I am noticing just how lonely i am feeling right now – reacting to an email exchange i had within a now virtual community with people i’ve deeply connected with when we spend 9 days together. I am posting this here as well to increase my reach. If my words (esp. in my first email) resonate with you, could you please contact me. I would love to connect with other atheists/skeptics who also value Nonviolent Communication (NVC). (Here is a feelings & needs inventory that might be helpful when practicing NVC). (Also note the emotional shift i describe in the … Continue reading »
Jul 022011
One of my most powerful experiences at the recent intensive Nonviolent Communication training i attended came when i shared with the group that i felt uneasy when i hear references to religion and spirituality. I believe there is no God (i am certain there is no God as described in the Judeo-Christian tradition; i am pretty certain there is no god period). I approach things skeptically and will ask for evidence that stands up to the scientific method especially if you make exceptional claims. I was terrified to share this because i also value connections with others, even across difference. … Continue reading »
Jul 082010
First I read about the lack of women in the skeptics movement (I never did figure out how to log in to leave a comment there. I was going to point out that instead of listening to us women, the guys need to look at themselves to see what they might be doing to create an exclusionary group. Sexism isn’t just a women’s problem… But that’s not the topic of this post…). Then I read about the masses of women in the Tea Party. My reaction: WTF is wrong with us?!? Then that weird feeling of having seen this before … Continue reading »
There is no question in my mind (whatever that might be) that most of what is happening in our behavior is driven by unconscious decisions (if we can even call them decisions). There is a lot of evidence for that (for an interesting review check out this book or this article). George Lakoff talks about this a lot, too. He is suggesting that to assume that most of our behavior is rationally driven reflects what he calls the 18th century brain – and that is based on wrong assumptions, or rather assumptions that science has proved wrong. In his book, … Continue reading »
In a recent interview of David Brooks by Charlie Rose, Brooks recounts experiments done by Walter Mischel. Mischel, starting several decades ago, presented 3- and 4-year old kids with the choice of eating a marshmallow now or receiving another one 10 minutes later if they could resist eating that marshmallow in front of them. Mischel noticed by following these kids as they grew up that those who resisted the temptation of instant gratification were more likely to be successful later on. He posits that there might be something genetic going on. It certainly has some deterministic overtones if we can … Continue reading »
Yesterday, two people told me that “people are talking” that there will be an earthquake soon. It scared me. Am I ready for an earthquake? Maybe I should review the meeting spots. Maybe I should… Then it started to puzzle me. We just had an earthquake drill. No, that wasn’t it, one person assured me. It’s the weather. It has been rather humid here lately and that’s what the weather was like before the 1989 earthquake. I didn’t think to ask: How often has the weather been humid between now and 1989 and no earthquake happened? As I continued to … Continue reading »
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