vision of a shared humanity.

The questions being addressed are important to us all. How, for example, can we raise children who shape their lives around unselfish love and the service of humanity? Is it true that kind and benevolent people generally experience higher levels of well-being, happiness, and health? How do individuals whose loved ones have been killed or maimed manage not to succumb to hatred? Where does spirituality come into the practice of love and justice? How do catastrophes like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina elicit such compassionate responses? Where does spiritual experience of unlimited love fit?

Pastor Otis Moss, Jr., chairman of the board of trustees of Morehouse College and a presenter at Chautauqua declared, the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love is “one of the most significant initiatives of this generation. The connection between research and application cannot be over-emphasized.”

Links of Interest
The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love
The Chautauqua Institution

Stephen G. Post is a professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and president of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love.

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Milestones is a publication of the John Templeton Foundation.