Ron Katz Ron will focus on three questions. 1) How do I navigate voting? 2) How do I find the positions of the candidates on the issues I care about? 3) How can I do more? Ron's talk and discussion is at the Intersection of Social Justice and Voting.
Colloquy is an opportunity to explore and reflect on a particular aspect of life in a structured and facilitated small-group setting in a nonjudgmental, confidential atmosphere. Colloquy was created more than 25 years ago by Arthur Dobrin (now Leader Emeritus of the Ethical Society of Long Island) and brought to Asheville by Joy McConnell, Consulting Leader for the Ethical Humanist Society of Asheville. Colloquy inspires participants to raise awareness of their own views, emotions and values. Guided by a facilitator, participants listen to a topic read by the leader, and take turns sharing responses – speaking from personal experiences, thoughts and feelings.
We hope you are safe. Many are still without internet and potable water after Hurricane Helene. Jackie will host a "Gathering" for those who want to connect.
Flourishing, in this context, includes moving toward wholeness, exercising compassion, and experiencing joy. Guy Sayles will draw on a variety of wisdom traditions and psychological perspectives to explore practices which help us flourish and contribute to the flourishing of others and of creation.
We will view the March 2024, David LaMotte 18 1/2 minute talk - "Why Heroes Don't Change the World” - given at TEDx Asheville followed by Zoom discussion with David LaMotte.
David’s talk focuses on the downside of hero narratives, and how stories that we tell to inspire people can often have the opposite effect. It’s a hopeful message, reminding us that we don’t have to be extraordinary to make change, we just have to work together.
Ty will explore why the “Environmental Movement” mostly failed to motivate people to change their consumption behaviors. He will review some dark episodes in the nation’s history (Native American relocations, slavery’s profitability, numbing responses to today’s school shootings) as informative to today’s failures, that is, knowing something is morally wrong won’t likely change behaviors around the convenience of consumption, profit and loss, or national policy.
In a culture that often values autonomy above most other principles and values, the challenges of aging impact our sense of self, the stories we tell about our lives, and our sense of meaning and spirituality in profound ways. How can we navigate changes and transitions with agency and intention and find the gifts that this unexpected and often unwanted journey brings?
The Exvangelicals is the story of a rising generation of the children of evangelicalism, including Sarah herself, who are growing up and fleeing the fold, who are thinking for themselves and deconstructing what feel like the “alternative facts” of their childhood. Part memoir, part investigative journalism, Sarah describes the post-evangelical movement: identifying its origins, telling the stories of its members, and examining its vast cultural, social, and political impact.
Presentation TBA