The Dinners
Our Inner Lives is a dinner series to explore character, depth and soul.
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Originally inspired by David Brooks’ Adam I vs. Adam II, we believe that living “eulogy virtues” is far more important than “resume virtues”. We believe that living the good life is being good in life, and we regularly struggle with living the way we want to. Our hope is that coming together to explore these themes with friends and strangers alike will give us the vocabulary and understanding to live better lives by being better people.
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CURRENTLY ON A DINNER HIATUS UNTIL IT IS SAFE TO BE TOGETHER IN PERSON.
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Previous Dinner Themes: Fortitude, Courage, Moral Dilemmas, Love, Existential Loneliness, Deep Kindness, Forgiveness, Freedom
Dinner Rules
1. We follow the Chatham House Rules: "When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed."
2. We aim to create a psychologically safe environment, meaning no one will be judged or made feel that they are judged for any opinions they share even if we aren't all in agreement.
3. We do believe in questioning and challenging one another and yet, if someone says "I don't want to talk about this further", we respect that wish entirely.
4. We encourage you to share how you feel, but understand that feelings can be difficult to address.
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5. In line with the rules of "Jeffersonian Dinners", when we are sitting at the table, we will be having one conversation; we don't intend for smaller groups to break off in side conversation.
Adam I vs. Adam II
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David Brooks references this in his “Road to Character” book and speeches. He took the concept from Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik’ “Lonely Man of Faith”. David Brooks describes these as “Resume Adam” and “Eulogy Adam” namely; Adam I is the part of us that seeks to achieve, to conquer, to be famous and Adam II is the part of us that seeks to be better, to do good in the world and be kind to others. Brooks explains that they are both important, though arguably Adam II is more important and yet our society tends to value Adam I far more than it does Adam II. He describes this as one of the deep challenges of our time and urges us to explore Adam II in more depth.
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Other inspirations for the dinner include: On Being, Tim Leberecht's 15 toasts, Jaimie Stettin's Silent Dinner, The School of Life, our respective Friday Night Shabbat Dinners & more