Shoumik Banerjee and Sasha Ndam
After hosting more than 30 successful and engaging Dialogue Nights events, on July 19, 2024, the Ikeda Center debuted Dialogue Nights Lite, which the Center’s Preandra Noel described as an “extension” of the original series. Where each Dialogue Nights is “centered around a specific theme such as friendship, loneliness, stress, among others,” said Preandra, the new series was inspired by the desire of the Center’s youth committee members “to learn and strengthen more dialogue skills to better connect with people in their lives.”
Before turning the floor over to the evening’s moderators, Center youth committee members Shoumik Banerjee and Sasha Ndam, Preandra introduced the 56 attendees to the Center’s four Dialogue Commitments [view here] and nine Dialogue Ground Rules [view here]. Together, said Preandra, these provide excellent “tools for strengthening our dialogue muscles.” Over the course of the evening, participants would refer back to these to increase the effectiveness of each dialogue activity.
During welcoming remarks, Shoumik and Sasha explained that the evening would feature “multiple rounds of speed-connecting” — which is like speed-dating, but “without the dating,” they joked. Introducing the first round of speed connecting, Sasha said that each connecting activity would emulate the way that Center founder Daisaku Ikeda “always made sure to get to know his dialogue partners by asking questions about their life.” This practice, she added, demonstrated that for Mr. Ikeda “the foundation of dialogue … was having faith in human beings or, in other words, believing in another person’s inherent goodness.”
With that, Sasha shared the first speed-connecting question for pairs of participants: When was the last time you had a good long laugh and what was the context? After a ten-minute discussion, Shoumik introduced the round one reflection activity, during which he invited everyone to form new pairs to discuss topics such as “whether you and your partner did a good job actively listening to and engaging with one another or what you could have done differently.” He also invited them to consider which of the four commitments they are “interested in applying through the night.”
For the second round of speed connecting, participants discussed a question that asked them to now engage on a deeper emotional level: What’s a moment that significantly shaped who you are today? And for this round’s reflection activity, participants were asked to discuss how well they applied their chosen commitments, along with “anything else that comes to mind.” Then, before moving to the third speed connecting dialogue, Sasha shared a quote from Mr. Ikeda that expressed the ideals of his — and the Ikeda Center’s — dialogic ethos:
The true value of dialogue is not to be found solely in the results it produces but also in the process of dialogue itself, as two human spirits engage with and elevate each other to a higher realm.
Thus inspired, participants then discussed the third question of the evening, which continued the movement toward introspection and shared meaning-making: Looking back at the person you were, what are you proud of the most looking at your current self?
With the third speed connection completed it was time to conclude the 75-minute event with a takeaway activity. By way of introduction, Shoumik said that this activity was conceived with the understanding that “connecting and being vulnerable with others through dialogue can bring up different emotions and thoughts.” It also was inspired by the image of the water drop drawn from another Ikeda quote. “If one drop of the water of dialogue is allowed to fall upon the wasteland of intolerance,” he wrote, “where attitudes of hatred and exclusionism have so long prevailed, there will be a possibility for trust and friendship to spring up.”
With that conviction in mind, participants received two pieces of paper: one shaped like a seashell and one shaped like a waterdrop. On the seashell, each person was invited to write down “one fear or doubt around dialogue that you would like to leave behind.” And on their water drops they were invited to write about “ways you strengthened your dialogue skills today and how you hope to apply it further in your daily life.” The takeaways were rich with insights and revealed that even brief dialogues can yield many positive results when pursued with structure, thought, and intention. Here are some highlights from the seashell offerings! These participants would like to leave behind …
And here are some highlights from the water drop reflections! Some of the ways participants strengthened their dialogue skills included:
Dialogue is the foundation for all of the Center’s activities, but more than that, in the view of our founder, Daisaku Ikeda, it is also the mode of engagement with others and the world that holds the greatest potential for enabling us to realize a more peaceful, flourishing world. This is because dialogue, as Mr. Ikeda conceives of it and we pursue it, is a forward looking and unifying pursuit.
