Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue)
Based on and inspired by Jonathan Haidt’s book The Righteous Mind – Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, this Sunday Tania Akon will lead us in a group discussion on morality. We will discuss key questions and findings addressed in the book such as:
“Where Does Morality Come From?”
“The Conservative Advantage”
“Why Are We So Groupish?”
Tania Akon
Tania Akon is a Toronto Oasis organizer. She earned a B.A.Sc degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto and a B.Ed from OISE, also at UofT. She is currently a high school teacher and teaches Science-Physics/Mathematics/Computer Science.
To RSVP to this event please visit our Meetup page.
Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue)
Dan Cooperstock
This Sunday at Oasis, Dan Cooperstock will lead us in a review and discussion of the 5 Oasis principles, including their full-paragraph explanations, the 12 principles of Humanism (given that we are now an affiliate member of Humanist Canada), and for some more contrast, the 7 Unitarian Universalist principles, and the (over-simplified) 6 Quaker testimonies (principles for living).
Dan is the Toronto Oasis Treasurer, a non-theist Quaker, and a software entrepreneur, writing and selling software for charities and churches.
For anyone who would like to read all of those principles before the meeting, here is a link to the presentation, which contains them:
Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue)
From the earliest images of Lady Justice (ancient Egypt), to the silver screen’s adaptation of DC comic’s Justice League; we are a people that are both consumed and united by this one idea. It has been said that justice requires struggling, suffering, and sacrifice. Do we want more justice? Do we want a different kind of justice? Join us in a discussion as A. D’Agio facilitates a discussion on the topic of justice. What might justice look like in the 21st century, and what might be the cost?
A. D’Agio
Born in England, A. D’Agio resides now in Toronto, writing poetry and lyrics about humans, and their quirksome relationships with each another. Experience first hand the mind numbing madness:
Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue)
Bob Fisher
In animals, predators are most often selfish loners, although wolves, many apes and most marine mammals hunt cooperatively. Herbivores normally either live individually in safe environments, like trees, or are highly gregarious. Humans are somewhere in the middle and this duality emerges in many forms such as the political split seen in many countries between competitive, business-oriented, low-tax policies versus community-minded, cooperative, pro-welfare-state policies, or even simply Good and Evil which are strongly associated with, respectively, giving to the community and taking from it.
Join us this week for a group discussion on this topic. Share your experiences, knowledge and ideas! The discussion will be facilitated by Bob Fisher. Bob is a physicist and engineer originally from the UK, based in Houston and working temporarily in Toronto. He is approaching retirement and has no formal training in sociology or psychology: in fact he doesn’t understand people at all. In his spare time he is working on a book for an improved system of democracy.
To RSVP to this event please visit our Meetup page.
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE WILL BE BACK IN OUR USUAL LOCATION:
569 Spadina Ave. 2nd Floor Main Activity Hall
Our events are held every Sunday at 11 am
Jonathan Miller
For this Sunday’s Oasis meeting come participate in a workshop on rethinking how we conduct difficult conversations in our lives. The workshop will be led by Jonathan Miller. Formerly a project and marketing manager, Jonathan comes from the corporate world where he experienced firsthand the consequences of communication breakdowns. Workplace politics, conflict management and putting out fires wasted too much of his time and the company’s money. In 2016, he set out to study, develop and practice his own methodology for having clear and effective conversations. He now trains and coaches individuals on how to use their language to speak powerfully and authentically, be more productive and make meaningful connections.
In this workshop, we’ll touch on some high-level concepts in order to start rethinking the conversations we have in our lives. We’ll discuss concepts such as identity, defensiveness, and how to deal with that little voice inside your head.
To RSVP to this event please visit our Meetup page.
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE NOT IN OUR USUAL LOCATION FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING- WE WILL BE IN Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St George St., Room 2111.
Our events are held every Sunday at 11 am
How do our stories affect our engagement with societal issues, and how can we use stories for positive impact? We will begin with a story to set the stage for an open discussion about narrative. The invitation for group participants is 1) to explore how our own narratives influence our responses to world issues, and 2) to consider how narratives can both mitigate distress over the state of the world and inspire action.
The meeting will be led by Lindsay Kochen, who works at a mindfulness-based psychotherapy practice. In addition to her training in trauma-focused healing modalities, Lindsay has a background in outdoor education, community health research, supportive housing advocacy, and street outreach. She enjoys learning alternative healing practices and honouring the body-mind-spirit connection through music and art.
To RSVP to this event please visit our Meetup page.
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE IN A DIFFERENT BUILDING FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING:Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St George St., Room 2111.
Nicole McLachlan
This week our featured speaker will be Nicole McLachlan. Growing up in Canada, Nicole always knew she’d love Africa, and sure enough after volunteering for several months in South Africa and Namibia, she fell in love with it beyond even her imagination. Nicole is especially taken with Africa’s wildlife, and their plight against poaching, habitat encroachment, and unknowingly harmful Western tourist dollars. She has taken her passion for Africa’s wildlife home with her through the retelling of stories and sharing of photography, in an effort to raise funds for organizations that touched her heart. She hopes to become more involved in more fundraising, in an official capacity, in order to entrench herself more closely with conservation, hoping to one day reside in Africa. Nicole will recount how she first ventured to Africa, and what’s lured her back many times since. Hear some personal stories of Nicole’s; beaten up by baboons, stranded in a national park with a flat tire, but also the reasons why she’s become so involved in educating about the plight of Africa’s most vulnerable animals.
Clockwise: Erik Bleich, Cassie Norton, & Tristan Murphy
For our musical act, we are so enthused to have three of our favourite and most familiar musicians: Erik Bleich accompanied by Cassie Norton and Tristan Murphy. Erik is a singer/songwriter whose genre blends classic pop and folk traditions – from street lit lullabies to manic, rambling romps. It’s his vision of folk music for the Internet Age. Cassie Norton is our music director and a Toronto based singer-songwriter, classically trained violinist/folk leaning tunesmith with a punk rock heart. Tristan Murphy aka Amateur is characterized as “old instruments, new music” and plays experimental pop songs on a variety of acoustic instruments.
To RSVP to this event please visit our Meetup page.
Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue)
Book by Marc Schaus (2017)
In the year 2018, we can now boast an incredible level of self-awareness and understanding for why we do the things we do. Among our more incredible academic achievements, we now understand a great deal about how and why we human animals believe in spiritual ideas. We have come to learn about the social psychology of religious behaviors, the personal psychology of individuals engaging in these practices and how both are played out in the brain on a biological level. With this data in hand, we are in a much better position, right now, to investigate how social changes throughout history have affected the way we think – predictably altering how responsive we have been to different spiritual ideas over time. Research shows that as social groups have become relatively safer, more technologically advanced, more interconnected, more prosperous and better able to survive comfortably, the selection advantage for traditional, literally-interpreted supernatural faith seems to become less powerful on a long enough timeline. Not surprisingly, here in the present day, most of these factors are the best they’ve ever been for a greater proportion of the world’s population. Join Marc Schaus in exploring the effect these changes will have on religious practice for major faiths on an international level, with a tradition more resembling today’s secular humanism arguably being the strongest candidate for a “spiritual” path to survive into the long-term future.
Our featured speaker: Author and academic researcher Marc Shaus
Marc Schaus is a Canadian author and academic researcher. His 2017 book, Post Secular: Science, Humanism and the Future of Faith outlines the growth of secularism and nonreligion currently ongoing around the world with projections for both leading into the future. Marc’s work has previously been featured in Free Inquiry magazine, Patheos and The Huffington Post. His upcoming book This World First: Dispatches on Secular Progress Around the World will feature twenty of the planet’s leading authorities on secularism and outline a clear path forward for secular issues on an international level.
Featured Musician: Abigail LapellNew album: Hide Nor Hair
For our featured musician, we are so enthused to have Abigail Lapell on the Oasis stage this Sunday! Check out a sampling of her music at https://www.abigaillapell.com/. It’s awesome! Abigail Lapell is a Toronto folk noir songwriter who draws from roots, indie and punk rock traditions. Hailed as an artist to watch by NOW Magazine, she’s toured across North America and Europe, performing on vocals, piano, harmonica and finger style guitar. Closer to home, she’s completed tours by bicycle, canoe and train. Lapell won the 2017 Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Album of the Year and the 2016 Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award from the Ontario Arts Council. Her new album, Hide Nor Hair, is out now on Coax Records.
To RSVP to this event please visit our Meetup page.
Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue)
Our speakers this week, Rex Burks and Owen Younger, are coming all the way from Dallas Texas! They are members of the Fellowship of Freethought (FOF) in Dallas and have presented at Houston Oasis and Kansas City. You can check out their website at: https://skepticaltexans.org/.
Rex Burks and Owen Younger were both raised as devout fundamentalist Christians until reason and evidence eventually took over. Since leaving religion, they have both become enthusiastic students of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the early Christian church. For more than a year, Bible in hand, they have been visiting a wide range of Christian denominations and joining Sunday school class discussions with believers. Come hear their fascinating and sometimes humorous stories about the astonishing variety of belief among Christians and learn how an understanding and appreciation of this diversity can help make us all more effective advocates for freethought. SPOILER: Episcopalians and Pentecostals are not the same! Owen and Rex will also share their insights on effective ways to relate to different types of Christians and highlight the most common objections to non-belief they’ve repeatedly heard.
Citizen Jane
Our featured musicians will be CITIZEN JANE, a Toronto-based folk-pop duo that evocatively weaves powerful vocal harmonies with innovative string textures to create an emotionally charged soundscape.
The duo consists of married couple Reenie Perkovic (vocals, guitar, mandolin) and Lea Kirstein (viola, fiddle, cello, vocals), who met while studying classical music on the west coast of Canada. The ladies have since made a home in Toronto’s vibrant music scene.
Reenie grew up in the Toronto area, after her family escaped the civil war in her birthplace, Sarajevo, Bosnia. Reenie was a semi-finalist in the 2016 UK Songwriting Contest, and has released 3 solo albums. She has opened for Juno-nominated Alysha Brilla, and Annabelle Chvostek (Wailin’ Jennys).
Lea is an acclaimed violist and fiddler, who grew up in Victoria, BC, where she studied viola and music education at UVic. Classical musician by day and fiddler by night, Lea discovered new ways of melding the two styles into one. Her passion for these genres took her across Canada & the U.S. with the Folk Arts Quartet. She has recorded with Juno-nominated artists Oliver Schroer and Teresa Doyle.
To RSVP to this event, please visit our Meetup page.
In order to make the world a fair and equitable place for all humankind, its inhabitants will need to work together. And if they are to work together they will need a shared language of expressing ideas that reflect both current realities and future hopes. In his presentation, our featured speaker this week, A. D’Agio, will focus on the language being used in the current discussions around racism in North America (circa 2018). Although the focus will be on racism, A. D’Agio’s intent is to address and engage the broadest sense of “ism” as it impacts individuals and communities.
Our musical performer will be Elizabeth Block. Elizabeth was born in New York and loves telling people, “I wuz boan in Brooklyn. You gotta PROBLEM wid dat?” She was brought up on Gilbert & Sullivan, Broadway musicals (when they were written for singers), and the songs of Arthur Block – her dad wrote songs. She went to the High School of Music and Art, where she was an art student, but was allowed to sing in the senior chorus in her last year. She was a choral singer for decades, and a church soloist for many years. She joined Toronto’s informal folk song circle in – she thinks – 1984. She had always enjoyed folk music, but now she is a full-fledged folkie. A few years later she decided she should learn to play the guitar, which she did – not well, but well enough to accompany herself and other people. She knows a lot of songs, some in other languages, many satirical and/or political. She has written new words to existing tunes, and a couple of times tunes to existing words, never an entire song – but there’s still time.
Pottery by Elizabeth Block
Elizabeth is a potter by trade. You can check out her pottery work on her website:
