Post-Graduate Certificate Course at Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Mind, Thinking & Creativity

November 6-8, 2017

Mind is humanity’s highest developed instrument for seeking knowledge. It is the master tool that we use to comprehend the present, remember the past, and anticipate and plan for the future. From the act of striking two flints together to create fire to combining strings of 1s and 0s to design the code for supercomputers, mind has enabled humanity to create remarkable technologies and organized global institutions. The mind is the unifying foundation on which humanity’s entire social evolution is based. To understand this vital instrument better, the World Academy of Art & Science and World University Consortium have launched a ground-breaking project to explore Mind, Thinking and Creativity. A greater understanding of the nature of mind, its ways of knowing, the limits to thinking and rationality, mind’s untapped potential, the workings of creativity and genius are essential for addressing the challenges confronting humanity today.
In April 2016 WAAS and WUC, along with partnering organizations IACP, IUC, DHUC, and MSS organized a four-day roundtable on Mind, Thinking and Creativity 2016 at Dubrovnik, Croatia for to explore fundamental questions. The meeting was attended by experts from different fields of natural and social science, including medicine, neuroscience, engineering, psychology, sociology, economics, law, and philosophy. Video recordings, presentations and papers for the roundtable are available here.
The enthusiastic interest generated by the Dubrovnik meeting spurred efforts of WAAS and the World University Consortium to commence work on a on-line course on this subject which is now underway. A report on last year’s meeting including videos and presentations was included in the Academy’s July 2016 newsletter.
Roundtable 2 — November 2017 at Dubrovnik
The second roundtable on Mind, Thinking & Creativity was conducted by the World University Consortium, the World Academy of Art & Science, the Mother’s Service Society, Person-Centered Approach Institute, Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy and the Inter-University Centre from November 6-8, 2017 at Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
The program was an endeavour to rediscover the marvellous capacities of mind as humanity has originally discovered, developed and applied them. It aimed to broaden the range and enhance the quality of our thinking by making conscious the implicit assumptions and barriers that confine it within narrow boundaries and the characteristic types of errors and omissions they give rise to.
The meeting examined and evaluated the nature of mental processes, the capacity of mental faculties and characteristics, errors and limitations in the way they are utilized. The objective was for participants to understand the way mind works and ways it can work more effectively and creatively to see greater possibilities and actualize them. Concise case studies from different fields were presented and discussed in order to develop insights and draw conclusions on the characteristics and limitations of mind. The meeting explored ways to promote integrated forms of thinking that will foster original thinking, creativity and intuitive ways of knowing.