Father Laurence Freeman OSB is one of the advisors of Science & Wisdom LIVE, and he was one of our keynote speakers at our inaugural event on “Destructive Emotions & Distorted Perceptions” in November 2011.

Father Laurence is a Catholic priest and a Benedictine monk of Monastery of Sta Maria di Pilastrello, in Italy, and the Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation.

After completing his studies in theology at the Universite de Montreal and at McGill University, he made his solemn monastic profession in 1979 and was ordained to priesthood in 1980. Together with his spiritual teacher, Fr John Main, he helped to establish Christian Meditation Centres in London and Montreal.

After the death of John Main, he continued teaching meditation, and in 1991 returned to England to establish the International Centre of the newly formed World Community for Christian Meditation, which is now present in more than a hundred countries.

Author of numerous articles and books on meditation and Christianity, he joined His Holiness the Dalai Lama for a series of dialogues, which inspired the book ‘A Good Heart’.

Before entering monastic life, Fr. Laurence studied English Literature at New College, Oxford University, and worked with the United Nations in New York.