UPCOMING EVENTS: Spring 2019
Event dates can also be found on our calendar page
Evening Ethics Discussion and Food
Wednesday January 16th 2019, 6:30pm
Paula and Ben’s home (RSVP for location details)
Ethical dilemmas from our daily lives will be the focus of the discussion. Bring ethical situations you personally face to the group for a hearty and thoughtful discussion. For instance, are you faced with an ethical choice and wonder what the right thing to do is? Does something you see in the media make you wince because you think it’s unethical? Did some person act in a way that received media attention because it was seen as very “moral” and it got you thinking about what you would do in the same situation? Bring it to the group and we’ll discuss it!
Vegan dinner served at 6:30, discussion at 7:30. PLEASE do not bring any food or drink into the home. RSVP for location details (you can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form.)
Friday Morning Ethics Discussion: Civility in Government Leadership
Friday January 18th 2019, 9:30am to 11:30am <– NOTE NEW TIME!
Holder’s Country Inn (998 S. DeAnza Blvd, San Jose CA 95129)
We expect to have diverse opinions and approaches to solving our country’s challenges. Our Constitution was designed to provide an orderly manner in which to achieve these objectives, and most would agree that our Constitution has served us well since its inception, both in the original document and in its subsequent amendments. Yet, today, we find a new challenge that is disrupting our protocol and progress: the uncivility of our leadership. Name calling, ridicule, abusive and vulgar language, outright lying, and more. How can we, as citizens, build a barrier (or wall or iron fence) to curb this outrageous and demeaning behavior? Molly will lead the discussion.
Although it’s fine to just show up, it would be greatly appreciated if you RSVP so we have some idea how many people to expect. You can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form. Thanks!
Sunday Spotlight
Green Civil War Over Utility-Scale Solar Power
Sunday January 20th 2019, 11am
Neutra House (183 Hillview Ave., Los Altos CA 94022)
Join us this Sunday as we hear from Dustin Mulvaney, associate professor in Environmental Studies at San Jose State University. This month we’ll be learning about the potential environmental impacts of new energy technologies and how California might achieve low carbon energy while preserving biodiversity.
The program begins at 11am and ends at 12:30pm, and we’d love it if you’d stay for a beverage and light refreshments to share your thoughts.
Although it’s fine to just show up, it would be greatly appreciated if you RSVP so we have some idea how many people to expect and can set up the room accordingly. You can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form. Thanks!
Video Night With Discussion And Food
Wednesday January 23rd, 6:30pm
Paula and Ben’s home (RSVP for location details)
Join us for another video exploring issues related to ethics. We will look into the deeper and more introspective questions in life. The goal of the night is to be inspired and motivated to pursue meaningful virtues in our everyday lives. Suggestions for videos under 30 minutes are welcome!
Vegan dinner served at 6:30, discussion at 7:30. PLEASE do not bring any food or drink into the home. RSVP for location details (you can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form.)
Book Club: A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen
Sunday January 27th, 11am
Neutra House (183 Hillview Ave., Los Altos CA 94022)
This month, we’ll be discussing the novel ‘A Terrible Country’ by Keith Gessen (ebook and audiobook versions are available). [WorldCat entry]
• All are welcome (though please read the book)
• Please bring along at least one point for discussion
• If you have chance, look over the list to help choose the next book http://ethicalsiliconvalley.org/ecssv-book-club/
Abstract: When Andrei Kaplan’s older brother Dima insists that Andrei return to Moscow to care for their ailing grandmother, Andrei must take stock of his life in New York. His girlfriend has stopped returning his text messages. His dissertation adviser is dubious about his job prospects. It’s the summer of 2008, and his bank account is running dangerously low. Perhaps a few months in Moscow are just what he needs. So Andrei sublets his room in Brooklyn, packs up his hockey stuff, and moves into the apartment that Stalin himself had given his grandmother, a woman who has outlived her husband and most of her friends. She survived the dark days of communism and witnessed Russia’s violent capitalist transformation, during which she lost her beloved dacha. She welcomes Andrei into her home, even if she can’t always remember who he is.
Andrei learns to navigate Putin’s Moscow, still the city of his birth, but with more expensive coffee. He looks after his elderly—but surprisingly sharp!—grandmother, finds a place to play hockey, a café to send emails, and eventually some friends, including a beautiful young activist named Yulia. Over the course of the year, his grandmother’s health declines and his feelings of dislocation from both Russia and America deepen. Andrei knows he must reckon with his future and make choices that will determine his life and fate. When he becomes entangled with a group of leftists, Andrei’s politics and his allegiances are tested, and he is forced to come to terms with the Russian society he was born into and the American one he has enjoyed since he was a kid.
A wise, sensitive novel about Russia, exile, family, love, history and fate, A Terrible County asks what you owe the place you were born, and what it owes you. Writing with grace and humor, Keith Gessen gives us a brilliant and mature novel that is sure to mark him as one of the most talented novelists of his generation.
Reviews:
The New York Times
Although it’s fine to just show up, it would be greatly appreciated if you RSVP so we have some idea how many people to expect and can set up the room accordingly. You can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form. Thanks!
Friday Morning Ethics Discussion
Friday February 1st, 10am to noon
Holder’s Country Inn (998 S. DeAnza Blvd, San Jose CA 95129)
Using situations in life and from the news of the week, we’ll explore ethical issues of the day. The topic will change every month. Bring issues from your life or the news to share.
Although it’s fine to just show up, it would be greatly appreciated if you RSVP so we have some idea how many people to expect. You can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form. Thanks!
Sunday Study Session: Ethics as a Religion by David Saville Muzzey
Sunday February 3rd, 4pm
BJ and Lawrence’s home (RSVP for location details)
We continue our study of Ethics as a Religion by David Saville Muzzey:
Chapter 15, Enduring Values in Religion.
“Anthropologists tell us that even among the primitive peoples they have never found a tribe without some form of religion.” Now, the “nones” is a growing demographic and perhaps religion has no enduring values. Has religion caused more harm than good? Muzzey doesn’t think so.
Muzzey explores; idols, made to protect; fear, used as a restraint on behavior; mysticism, used to explain the unknown; and religion for the masses, used as a police force; and believes these are not the enduring values. Rather, “The only enduring value in religion is the contribution it makes to ethical growth.”
Muzzey argues that humans have the “capacity to pursue this aim independently of any theological creed or ceremonial ritual.” If reverence is an enduring religious value, Muzzey sees it as “reverence for the unrealized but latent worth in every human being.”
Ethical growth, reverence and worth of the individual as enduring values of religion. Do you agree? What are the enduring values of your life, whether you call them religious values or something else?
Snacks at 3:30. Discussion at 4:00. Please RSVP for location details, as this event is held at a private home. Use our Meetup page if you have a Meetup account, or you can contact us by email or this site’s contact form .
Coffee and Conversation
Sunday February 10th, 11am
Neutra House (183 Hillview Ave., Los Altos CA 94022)
Coffee & Conversation sessions are informal, inclusive, supportive gatherings. We just talk about things that are on our minds, things that make for, or detract from, a fulfilling human life in the real world for ourselves and for other people. We listen to each other, share our thoughts, sip our hot drinks, and enjoy being together. We do this at Neutra House in Los Altos the second Sunday of each month at 11:00 in the morning. Linda and John will lead the discussion.
Although it’s fine to just show up, it would be greatly appreciated if you RSVP so we have some idea how many people to expect and can set up the room accordingly. You can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form. Thanks!
Friday Morning Ethics Discussion
Friday February 15th, 10am to noon
Holder’s Country Inn (998 S. DeAnza Blvd, San Jose CA 95129)
Using situations in life and from the news of the week, we’ll explore ethical issues of the day. The topic will change every month. Bring issues from your life or the news to share.
Although it’s fine to just show up, it would be greatly appreciated if you RSVP so we have some idea how many people to expect. You can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form. Thanks!
Sunday Spotlight
Sunday February 17th, 11am
Neutra House (183 Hillview Ave., Los Altos CA 94022)
Join us one Sunday each month to hear from an inspiring, active speaker who will share information about working to make our community and our world a better place. Topics run the gamut from basic needs to social justice to the environment. We welcome you to participate by listening and engaging in thoughtful dialogue, with a little live music mixed in. We provide the coffee, tea, and a welcoming space for inquiring minds and open hearts to learn from one another.
Although it’s fine to just show up, it would be greatly appreciated if you RSVP so we have some idea how many people to expect and can set up the room accordingly. You can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form. Thanks!
Evening Ethics Discussion and Food
Wednesday February 20th, 6:30pm
Paula and Ben’s home (RSVP for location details)
Ethical dilemmas from our daily lives will be the focus of the discussion. Bring ethical situations you personally face to the group for a hearty and thoughtful discussion. For instance, are you faced with an ethical choice and wonder what the right thing to do is? Does something you see in the media make you wince because you think it’s unethical? Did some person act in a way that received media attention because it was seen as very “moral” and it got you thinking about what you would do in the same situation? Bring it to the group and we’ll discuss it!
Vegan dinner served at 6:30, discussion at 7:30. PLEASE do not bring any food or drink into the home. RSVP for location details (you can use our Meetup page if you have an account there, or you can use our contact form.)