Living Library

A Curated Reading List for our Living Lab

Welcome to our Living Library, a continuously evolving collection of works that inform, inspire, and challenge the foundational thinking of our Living Lab. Here, you'll find a multidisciplinary reading list reflecting the values, research, and what has contributed to the vision behind Sumati Group, and our own curricula theory, The Sumati Concept and The Wondervention Effect, and our broader inquiries into systems change, spiritual inquiry, education, ecology, and the future of governance.

My path has been shaped by a deep inquiry into systems, spirit, and story, a lifelong wondervention that has led me across continents, disciplines, and ancestral memory. The books in our Living Library are not just resources; they are companions on my own journey of building career capital rooted in integrity, wisdom seeking, and the courage to imagine otherwise.

This library reflects the independent study that have shaped my work, where academia meets the intuitive, and the future is built by those willing to ask the harder questions. This is a process and ongoing journey, and so the list will continue to evolve as we do…

~ Lisen Ydse Christiansen, Founder of Sumati Group

How to use this resource…

This searchable resource is designed to foster transparent knowledge-sharing, deepen our collective practice, and spark critical engagement. Whether you're a curious visitor, a dedicated changemaker, or a future collaborator, we invite you to explore, reflect, and inquire alongside us.

Each entry is tagged by theme and author, and organized by core focus area. We've included brief descriptions for each featured work, spanning historical and contemporary texts, books, whitepapers, and emerging thought leadership across disciplines, centuries, and literary styles.

Browse or Search by author, or focus area.

Find content aligned with your interests or your work.

Use as a Syllabus Builder for programs, workshops, or community discussions.

Reading the Mind Within: Dialogues Between Brain, Self, and Culture

Reading the Mind Within: Dialogues Between Brain, Self, and Culture

What if the self is not singular but made of many voices? What if thought isn’t confined to the skull, but dances between body and world? What if morality doesn’t begin in doctrine, but in the arms of a caregiver? These are not just philosophical musings, they’re empirical, neurological, and deeply human questions at the heart of this reading journey.

In these pages, you’ll encounter theories that see consciousness as emergent rather than isolated, identity as relational rather than static, and thought as embodied rather than abstract. Whether through the lens of divided brain hemispheres, inner speech, or enactive cognition, each book invites you to reexamine the boundaries between self and other, brain and culture, knowing and being. Together, they form a chorus of perspectives, scientific, psychological, and philosophical, that challenge the myth of the isolated mind.

Read them slowly. Let them speak to one another. And more importantly, let them speak to the multiple selves within you.

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Why a Reading List?

As a Living Lab committed to evolving practice, we believe knowledge should be alive; shared, questioned, and continually reimagined. Learning is not a destination but a lifelong journey, beautifully symbolized by the Adinkra symbol Nkyinkyim, which speaks to the ever-unfolding path of growth, movement, and transformation.

This reading list is not static. It reflects our current constellation of inquiry, shaped by curiosity, context, and collective contribution. Your suggestions help it evolve. Let this be more than a bookshelf. Let it be a portal, into deeper knowing, brave conversations, and bold reimaginings of what’s possible.

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