June
WHICH GODS DO NOT EXIST? SELECTIVE ATHEISM
WHICH GODS DO NOT EXIST?
SELECTIVE ATHEISM
Atheism has become an important theme of public discussion,
as seen in the publication of several books against religion.
If you question or reject traditional religious beliefs,
this series of discussions might help you to focus the issues.
Were you raised in some form of religious faith
that affirmed the following beliefs?
(1) creation of the universe,
(2) holy scripture,
(3) God-given morality,
(4) omnipotent God,
(5) life after death, &
(6) spiritual growth.
This series of discussions will enable you
to meet with a wide variety of other people
who are questioning their childhood religions.
Perhaps you will discover that you are really a selective atheist:
You can more clearly articulate what you do NOT believe
than what forms of spirituality still remain meaningful for you.
Let's engage in an open-minded spiritual quest.
If we reject each traditional belief about God or gods,
what spiritual possibilities still remain open for us?
We will discuss the following 6 themes, two each week:
Each subject is introduced in an on-line essay:
FIRST WEEK:
No Gods Created the Universe.
No Gods Wrote Holy Books .
SECOND WEEK:
No Gods Are Watching Our Behavior .
No Gods Are All-Powerful.
THIRD WEEK:
No Gods Can Save Us from Death .
God-Talk Might Be a Way of Expressing Our Spiritual Dynamics .
The 6 free cyber-sermons above
are also published as Chapters 1-6 of
Spirituality without Gods:
Developing Our Capacities of Spirit.
FACILITATOR:
James Park is the author of these 6 cyber-sermons.
He used to be a Christian but no longer believes
in any of the powers or capacities of the Gods mentioned above.
Nevertheless, he has written 6 books on existential spirituality.
DATE & TIME: (When would be best for you?).
YOUTH ONLY: House of Dance
I will be providing a space for children ages 5-18 to come and explore music through movement and dance.
Beginning with stretching and yoga, We will proceed with one of the following activities listed below depending on the ages and dance levels of the children participating that day.
break dancing
hip-hop movement
house movement: loose legs, voguing, and .
ancient styles
afro-carribean dance,
jazz movement: ie: the Charleston.
modern dance movement
West African movement
Latin-American (Salsa, Merengue), Carribean (Calypso), and North American Movement
We will be an accompanied by various styles of music: conscious hip-hop, funk, soul, disco, house, dub step, african, music for meditation, arabic, salsa, merengue, cumbia, reggae etc...
Nick Lundberg aka DJ Frank Castle will make occasional special visits as a guest DJ!
And there's a possibility to bring-in musicians from the Twin Cities Bomba Crew &/or EarthShake World Rhythm Ensemble.
Location
Against Civilization: the writings of Wolfi Landstreicher (aka Feral Faun, Apio Ludd)
In this class we will read and discuss a few of the writings of Wolfi Landstreicher. In an introduction to a collection of their writings, Wolfi describes the anarchist insurgence underlying their writings as follows:
"Within the present social context our lives as individuals have been made alien to us, because society creates interactions and activities for us which are not based on the singularity of our unconstrained dreams and desires, but only serve the continuing reproduction of society by channeling the energy of desire into that reproduction through a variety of institutions and systems which integrate to form civilized society: the state, capital, work, technology, religion, education, ideology, law...Opposition to this begins when we as individuals rise up in willful disobedience and recognize the necessity of attacking and destroying all institutions of domination, not as a cause, but for ourselves, because we want to create our own games..."
We will meet three times over the course of three weeks to discuss their writings and hopefully discuss our own desires and how they are redirected to serve institutional systems and how we may break free of this to create our lives according to our own passions.
Reading Schedule(tentatively):
Week 1 "Feral Faun"
-Nature as Spectacle. The image of wilderness vs. wildness
-The Cops In Our Heads: Some thoughts on anarchy and morality
-The Ideology of Victimization
-Against Charity
-Steal Back Your Life
Location
Beginning Screenprinting with Living Proof
So we already have 13 people signed up for the course, but as stated our shop capacity is only 5. We will take participants in the order that they have signed up, so if you sign up now you are basically adding yourself to the waitlist. Living Proof will continue to offer these workshops in the future. We have one scheduled (http://excotc.org/class/beginning-screenprinting-with-living-proof-workshop-for-people-of-color) on August 4th and 5th open to those identifying as a person of color.
Participants are invited to join Living Proof for a two-day workshop covering the fundamentals of screenprinting. We emphasize Do-It-Yourself methods so folks will be able to take their screenprinting skills out into their communities! By the end of the workshop, participants will make their image into a one-color print that they can put on paper or fabric to share and post widely and wildly. We will cover print shop basics, introduce materials and alternative inking and printing processes.
Day 1, Saturday 1:00-4:00PM, we will focus on designing images to print and exposing the screens.
The next day, Sunday 1:00-4:00PM we will be printing and sharing prints!
Due to space limitations, we can only allow 5 participants per 2-day workshop. Please sign up only if you're sure you can attend both days. We will send an email confirmation with supplemental materials a week before we begin.
Location
Poetry and Revolution
At a point when creative forms of resistance are coming to define and determine the course of the global revolution, questions of language, metaphor, and aesthetics have become increasingly significant to those who seek to change the world. Taking up Marx’s distinction between changing and interpreting the world, we often think of poetry as something that obscures rather than promotes direct action. In this course, we will explore the tension between interpretation and change, expression and activity, thinking and acting. We will think about how poetry, or the mode of interpreting metaphorical language more generally, presents new ideas about revolutionary potential. We’ll read several essays that situate this discussion in the framework of Marx’s poetry of the revolution in The Communist Manifesto, writings on postwar debates about aesthetics and politics, and work by Bertolt Brecht, Anna Ahkmatova, Adonis, Diane di Prima, Joshua Clover, and others. This list is tentative and can be adapted based on interest. Meetings will be held in a reading group style, with the possibility of a collaborative blog as a means of collecting various references and readings.
see wordpress site for tentative reading schedule and more information.
http://revolupoetry.wordpress.com/
Location
Herb Nerd: An Introduction to Western Herbalism and Plant Identification
This class is meant to be an introduction to Western Herbalism. It will be geared towards people with beginning and intermediate experiences with herbalism, plant identification and wild edibles. Classes will be every other Saturday starting June 9th, 2012 from 10AM - 1PM for eight classes. Field trip classes might be longer to factor in transportation and harvesting time. Every class will be broken down into three segments: A plant walk, a lecture and then the harvesting and making of herbal medicine.
Some lecture topics that will be included in this class are:
1)Plant identification, botany and ethical harvesting of herbs and wild edibles
2)Herbal first aid and emergency medicine
3)Herbal energetics: Organ systems, tongue diagnostics and understanding acute and chronic conditions
4)Dealing with depression, anxiety and other mental conditions
5)Herbs for the musculoskeletal system
6)Kitchen herbalism and winter health
7)Women, Queer and Trans health
8)Herbs for Kids
Once we meet we can discuss other topics that folks are interested in discussing as well. I am extremely down to have other people co-facilitate classes with me if they have experience with plant identification, herbs or other healing practices. If you are interested in helping teach OR if you can provide a Spanish translation for the class please e-mail me at [email protected]
We will be traveling a lot for this class. There are several locations that I would like to go to that are out of town a bit (no more than 45 minutes). We will try and figure out carpooling so that everyone will be able to go, but please expect to contribute money for transportation costs.
Also, be prepared to spend a little money if you want to make tinctures, syrups and/or salves. We will talk more about what kind of supplies we will need the first day of class, but expect to spend around $20-30 or so on supplies.
Location
Basic Bike Maintenance at Cycles for Change (Formerly Sibley Bike Depot) (June)
This class is designed as a complete introduction to the basics of maintaining your bicycle yourself. Learning to fix your own bike can save you money, ensure access to reliable transportation, and be a rewarding personal experience to understand how your vehicle functions. Participants aren’t expected to know anything beforehand – the only thing you need to bring is your lovely selves, your bike if you want, and a creative desire to learn!
In addition to providing technical explanations and building mechanical knowledge and confidence, this class will attempt to provide a basic overview of the role of community bike shops throughout the country and world, as we work to build sustainable transportation movements locally and globally.
Location
Wheelbuilding at Cycles for Change (Formerly Sibley Bike Depot) (June)
This class is designed as a complete introduction to the basics of wheel building. We are posting this class late, but if we have sufficient interest we will start the first class with lacing rims. The second class will entail bringing the wheel up to tension and truing it radially and laterally. It is okay if you don't understand what this means we will start at the beginning. No prior knowledge is necessary, however, it will be useful to understand the basics of truing.
We will be following Gerd Shraner's method feel free to peruse his book http://www.icelord.net/bike/ArtOfWheelbuilding.pdf
I am going to push this into January because not enough people registered in time. Please let me know if you would like to join us.
Location
Introduction to French Language
Bonjour! This class will cover beginning conversational French. The class is open to ALL levels of French and is designed to teach through immersion into the language. Classes will be very interactive with skits, songs, dances and conversations. This is meant to be fun and educational. People of ANY age are welcome and encouraged to participate.
Location
Climate Solutions, Economic Renewal, and the Energy Transition
Over the past few years, our communities have faced the impacts of three interconnected threats - an economy that is failing people, a fragile and dangerous energy system, and an increasingly violent climate. Across the globe and here in the Twin Cities, communities are embarking on an epic journey to build solutions – a transition that will transform our energy systems, agriculture, urban structure, the global economy, and our everyday lives.
Are we ready for this challenge? As scientists struggle with technology, leaders fight entrenched political and social assumptions, economists try to rethink global markets, and everyday people prepare to adapt, we will unravel the challenge of our century.
This class is focused on providing a thorough understanding of issues surrounding creating green jobs and economic opportunity in our communities through climate and energy solutions. We will prepare ourselves with a background understanding of real and feasible alternatives to an economy dependent on energy sources facing terminal decline and a chaotic global climate.
Learning in this class is participatory – some information will be presented in a story-telling/ lecture format, but there is a very strong emphasis on group dialogue and sharing by participants about their experiences and struggles around these issues. We will make the topic personal, not just theoretical, and focus on building a community founded on personal relationships that is working together to apply the lessons learned from this class to the real world.
This class is for those seeking the links behind our most pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges. It is for current and would-be change-makers seeking to build a community where we can learn and act together. It is for neighbors from all backgrounds who want to find ways to bring our communities together around deep solutions.
Location
