Nobody gets there alone, and nobody owns the way. These are people and places whose work we admire.

The
ecosystem

How we choose

We list work that helps people towards the four things this site is about: clarity, enough, trust and harmony. We describe each one only from what it publishes about itself, and we link to it so you can see for yourself.

Being listed here is appreciation, not endorsement or partnership, and nobody here has endorsed us. Where we see a way to work together, we say so to them directly, not on this page.

Madhyasth Darshan · Jeevan Vidya

madhyasth.org ↗

What they do
The study of Madhyasth Darshan, the philosophy of coexistence given by Shri A. Nagraj. Its own summary is three words: existence is coexistence. It is taught through introductory workshops and longer study, and through a yearly Jeevan Vidya conference; the 28th is at Achhoti, Chhattisgarh, on December 25–27, 2026.
What we appreciate
It treats understanding as something anyone can study and check in their own living, not something to be believed. It is where most of our own ideas come from.
What we are learning
How much patient, shared study it takes before an idea becomes a way of living.

Vikalp Sangam

vikalpsangam.org ↗

What they do
An “alternatives confluence” in India, started in 2014 with Kalpavriksh. It documents alternatives across the full range of human endeavour as they take place in India, and helps build bridges between them.
What we appreciate
It shows alternatives that people are already living, in villages, farms, schools and cities, instead of only arguing for them.
What we are learning
That stories of real places persuade in a way that arguments alone cannot.

J. Krishnamurti Foundations

jkrishnamurti.org ↗

What they do
The home of the talks, dialogues and writings of J. Krishnamurti, open to read, watch and listen to. Its core teaching is that truth cannot be reached through any organisation, creed or technique, but through understanding ourselves in relationship.
What we appreciate
It begins from the questions people actually live with: fear, conflict in relationship, education, freedom.
What we are learning
To open with a person’s own question, not with our answer.

Plum Village

plumvillage.org ↗

What they do
A global community of mindfulness practice centres, offering retreats and teachings on what it calls the art of mindful living. Its talks and guided practices are shared freely online.
What we appreciate
The teaching is visible in daily life: farming, ceremonies, families on retreat, a community living what it says.
What we are learning
To show what life looks like when an understanding is lived, not only what the understanding is.

The On Being Project

onbeing.org ↗

What they do
An ongoing conversation about the art of living, through a podcast, gatherings and a library of talks. It names six grounding virtues for conversation: words that matter, generous listening, adventurous civility, humility, patience and hospitality.
What we appreciate
It takes the way people talk together as seriously as what they talk about.
What we are learning
That a conversation needs agreed ways of listening before it can reach understanding.

Auroville

auroville.org ↗

What they do
A township in south India founded in 1968, with people from more than sixty nations, which describes itself as an ongoing experiment in human unity.
What we appreciate
It calls itself an experiment, and reports its difficulties on its own site as well as its achievements.
What we are learning
That being honest about what is not working is part of the work, not a failure of it.

Nai Talim Samiti

naitalimsamiti.org ↗

What they do
Carries forward Nai Talim, or Basic Education, first proposed at Wardha in 1937: the principle that knowledge and work are not separate, and that children learn through productive, useful work.
What we appreciate
It joins learning, livelihood and character in one education, instead of three.
What we are learning
That a school designed around understanding has to change what children do, not only what they hear.

Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)

hai.stanford.edu ↗

What they do
An interdisciplinary institute, launched in 2019, that advances AI and data science research, education, policy and practice “to improve the human condition”. It draws on all seven of Stanford’s schools, united by the idea that AI should enable human flourishing, and guided by its human impact, designed to augment rather than replace people, and inspired by human intelligence.
What we appreciate
It names human flourishing as the purpose of AI, and brings every discipline to the question rather than leaving it to engineers.
What we are learning
How much a shared commitment to openness, across research, education and policy, lets very different fields work on one question.
Where we come at it differently
We start one step earlier, from a working definition of flourishing itself: four goals, from the individual to all of nature, that can be tested in how a family lives.

Future of Life Institute

futureoflife.org ↗

What they do
Its mission is “to steer transformative technologies away from extreme, large-scale risks and towards benefiting life”. It began with volunteers and now works mainly through policy, outreach and grantmaking.
What we appreciate
It takes the long-term future seriously, and its mission speaks of benefiting life, not only people.
What we are learning
How policy, outreach and grantmaking together can move a whole field’s attention.
Where we come at it differently
Its focus is steering away from the largest risks. Ours is the destination: what a good life on a living planet is, on the view that clarity about where we are going is also a kind of safety.

Center for Humane Technology

humanetech.com ↗

What they do
An independent nonprofit, founded in 2018 by technologists, that identifies and analyses the incentives driving consequential technologies and develops interventions toward “a world where technology supports and strengthens the very things that make us human”. Its work spans public awareness, policy and helping people find their agency.
What we appreciate
It looks at incentives, not only at products, and asks what technology does to the people using it.
What we are learning
That public understanding of a problem can change the incentives behind how technology is designed.
Where we come at it differently
Alongside incentives and design, we ask what people actually need, and put understanding at the centre as the design target.