Hello and welcome! Thank you for stopping by.

I’m Crystal Thornebrooke.

I founded the Ought Institute to help bring community together around a shared love of the preservation and pursuit of truth and wisdom.

That love called to me from an early age. A teenage fascination with the works of Carl Jung and Jean-Paul Sartre blossomed into the study of psychology and philosophy at university. There, I discovered other great thinkers, such as Aristotle, whose work profoundly influenced my understanding.  

Like so many, I was not a traditional college student. A little older, and a full-time worker, I learned in the classroom and in the community how people form beliefs, make ethical decisions, and relate to one another.

Those experiences led me to value learning for its own sake, and to seek out the ideas of others for their own sake. In seeking out new ideas and the thinkers who explored them, I also became engaged in efforts to reduce political polarization and foster free inquiry and viewpoint diversity at the community level.

Throughout my work I have found that our society increasingly values technical development but seems either unwilling or unable to commit to the development of the human person as a fully embodied—creative, intellectual, spiritual, and moral being.

That’s why, in early 2026, I decided to form the Ought Institute.

It's a celebration of learning, and of the human spirit. A space to connect with our roots and nurture the soil of human potential.

We will be hosting events that engage in cultural and philosophical topics. In the future we hope to expand our work to include educational and research opportunities in the service of the public.

I hope you will connect with us here in support of our mission.

With gratitude,

Crystal

PS. You can learn more about my background via my Linkedin page.