News – Page 16 – Toronto Oasis, Secular Community

Sun Jan 02 – [Online] The Art of Creativity

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

We will start off the new year listening to an inspiring TEDx talk by Taika Waititi, a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He was the writer, director and producer of the 2019 movie Jojo Rabbit which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The TEDx talk will be introduced by Ryan Zhang, a Toronto Oasis regular participant and volunteer.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydccbdb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sun Dec 26 – [Online] A Virtual Field Trip to West Hill

‘Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the town
Lots of folks were still sleeping, not many around…

This Sunday, instead of our usual Toronto Oasis Sunday Zoom meeting, we will be going on a virtual field trip and join the online Sunday gathering of West Hill United Church. Their meeting starts at 10:30 am.

Toronto Oasis is a local chapter of the Oasis Network (https://www.oasisnetwork.com/). West Hill United Church has long been affiliated with the same Oasis Network. Their minister, Gretta Vosper, who came out as an atheist in solidarity with atheists persecuted in other parts of the world, has participated on the international leadership team and has spoken at Oasis gatherings in several states. West Hill United Church conducts its meetings without the use of God language. Please note that their minister, Gretta Vosper, is currently on a leave of absence.

The focus of the gathering on the 26th will be an extension of one of the themes from their Wellness group, which has met on zoom on Tuesdays for much of the pandemic. The focus will be on reflecting on living out our values through these particularly complex times. What’s hard and what helps? What’s been encouraging? And what helps us care for our selves, for others in our personal lives, for others all over the world, and for the planet itself.

Let’s join West Hill for a time of sharing, celebration, and inspiration.

The Zoom meeting link for West Hill’s Sunday meeting can be found on their website: https://www.westhill.net/

Sun Dec 19 – [Online] The Problem of Living in Time

There are essentially two ways to explore time: from the outside and from the inside. From the outside there is Newtonian absolute time (the time we continually measure) and Relative time, our gift from Einstein.
Then there is inside time, where the possibilities are almost endless.

THE PAST is dependent on the reliability of memory, record keeping and interpretation.

THE PRESENT lacks objectivity.

THE FUTURE depends on probability and cannot be examined until it becomes the present or the past and then we are not examining the future.

Our featured speaker on this topic, Elka Enola, is a poet and social activist who has been an atheist since she learned the words ‘why’ and ‘how’. Since she still knows those words, her life-long quest of learning continues.

On the topic of time, Elka is especially interested in our inner time. How do we ‘live in the future and in the past’ while we are in the present? What is ‘now’? What is reality? Is the past real? The future? For a healthy life, how should we balance our focus between the past, the present and the future? Do temporal categories exist or are they a human construct?

Here are some links to YouTube videos on Time to get you started thinking on this topic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3tbVHlsKhs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P3Ous2IjiQ

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksyccqbzb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting has been recorded: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mJ1BolNr_PCXZFVWk2eBiFh4issxDqzs/view?usp=sharing

Sun Dec 12 – [Online] How the Internet is Changing Language

We will be watching and discussing a YouTube audio interview with linguist and science communicator Gretchen McCulloch. She discusses her recent book about the linguistics of the internet, in which she describes what is new and not-so-new about the language we use online and the ways we perceive it. The topic and YouTube clip will be introduced by Lola Bradford, who studies linguistics and is a regular Toronto Oasis participant.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksyccqbqb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sun Dec 05 – [Online] Fewer, Richer, Greener: Facing the Future with Rational Optimism

Many people fear the future, not understanding that the last 250 years have seen the world go from poor to moderately rich, with no reason for that trend to stop now. In fact, it’s likely to accelerate. And, to be “green,” you have to get rich! Our featured speaker, Laurence B. Seigel will show how the combination of capitalism, technology, and freedom has practically eliminated extreme poverty, made half of the world’s population middle class, and will enable us to meet our environmental challenges.

Laurence B. Siegel is the Gary P. Brinson Director of Research at the CFA Institute Research Foundation and was formerly director of research in the investment division of the Ford Foundation and a founding employee of Ibbotson Associates, now part of Morningstar Inc. He got his BA and MBA degrees from the University of Chicago. He is now a writer (author of Fewer, Richer, Greener and Unknown Knowns), consultant, and speaker on investment and economic issues. He may be reached at lbsiegel@uchicago.edu. His web site is http://www.larrysiegel.org.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksyccqbhb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting has been recorded: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BFXMWkk45CMO4ex9ofwBjrcivF1lNSZ4/view?usp=sharing

Sun Nov 28 – [Online] Loneliness

This Sunday we will examine the very human experience of loneliness.

A 2019 Angus-Reid study (https://angusreid.org/social-isolation-loneliness-canada/) showed that 62% of Canadians say they would like their friends and family to spend more time with them, while only 14% would describe the current state of their social lives as “very good.” Visible minorities, Indigenous Canadians, those with mobility challenges, and LGBTQ2 individuals are more likely to experience social isolation and loneliness compared to the general population.

A more recent survey (Feb 2021) conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Global News (https://globalnews.ca/news/7602406/loneliness-pandemic-canada/) echoed these findings, with more than half of Canadians reporting loneliness. In a UK study (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8701763.stm), 60% of 18 to 34 year-olds stated that they often feel lonely, and 46% of Americans say that they regularly feel lonely.

Statistic Canada (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2021007/article/00001-eng.htm) reports that recent and long-term immigrants report higher levels of loneliness than Canadian-born residents. And loneliness did not appear to be lessened by the length of stay in Canada.
• Is loneliness a part of our biology?
• How has the modern world changed our experience of loneliness and how does this impact our health?
• Is a self-preservation mode helpful?
• How can we strive to be less lonely?

We will watch a short video that tackles the issue of loneliness with intelligence and clarity (presented by a German animation and design studio called Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell (https://www.youtube.com/c/inanutshell/about). Their mission is to ‘make science look beautiful’).

Our regular Toronto Oasis participant Kristen Gane will introduce the subject and also provide some thoughts to get us started on the discussion.

Kristen is a Registered Psychotherapist (with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario), a professional member of the Canadian Art Therapy Association and the Ontario Society of Registered Psychotherapists. She is also a writer and artist.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksyccpblc/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sun Nov 21 – [Online] Why American Chinese Food Deserves Respect

We will be watching and then discussing a YouTube video clip: Why American Chinese Food Deserves Respect (And Why the MSG Fear is a Hoax), by Xiran Jay Zhao with an introduction by Ryan Zhang, a Toronto Oasis participant and volunteer.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksyccpbcc/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sun Nov 14 – [Online] Live Long – But Don’t Procreate

The idea of not having children can be examined from three perspectives:

Personal: not wanting to be a parent
Ethical: World population should be restricted for the good of the planet and the current human population.
Philosophical: Antinatalism which falls into several different categories.

For our featured presentation this Sunday, we will listen to and then discuss a voice podcast by David Benatar, a South African philosopher, academic and author of the book Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence. Toronto Oasis participant Elka Enola, will introduce the topic.

Elka Enola is a poet and social activist who has been an atheist since she learned the words ‘why’ and ‘how’. Since she still knows those words, her life-long quest of learning continues.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksyccpbsb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sun Nov 07 – [Online] The Danger of a Single Story

We will be watching a TED talk by a Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie introduced by Toronto Oasis participant Sonja.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksyccpbkb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sun Oct 31 – [Online] Michael’s Perfect French Adventures

Our featured speaker will be Michael Dorman. Michael will give a talk on his many travels to France.

Michael fell in love with the French language even before he knew its name as a schoolboy. He began to learn more about France. You must learn about the countries and cultures that speak the language you love. So, he began traveling to France at age 19 and is now 77. Michael doesn’t so much think of himself as a tourist there but more a part-time resident.

Michael is hoping his talk will have other participants sharing their travel stories and how important it is to them and what they get out of it.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksyccnbpc/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting has been recorded: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ki9dJL4-yAYRF8icP7LZmD_EkJnGHoko/view?usp=sharing