Due to the ongoing major conflicts in our world, and the profound impacts they’ve had on people near and far from the actual epicenters of violence, we have decided to bring you a special edition of our Weekly Wisdom series.
In addition to the horrors of massive loss of life and destruction, escalations of violence in Israel, Palestine, Russia, and Ukraine have also been responsible for serious psychosocial shifts that can and do lead to more isolated acts of violence. Opinions surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict have been incredibly contentious for decades, but lately this has reached a boiling point that has turned neighbors against each other.
As such, I wanted to share with you all an important article I read recently in Psychology Today, authored by a good friend of mine, Dr. Tyler J. VanderWeele. Tyler is the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He has also been an important friend and advisor to UEF. Likewise, UEF has been a proud supporter of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program, of which Tyler is the director.
Tyler’s recent article on how love can overcome hate could not have come at a more critical time and should be required reading for anyone who truly cares about finding ways forward in our divided world. More broadly, the work Tyler and his team have conducted for years has been instrumental in bringing more attention to topics like love and flourishing in academic circles, and how scholarly and medical research can yield important data about the impacts of love in our individual lives and our collective societies. I ask that you please read Tyler’s recent article and reflect deeply upon it. Also check out https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/ for more information on the Harvard Human Flourishing Program, or check out Tyler’s profile on Psychology today for more engaging and important reading. As always, we encourage you to also check out our resources on flourishing, love, and other related topics at www.uef.org.
