Ontologies of Flourishing: A Dialogue Between Matthew T. Lee and Carson Kelly
Compassion 2.0 Conversations: Threads of the Mastermind - This event is part of a 10-part series spotlighting the kinds of depth-driven, future-facing conversations that happen inside the Compassion 2.0 Mastermind.
Ontologies of Flourishing
A Dialogue Between Matthew T. Lee and Carson Kelly
What do we mean when we talk about flourishing—and what meanings are hidden in the ways we define it?
In this 60-minute conversation, Matthew T. Lee of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program and Carson Kelly, founder of Compassion 2.0, explore the many ontologies—the underlying ways of being and knowing—that shape our understanding of what it means to flourish as humans, communities, and systems.
Rooted in both empirical research and embodied practice, this dialogue will traverse:
Competing and complementary definitions of flourishing across science, philosophy, and lived experience
The nervous system as a foundation for human coherence, meaning-making, and ethical action
Flourishing as both an individual and collective process—embedded in systems, structures, and relationships
The role of love, awe, and moral beauty in transformative human experience
How different ontologies of flourishing influence our design of technology, institutions, and futures
As the world contends with accelerating complexity and fragmentation, this conversation invites a pause—a chance to re-examine the assumptions beneath our metrics, models, and aspirations. What if flourishing isn’t just an outcome, but a paradigm shift in how we understand human life?
About the Speakers
Matthew T. Lee, PhD. is a sociologist and Director of the Flourishing Network for the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. His work explores the science of human well-being, moral development, and transcendent experiences, with a focus on how love, virtue, and purpose shape individual and collective flourishing.
Carson Kelly is the founder of Compassion 2.0, a framework and consultancy that integrates nervous system science, systems thinking, and organizational design. His work helps leaders and institutions embed care as a foundational input for sustainable performance, resilience, and relational coherence.
The Compassion 2.0 Mastermind is more than a program— it’s a living field of relationships, inquiry, and collective practice.
It brings together leaders, system shapers, and deep practitioners who are actively designing human systems that center compassionate experience as both method and outcome. Grounded in the science of flourishing, the Mastermind explores validated and emergent practices, processes, and products that reveal the measurable ROI of care across organizations and ecosystems.
We engage a diverse community of professionals—neuroscientists, behavioral scientists, organizational psychologists, systems thinkers, entrepreneurs, investors, consultants, and leadership experts—alongside values-driven philosophers and integrative practitioners. What unites them is a shared commitment to shaping the next generation of human-centered systems.
If you’re interested in what becomes possible at the intersection of care, coherence, and complexity, this is an open invitation to learn more. We believe that sustainable performance, resilience, and innovation emerge from environments designed for trust, clarity, and relational intelligence—and scale through how we lead, collaborate, and shape the systems around us.
Explore the Mastermind. Feel into the field. See if it’s time to step in. www.compassion2.com