The 6th Annual Picnic/Potluck: "Explore. Dream. Discover"

Date: Wednesday, July 24th

Place: Ravenna Park      20th Ave NE & NE 58th St

            Metro Bus Rt: 48, 71, 72, 73, 83

Time: 5:30-9:00pm  (Feel free to come early and play)

Admission: Free  (Please bring a dish and/or beverage to share)

Let's celebrate summer and our community. We'll play, eat, sing, connect and have wonderful conversations. The IONS 15th International Conference ("Explore. Dream. Discover") is in California, July 17-21 and some of us will share what we learned. Please bring a dish or beverage, musical instruments, toys and your own plate/cup/utensils. 

Our picnic is always well-attended and we have lots of fun. Hope you are able to come. 

Topic: TED Controversy: Science or Pseudoscience

Date: Monday, June 24th

Place: Northeast Library   6801 35th Ave. N.E., Seattle

            Metro Bus Rt: 64, 65, 71, 76, 83

Time: 6:00-8:00pm  (Join us for social time at 5:30pm)

Admission: Free

TED removed two videos of TEDx Whitechapel (in London), "The Science Delusion" by Rupert Sheldrake and "The War on Consciousness" by Graham Hancock, from TEDx's YouTube channel, and the controversy erupted in March. 

The continuing disputes and discussions surrounding this incident bring up many rich and important issues for us Netics--among them: "science vs pseudoscience," "militant atheist and censorship," "science of consciousness," and "science and spirituality." 

Since we explored different ways to have a conversation during our last two gatherings, this time we will attempt to engage in a Field 3 Dialogue--reflective inquiry rather than debate-- to tackle this complex topic. 

Hope you could join us. 

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So much materials for this topic on the web, but you could start with these:

Rupert Sheldrake's TEDx Talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKHUaNAxsTg

Graham Hancock's TEDx Talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b6-0yW7Iaw

Responses to the TED Scientific Board by Sheldrake and Hancock

http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/14/open-for-discussion-graham-hancock-and-rupert-sheldrake/

Open Letter to TED by Deepak Chopra, Sturart Hameroff, Menas C. Kafatos, Rudolph E. Tanzi and Neil Theise, "Dear TED, Is it 'Bad Science' or a 'Game of Thrones'?":

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/dear-ted-is-it-bad-scienc_b_3104049.html

Response by TED Curator, Chris Anderson, " TED, Censorship, Consciousness, Militant Atheists, and Pseudo Science!"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-anderson/ted-censorship-consciousn_b_3115145.html?utm_hp_ref=science

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Please bring some snacks to share. We'll provide tea and hot water. BYO Mug. 

If you plan to attend, please reply to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Topic: Conscious Conversation: Part 2

Date: Monday, May 20th

Place: Northeast Library   6801 35th Ave. N.E., Seattle

            Metro Bus Rt: 64, 65, 71, 76, 83

Time: 6:00-8:00pm  (Join us for social time at 5:30pm)

Admission: Free

We had such a deep and profound meeting last month that we are going to continue with the same theme this month: exploring different levels of conversations. 

Last month we introduced four levels of conversations described by Otto Scharmer's book, Theory U. 

1. Downloading--Speaking from what they want to hear

    (Talking nice)

2. Debate--Speaking from what I think

    (Talking tough)

3. Dialogue--Speaking from seeing myself as part of the whole  

    (Reflective inquiry)

4. Presencing--Speaking from what is moving through

    (Essential emergence)

We are going to experiment further with the contrast between the conversations in which we find ourselves most of the time (Field 1 & 2) and the deeper conversations where we come from different consciousness. We will explore how Debate and Dialogue are different (Field 2 & 3), and also what it is like to collectively tap into "the best possible future that wants to emerge" (Field 4).

It is not necessary for you to have attended the last month's gathering to come to this meeting. We will introduce Theory U again, and spend more time experiencing with deeper level of conversations. Hope you will join our continuing exploration of how conscious conversations could change the world. 

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Please bring some snacks to share. We'll provide tea and hot water. BYO Mug. 

If you plan to attend, please reply to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Topic: Conscious Conversation

Date: Wednesday, April 24th

Place: Northeast Library   6801 35th Ave. N.E., Seattle

            Metro Bus Rt: 64, 65, 71, 76, 83

Time: 6:00-8:00pm  (Join us for social time at 5:30pm)

Admission: Free

Margaret Whealey says, "Conversation creates the conditions for us to rediscover the joy of thinking together." 

How can we have a rich and rewarding dialogue? What would it be like to be part of a conscious conversation? Could more conscious conversations in our community lead to a better future?

Our gathering this month will be more experiential; we are going to experiment with different levels of conversations based on Otto Scharmer's book, Theory U. Scharmer describes four levels ( he calls "Fields") of conversations as:

1. Downloading--Speaking from what they want to hear

    (talking nice)

2. Debate--Speaking from what I think

    (talking tough)

3. Dialogue--Speaking from seeing myself as part of the whole  

    (reflective inquiry)

4. Presencing--Speaking from what is moving through

    (essential emergence)

Join us to practice to become more aware of how we engage each other, and to explore how a conscious conversation could lead to a collective transformation. 

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Please bring some snacks to share. We'll provide tea and hot water. BYO Mug. 

If you plan to attend, please reply to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Topic: Death, Dying and Beyond, Part 2

Date: Monday, March 18th

Place: Northeast Library   6801 35th Ave. N.E., Seattle

            Metro Bus Rt: 64, 65, 71, 76, 83

Time: 6:00-8:00pm  (Join us for social time at 5:30pm)

Admission: Free

Since we had such a deep and amazing dialogue last month, and several people requested having another meeting about this topic, this month we are continuing our conversation and exploring the area of death, dying and beyond.

Questions from IONS website:

How does our worldview of death inform our life?

What can science tell us about Life after Death?

Is it possible to remove the fear of death so that we may live more freely and more fully?

Come join us and share your views, insights and experiences.