UPCOMING EVENTS: SUMMER 2018
Event dates can also be found on our calendar pag
Sunday Spotlight: Islamophobia, A View From The Inside
Sunday September 16th, 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!
Wednesday Evening Ethics Discussion and Food
Wednesday September 19th, 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 for discussion!
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
Overcoming Racial Barriers
Friday September 21st, 10am to noon
Holder’s Country Inn (998 S. DeAnza Blvd, San Jose CA 95129)
Americans have a long history of welcoming people of other nationalities and ethnicities to our country, yet we continue to struggle with racism. Hate crimes against African Americans, Jews, Muslims, and Hispanics have increased over the last few years. What propels these hostile acts? Is the black experience in America unique, given that black immigration began with slavery? What is the media’s role in prevention? What is OUR role? Please join us in this important 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!
Book Club: Searching For Stars On An Island In Maine by Alan Lightman
Sunday September 23rd, 11am
Neutra House (183 Hillview Ave., Los Altos CA 94022)
For this meeting of the Ethical Culture Book Club we will be discussing “Searching For Stars On An Island In Maine” by Alan Lightman.
• 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: As a physicist, Alan Lightman has always held a purely scientific view of the world. Even as a teenager experimenting in his own laboratory he was impressed by the logic and materiality of the universe, which is governed by a small number of disembodied forces and laws. Those laws decree that all things in the world are material and impermanent. But one summer evening, while looking at the stars from a small boat at sea, Lightman was overcome by the overwhelming sensation that he was merging with something larger than himself – a grand and eternal unity, a hint of something absolute and immaterial.
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine is the result of these seemingly contradictory impulses, written as an extended meditation on an island in Maine where Lightman and his wife spend their summers. Framing the dialogue between religion and science as a contrast between absolutes and relatives, Lightman explores our human quest for truth and meaning and the different methods of religion and science in that quest. Along the way, he draws from sources ranging from St. Augustine’s conception of absolute truth to Einstein’s relativity, from a belief in the divine and eternal nature of stars to their discovered materiality and mortality, from the unity of the once indivisible atom to the multiplicity of subatomic particles and the recent notion of multiple universes. What emerges is not only an understanding of the encounter between science and religion but also a profound exploration of the complexity of human existence.
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 September 26th, 6:30pm
Paula and Ben’s home (RSVP for location details)
Join us for a video exploring issues related to ethics, where we 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.
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
Jante Law? What’s That?
Friday October 5th, 10am to noon
Holder’s Country Inn (998 S. DeAnza Blvd, San Jose CA 95129)
If you’ve ever visited Scandinavia you may have come across references to janteloven (Law of Jante) as a reason for Nordic societies being the way they are. From a satirical novel written in 1933, janteloven describes the way Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes put society ahead of the individual, not boasting about individual accomplishments or being jealous of others. The 10 “laws,” as described in the novel are:
- You’re not to think you are anything special
- You’re not to think you are as good as we are
- You’re not to think you are smarter than we are
- You’re not to convince yourself that you are better than we are
- You’re not to think you know more than we do
- You’re not to think you are more important than we are
- You’re not to think you are good at anything
- You’re not to laugh at us
- You’re not to think anyone cares about you
- You’re not to think you can teach us anything
We recommend that you watch this 5 minute video before coming to 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!