Tuesday, April 1: Yodeling Dick Brooks. Local legend performer/songwriter sits in for the regularly scheduled guest musician, Guy Shelley.
Tuesday, April 8: Modern Mystics Revisited: Making a dynamic search for the ultimate meaning of your life your career. Journeys and adventures on the road toward absolute wisdom.
Tuesday, April 15: Iraq War Veterans. What have they become in the wartime paradigm that they lived through? We hope to spend an evening with local veterans of the current conflict in the Middle East.
Tuesday, April 22: The Sex Connection: A study of Desire, Seduction and Compulsion, by Alan Fitzpatrick. Book Review.
Tuesday, April 29: Show & Tell. Share something from your life! A pet, a vehicle, a photo, a story—anything at all.
March 2008
Tuesday, March 4: Synchronicity. C. G. Jung. “The concept of synchronicity indicates a meaningful coincidence of two or more events, where something other than the probability of chance is involved.”
Tuesday, March 11: On Becoming a Modern Mystic: Can you make a dynamic search for the ultimate meaning of your life your career? The journey and adventures on the road toward absolute wisdom.
Tuesday, March 18: Guest Musician. We invite a local musician to share their unique sounds—introducing to us the music that accompanies their life.
Tuesday, March 25: Guest Musician, Too! An accomplished guitarist and instructor plays and shares his passion for sound waves. Listening, discussing, contemplating.
February 2008
Tuesday, February 5: Philosopher Spotlight: Ayn Rand (1905–82). Author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
Tuesday, February 12: We, the Body: How we change—our outlooks on life, mortality and fate—as we age.
Tuesday, February 19: Guest MC. Come along on a ride with another philosopher who takes us where their fascination lies.
Tuesday, February 26: Synchronicity. C. G. Jung. “The concept of synchronicity indicates a meaningful coincidence of two or more events, where something other than the probability of chance is involved.”
January 2008
Tuesday, January 8: ESP Experiment Results. Join us as we reveal the results of our holiday ESP take-home experiment.
Tuesday, January 15: The Albigen System: Examining a local philosopher’s system for finding wisdom. “The purpose is to find the Truth… meaning self-definition, and the true relation of man to his fellow man, and a true understanding of life’s events.”
Tuesday, January 22: Into Great Silence. (2005) – Footsteps on wooden floors, the shuffle of cloth robes, birdcalls, and wind. This film has been described as a mirror: you bring to it what you are. In that sense, the quiet and solitude are quite confrontational, asking, what is your life's purpose, can you live with your thoughts, and, what is left when you have given all for God? A documentary about life in a Carthusian monastery.
Tuesday, January 29: What is your philosophy? We talk. Join us.
December 2007
Tuesday, December 4: What Are You Becoming? There's a gap as wide as life and death between understanding what we are and becoming it. Report on the 2007 TAT Fall Philosophic Workshop.
Tuesday, December 11: Yoga Field Trip: Join us as we visit yoga instructor Kyyaa Miller at the Howard Long Wellness Center for an evening of yoga. We meet at the library auditorium. Bring comfortable clothing.
Tuesday, December 18: Notes from the Underground. We examine and discuss three one-page treatises on “The Most Important Subject in Life” written by a lawyer, a doctor and a bi-lingual engineer.
Tuesday, December 25: ESP Homework Assignment. Take part in an experiment in Extra Sensory Perception to bookend our year’s activities.
November 2007
Tuesday, November 6: Confrontation. Do you know what you’re talking about? Focusing questions on each other’s assumptions.
Tuesday, November 13: My Life With Yoga: Do you know what yoga is? Guest practitioner and teacher, Kyyaa Miller, shares & shows what you may not know.
Tuesday, November 20: Do you see what I see? An evening of conversation with a local artist who views all things from another point of view.
Tuesday, November 27: Professional Thinkers Cometh. Two guest speakers, ‘professional thinkers’ and full time philosophers living in Pittsburgh visit our group to compare notes from north of the border.
October 2007
Tuesday, October 2: Open Rant. Come one, come all. Fifteen minutes of open air time for each volunteer speaker. Participants get to say what’s on their mind, uninterrupted for ¼ hour. After which, they will be questioned by group listeners.
Tuesday, October 9: Share & Tell: Bring up to three things—Bring an object, a story, a poem, a pet, you name it. Share something that has profound meaning in your life.
Tuesday, October 16: Descending Out of Madness. An evening’s conversation with James J. Burns, III, of Pittsburgh, author of At Home With the Inner Self.
Tuesday, October 23: Professional Thinker Cometh. Surprise guest speaker, ‘professional thinker’ and full time philosopher visits our group to compare notes from north of the border.
Tuesday, October 30: The Fountain. "Death is the road to awe."
Writer/director Darren Aronofsky says the film is not meant to provide answers, but to raise the big questions: "trying to find out the reason of why we’re here and what is life and what is love. And what happens when you die. Starring Hugh Jackman.
September 2007
Tuesday, September 4: What are you becoming? Report on a weekend philosophic fall workshop attended by M&M Philosophy group members. The TAT Foundation, an area organization formed around a quest to discover life’s deepest philosophical questions, organizes this Aug. 31—Sept. 2 event. We’ll report what we discovered that weekend.
Tuesday, September 11: The Final Vision: Spending an evening examining the booklet of this intriguing title from A Course in Miracles, Chapter 31.
Tuesday, September 18: We Windmills. Do trees create wind by waving their branches? (Borrowed Question) What are you doing (causing) and what is being done to you? Do you decide, or do, anything? Are you always prompted by outside circumstances? What can you do? Open discussion. Bring your mind to this night’s conversation.
Tuesday, September 25: Philosophy on foot. We’re taking it to the streets! Weather permitting, we’re going to walk down to the river and spend some time talking about the water that’s passed under our bridges. Bring your own inspired items (photos, memorabilia, favorite poem, story, adventure, food, etc.).
August 2007
Tuesday, August 7: Film viewing: The Last Holiday. Queen Latifah plays Georgia Byrd, a reserved, church-going New Orleans department-store worker, in a remake of this 1950. When diagnosed with a terminal illness, Georgia throws caution to the wind, quits her job and heads to Europe to accomplish everything she'd been putting off.
Tuesday, August 14: Philosopher spotlight: William James (1842 –1910). An influential pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who wrote books on the psychology of religious experience and mysticism and the philosophy of pragmatism. “Religion...is a man's total reaction upon life.” –W. James
Tuesday, August 21: Meditation: Methods & Exercises for Centering at Any Time. Guest presenter, Dorothy Jones, Ph.D., Transpersonal Psychologist: “This evening will focus on tools and practices, both formal and very casual, that create the calm, centered, meditative state that produces greater peace and wisdom in our selves as well as a more harmonious life with all around us.”
Tuesday, August 28: Who are you? Self-realization has been called the discovery of our real identity. Can you become who you really are (supposed to be)?
July 2007
Tuesday, July 3: Social Mores Exposed. An in-your-face experience of our unspoken rules being confronted or broken. Film viewing: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
Tuesday, July 10: Book Review: Silence, Simplicity, and Solitude; A Guide for Spiritual Retreat, by David A. Cooper.
Tuesday, July 17: A Course in Miracles: Forgiving Ourselves and Others. True forgiveness benefits ourselves. Dorothy Jones, Ph.D., Transpersonal Psychologist, will lead a presentation on a powerful alternative to the eye-for-an-eye paradigm—uncovering the healing power of forgiveness.
Tuesday, July 24: Reincarnation. An evening of discussion about life, cosmology and after death possibilities with Helen van Nattter, author of A Communion with Angles.
Tuesday, July 31: Freedom. Are we free? What does this word imply in our culture? What does it imply in other cultures? A multicultural exploration of this ‘fundamental’
June 2007
Tuesday, June 5: Spotlight: Peace Pilgrim. For 28 years, a silver haired woman calling herself only "Peace Pilgrim" walked more than 25,000 miles. She vowed to "remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food." Her message was both simple and profound.
Tuesday, June 12: The Final Vision. Examining Chapter 31 from A Course in Miracles.
Tuesday, June 19: River Walk. Open-air philosophy with friends and a walking meditation exercise.
Tuesday, June 26: Writing Ourselves. A self-inquiry writing exercise with discussion.
May 2007
Tuesday, May 1: Jean-Paul Sartre. Spotlighting the existentialist philosopher & author of Being and Nothingness.
Tuesday, May 8: Murder Suicide. Examining rampages, suicide bombing, etc.
Tuesday, May 15: My Dinner with André. Film viewing & conversation.
Tuesday, May 22: Every day Evolution: All around us in daily life. Guest presenter shares fascination with this widely discussed theory.
Tuesday, May 29: Just Talk. We’ll meet in the library auditorium and just… talk!
April 2007
Tuesday, April 3: Epistemology. Examining the limits, nature and validity of knowledge.
Tuesday, April 10: Jacob’s Ladder. Film viewing with discussion.
Tuesday, April 17: Is Philosophy…. a: The pursuit of wisdom, b: the search for a general understanding of values and reality by speculative rather than observational means, or c: an analysis of the grounds and concepts of fundamental beliefs?
Tuesday, April 24: Taking it to the river. We’ll meet in the library auditorium and then go walk & talk on the Ohio River fitness trail. Transportation after the evening’s plein air meeting can be arranged.
March 2007
Tuesday, March 6: Meditation. We will practice two forms of meditation. Wear comfortable clothing.
Tuesday, March 13: Assignment: Hesse. Group participants must read an essay, short story or novel by this Nobel Prize-winning German-born novelist, poet and painter. Be prepared to discuss your chosen work by this metaphysical-minded writer.
Tuesday, March 20: Prayer. What does prayer do? How do you do it? Is there anybody out/in there?
Tuesday, March 27: Programming yourself to succeed. Sports psychology, success seminars, etc.; Can you achieve what you really want to achieve? By yourself alone? Why do you want what you want? Discussing positive thinking.
January 2007
Tuesday, January 2: Under the Influence of Physics. Every moment of your day is made possible through mankind's understanding of physics. How was life 1000 years ago and what will it be like 1000 years from now?
Tuesday, January 9: Open Mike Night. Read an original composition--poetry, prose, essay, story--highlighting a unique aspect of life as you know it. B.Y.O.W. Bring your own writing.
Tuesday, January 16: Addictions Revisited. Knowing the face of the beast; examining the dynamics of your socially accepted (or unaccepted) addictions.
Tuesday, January 23: Your Happiest Day/Your Worst Day. Can you spare (teach) someone else what you learned at such great cost? Can you communicate to someone else the true appreciation of your best moments?
Tuesday, January 30: Extreme Sports. Meeting members agree to an extreme co-challenge. Discussing action on the edge.