The Sangha
Invitation
The School of AI and Wisdom is beginning a new series of small weekly gatherings in Amsterdam, alongside its existing workshops and programmes.
The School’s work has been developing at the intersection of philosophy, contemplative practice, and artificial intelligence — with a particular focus on how people learn to think clearly and deliberately with these systems. Much of that work has taken place in structured settings. At the same time, it has become clear that a different kind of space is needed: smaller, more continuous, and closer to the reality of what people are actually working on.
These weekly gatherings are an experiment in creating such a space.
The Sangha meets weekly — but you don’t need to come every week. You can join every other week, once a month, or whenever fits your rhythm. The point is to keep it casual and low‑stakes: a place you can reliably return to, without feeling locked into a weekly commitment.
Each week, a small group meets for two hours in the evening. Participants bring something live: a project, a question, a difficulty, or a line of thought that has not yet settled. The work of the session is to take these seriously — to examine them carefully, to test ideas where appropriate, and to follow them a little further than would usually be possible alone.
Over time, the intention is that something more than a series of meetings takes shape. The practical benefits are straightforward: greater clarity in one’s work, more precision in how these tools are used, and a better sense of when to trust them and when not to. Just as important is the continuity of the group itself — a small circle of people who return regularly, and whose thinking develops in relation to one another.
The term Sangha is used in many traditions to describe a community formed around a shared path of practice. The weekly gathering is one expression of that idea; the longer arc is the community that gradually forms through it.
There are ten places available per session. Seats are therefore limited, and are offered on a first‑come basis each week.
Those who feel that this kind of space would be valuable are warmly invited to express their interest.
What a Sangha looks like
Every session is built in two rounds with a break in the middle. Round 1 is for sharing and reflection. Round 2 is for practical, hands-on work.
| Time | Duration | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 — Sharing | ||
| 19:00–19:15 | 15 min | Arrival. Doors open. Drinks. Chit-chat. |
| 19:15 | — | Doors close. Strict. |
| 19:15–19:20 | 5 min | Opening remarks. |
| 19:20–19:30 | 10 min | Meditation. |
| 19:30–20:00 | 30 min | Sharing circle — ~3 min each: where you are, what you’re working on, what’s alive this week. |
| 20:00–20:15 | 15 min | Open discussion. Cross-threads and follow-ups. |
| 20:15–20:25 | 10 min | Break: tea, stretch, reset. |
| Round 2 — Practical | ||
| 20:25–20:55 | 30 min | Hands-on work. Live prompting with Delphi, demonstrations, a group clinic on someone’s project, or a focused exercise — the format shifts week to week depending on what’s most useful. |
| 20:55–21:00 | 5 min | Closing. What’s landing. What we carry into the week. |
The strict 19:15 door close is deliberate. A contained room makes real depth possible; people coming and going breaks the energetic seal.
What you’ll take away
Over time, the value of the Sangha is cumulative. It is less a single experience than something that builds across weeks.
- A more deliberate relationship with AI. Participants develop practical skill in working with these systems: how to prompt with precision, how to evaluate what comes back, and how to recognise when an output should be trusted and when it should not. The emphasis is on practice rather than instruction.
- Sustained progress on what you are building. Each session provides space to return to your own work — whether a research question, a business idea, a creative project, or something less clearly defined. The group helps you think it through, and the weekly rhythm allows that thinking to accumulate.
- A wider frame for understanding the technology. The School’s approach situates AI within a broader philosophical and contemplative context. Questions of attention, consciousness, and practice are not treated as separate from technical use, but as shaping it.
- Continuity with a small community. Over time, a real Sangha forms: a small community of like‑minded people who overlap week by week, where ideas can be revisited, threads carried forward, and projects gradually followed.
- Proximity to the School’s ongoing work. The Sangha functions as a first circle around the School. New ideas, formats, and programmes are often explored here before they take more formal shape.
- Coming soon: direct access to Delphi. Sessions include hands-on work with Delphi, the cognitive AI system developed at CPS. Participants encounter it early, work with it directly, and, in a practical sense, contribute to how it develops.
Who it’s for
The Sangha began as a small circle around CPS and its collaborators in Amsterdam, and it is slowly opening its doors. If the description below sounds like you, you’re welcome to join — no prior connection needed. Those familiar with past gatherings such as the Mystical Entropy Workshops and the Great Chakra Debates will recognise the character of the room.
You can expect a mixture of philosophers, scientists, meditators, yogis, artists, designers, psychonauts, coaches, technologists — people with a working balance of discipline and creativity, structure and chaos. Psychonauts who can sit still. Rationalists who have had the experience.
Faculty
Sanghas are led by members of the School’s faculty. In the opening programme, sessions are led primarily by Dr. Aidan Lyon — Founder and Director of CPS, author of Psychedelic Experience: Revealing the Mind (Oxford University Press), and architect of the Delphi AI system — with occasional contributions from Dev Bhattacharya (Maison Magnétique; founder of The Passionate Philosophers) and invited guests as the programme develops.
Logistics
| When | Weekly, 19:00–21:00 — see dates below |
| Where | Kokopelli, Warmoesstraat 12, 1012 JD Amsterdam — two minutes from Centraal Station |
| Price | €10 per session |
| Seats | 10 per session |
| Doors | Close at 19:15 sharp |
Come as you are
Turn up to one. Turn up to all of them. Totally up to you. The first few Sanghas will be informal — the School and its community are finding their rhythm together. The intention is to start small and let the form find its shape, in good company.
The rest is simple. Cool venue. Cool people. Can’t go wrong.
Come with curiosity. Leave your certainty at the door. Bring your hardest question.
Book a session
Choose your date below. €10 per session, paid securely via Mollie.
Stay in the loop
Dates open in small batches, and seats go quickly. Leave your email and we’ll write the moment new Sanghas are scheduled — nothing else, no newsletter.
You’re on the list — we’ll be in touch when new dates open.