Survival University: Meeting a Societal Need

Next Meeting: This Evening, July 27, 2026, at 6 p.m. EDT / 3 p.m. PDT

Jul 27, 2026

At our last meeting, we discussed how the world is experiencing a pivotal historical moment, characterized by multiple overlapping crises, for which there is a common psychological and spiritual origin.

Today we will discuss: Why is Survival University needed? What specifically is the problem, and what solution does it propose?

First, I would like to inform everyone that the executive committee met, and will form the infrastructure upon which ideas and feedback discussed here will be incorporated and carried out. There will be an educational branch, a research branch, a practical branch, a policy branch, and an effort at awareness campaigns.

It was a very productive meeting, during which committee members were able to agree that human civilization currently faces multiple interconnected crises:

· deterioration of social cohesion;
· declining collective responsibility;
· failures of communication;
· violence as a social rather than individual phenomenon;
· political polarization and isolation;
· psychological manipulation; and
· weakening democratic institutions.

Rather than viewing these issues independently, committee members explored how they might try to address these as different manifestations of common underlying social psychological and spiritual dynamics, using an interdisciplinary and multisectoral approach.

Second, we are continuing to discuss the name. “Survival University” was proposed to us by a publicist, and we are in the midst of discussing whether to confine ourselves to “survival” or to “university”. To illustrate the problem I have with the latter word, I quote here a message from a fellow Yale alumnus:

Dear Dr. Lee,
I emailed you 5 1/2 years ago…. Today I’ve updated myself on developments since then. And again, I want to thank you for your efforts…. More generally, though, I’ve read about your contributions in so many areas, too numerous to mention. Your work is truly commendable. Also, having now read and updated myself as to the events of the past 5 years, I’m ashamed and disgusted by Yale’s behavior and actions. They should not only apologize to you, they should—in all seriousness—award you an honorary degree at the annual Yale commencement. Please continue your courageous work and may God bless you in it!
Sincerely,
J.R., Yale Class of 19__

I cite this letter, because it echoes the overwhelming sentiment among messages from Yale affiliates I receive, in sharp contrast to university leadership—and highlights what is wrong with our universities. Many agree I was wrongly dismissed for First Amendment-protected academic speech (in Connecticut, even private universities are bound to the Constitution, unlike all other states), while even repeatedly-alleged sexual predators are allowed to continue to teach under current leadership. Indeed, I used to be proud of my seventeen years of teaching the brightest and (at the time) the most public interest-minded students in the legal field. Now, I am embarrassed to know how many Yale Law School graduates are compromising themselves and their country for political advancement.

From the University of Paris during the Hundred Years’ War, to German universities under the Nazi regime, to Lysenkoism in the Soviet Union, universities have served to give intellectual legitimacy to untenable political positions at the greatest time of need. Survival University aspires to be an alternative, where the most-needed knowledge is provided, to solve rather than contribute to problems, as is the original purpose of knowledge. The same had happened with the American Psychiatric Association (APA), when it violated medical ethics in order to serve the state; we endeavored to fulfill our professional societal responsibility where the APA had failed, which led to the formation of the World Mental Health Coalition.

Third, this new initiative seeks to consider what has not been considered, and to dare what has not been dared. One characteristic of a society that has fallen into sickness or regression is that it becomes rigid and restrictive. Not only does it make choices that are self-destructive, but it loses the capacity to imagine alternatives. It mistakes conformity for wisdom, fear for prudence, and habit for truth. Healing begins when individuals reclaim the courage to question prevailing assumptions and to envision new possibilities. Such courage is not recklessness, as entrenched systems often portray it, but the willingness to examine ourselves honestly and to change what we can within ourselves, so that the outer world can transform with us. Every great renewal in human history has begun when enough people discovered that another way of seeing reality was possible. Currently, reclaiming that freedom is no longer a luxury—it is an existential necessity.

Finally, we return to the original question: Why is Survival University Needed? What problem does it address, and what solution does it suggest? Humanity has entered a decisive moment, where never before has a single species possessed the power to destroy itself—and much of life on earth—through nuclear weapons, ecological collapse, pandemics, artificial intelligence, and other technologies of its own creation. Yet, the greatest danger is not these external threats themselves, but the psychological and spiritual conditions that gave rise to them. This extraordinary capability of changing the world around us, while remaining little capable of changing ourselves, is the existential problem it seeks to address.

The solution is to break away from the same assumptions, habits of mind, and world view that created the problem. We have mistaken separateness for reality, competition for necessity, and preservation of the smallest self for the highest human aspiration. As a result, even well-designed political, economic, and technological solutions repeatedly fail, to the point of utter, imminent devastation of the present day. Unless human consciousness evolves, every structural reform will remain vulnerable to the same fear, greed, domination, and alienation that produced the crisis in the first place. For this stage of evolution, we need something more than what we have tried so far, and this “something more” is what Survival University proposes. I have put it this way to a colleague:

Humanity needs a shared vision…. I do not mean saving the world from demise, but the abundance of life that already is (which the world does not seem ready for, which is the reason we have brought ourselves to this point of self-annihilation). The question is therefore not, “Are we ready not to die?” but, “Are we ready to live?” If we are not ready for the latter, then simply resuscitating humankind will do no good. It will get itself back to the exact same place in very little time.

Announcement:

Dr. Bandy X. Lee will hold her next planning meeting for Survival University this evening, Monday, July 27, 2026, at 6 p.m. EDT / 3 p.m. PDT. A paid subscription will bring you a link to your email Inbox, an hour before the meeting.