Conversations New York

 
 
 

LET’S ENHANCE OUR HAPPINESS, TOGETHER!
Socrates Salon On-line
Conversation hosted by Ron & Peter Gross via Zoom
Tuesday, February 7th, 2023
3:00 sharp – 4:00 pm (please arrive by 2:45)

To register via Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-enhance-our-happiness-together-tickets-514038361577
Zoom link to join the meeting: tinyurl.com/2p927yut

Our quest for happiness has been bolstered recently by fresh findings from social scientists, psychologists, counselors, and self-help best-sellers (See Suggested Viewing at bottom.)
Let’s share our knowledge, experience, practices, and wisdom:
· What does happiness mean, to you?
· What is one of your favorite ways to enhance your happiness?
· How is your power to be happy, effected by the culture, politics, and economy in which you live?
· What’s the best resource (book, tape, website, etc.) you have found for inspiration and know-how on becoming happier?
For inspiration and enrichment: Enjoy a few of these TED Talks on how to be happier: https://www.ted.com/topics/happiness.

 
 
 

This event is brought to you by the Free Thinker Institute (FTI), a not-for-profit looking to support and empower personal development for its members. The FTI focuses on transformational development for anyone interested, both personally and professionally, organizing a free event every Tuesday to discuss ways to transform wisdom into practical applications that benefit our lives, covering topics widely ranging from professional subjects to spiritual ones. (http://freethinkerinstitute.org/)

Format: Lecture and discussion
Note: social time for our community 15 minutes before presentation.

I have a friend who says she makes all her decisions with intuition, and I sometimes think she’s making decisions that don’t serve her well in life. I tried to give her logical reasons for doing something different, but she didn’t want to do anything other than what her intuition told her to.

I’m a Myers Briggs intuitive myself, so I use my intuition regularly, but I started pondering about when is it more appropriate to use intuition vs. reason. I think I have an answer now, and I’d welcome feedback from all of you to see if you agree:

I’d argue intuition should be used for deciding on axiomatic truths - things that are so obvious they are self-evident. And that reason (along with our sense of fairness) should be used to build.

A little about our host:
Garrett is a programmer turned award-winning software inventor turned entrepreneur (PlateRate.com is his company). His hobby is writing and discussing practical philosophy, and he does life coaching on request to help people live happy, moral lives. He is also the executive director of The Free Thinker Institute (http://freethinkerinstitute.org/), which aims to create a community that helps members increase happiness and decrease harm for themselves and those they can influence.

To get familiar with our past events, feel free to check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmixGB9GdrptyEWovEj80zg

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctdumvqD0pGdwrfItiS7nD_nDTjsYcjOz6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We publish our event recordings on our YouTube channel to offer our help to anyone who would like to but can’t attend the meeting, so we need to give this clause. If you don’t want to be recorded, just remain on mute and keep your video off. Here’s our legal notice: For valuable consideration received, by joining this event I hereby grant Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns, the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use and publish any and all Zoom recordings for trade, advertising and any other commercial purpose, and to alter the same without any restriction. I hereby release Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns from all claims and liability related to said video recordings.

 
 
 

This event is brought to you by the Free Thinker Institute (FTI), a not-for-profit looking to support and empower personal development for its members. The FTI focuses on transformational development for anyone interested, both personally and professionally, organizing a free event every Tuesday to discuss ways to transform wisdom into practical applications that benefit our lives, covering topics widely ranging from professional subjects to spiritual ones. (http://freethinkerinstitute.org)

Format: Lecture and discussion
Note: social time for our community 15 minutes before presentation.

Valentine’s Day can be a day to remember to look into ourselves and our actions: Are we withholding the Love that is within us or are we setting it free to emanate from our core and from our own actions? It can be a reminder not just to give items as a representation of Love but to constantly behave in a loving way with every action we take.

Instead of focusing solely on flowers and chocolates, why not use Valentine’s Day as a reminder to let that Love inside of us radiate out of everything we do and affect everyone around us in a way that is unconditional, forgiving, nurturing, supportive and uplifting: to act with an open heart because the world needs a lot more Love right now.

Possible discussion topics:
How Valentine’s Day affects society
How important is Valentine’s Day for you and why
Your experiences and connections to Valentine’s Day
Your understanding of love and its connection to Valentine’s Day

Read MJ’s thoughtful essay here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qnSYqSAX0Rds5eh9gjzyEs0R89-d9cvm/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=101683226014522978501&rtpof=true&sd=true

Host:
Marie-Judith Jean-Louis (aka MJ) is an artist and conscious relationship facilitator. She hosts conversations related to slow dating and conscious relationships on her meetup group: The Art of Love. She co-hosted live slow dating events (as opposed to speed dating events) in the past for people to get to know each other while dating and is a regular moderator on Clubhouse for the Raise Your Love Signal room, also focused on conscious relationships. You can find out more about her at:
https://www.mariejudith.com/
https://www.meetup.com/theartoflove/

Co-host:
Garrett is a programmer turned award-winning software inventor turned entrepreneur (PlateRate.com is his company). His hobby is writing and discussing practical philosophy, and he does life coaching on request to help people live happy, moral lives. He is also the executive director of The Free Thinker Institute (http://freethinkerinstitute.org/), which aims to create a community that helps members increase happiness and decrease harm for themselves and those they can influence.

To get familiar with our past events, feel free to check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmixGB9GdrptyEWovEj80zg

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctdumvqD0pGdwrfItiS7nD_nDTjsYcjOz6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

By attending this event, I allow Free Thinker Institute (FTI) to use all Zoom recordings for educational and business purposes and in addition agree not to sue the FTI for any claims or liability.

 
 
 

FINAL MEETUP.
Join us, as we conclude our conversation on The Scapegoat Complex by Sylvia Brinton Perera.

Please read pp[masked].

Reading is mandatory if attendees intend to participate in the conversation.

If you do not read the assignment, attendance is welcomed however please attend and only listen.

As usual, I will facilitate and lead the "round table" discussion.

An in-depth study of victim psychology based on historical ritual dreams, mythology and case material. Shows that scapegoating is a way of denying one’s own dark side by projecting it onto others.
“The term scapegoat is applied to individuals and groups who are accused of causing misfortune. Scapegoating means finding those who can be identified with evil, blamed for it, and cast out from the family or the community in order to leave the remaining members with a feeling of guiltlessness.” This is an in depth analysis of how the shadow archetype is focussed on certain types of individuals who grew-up carrying their family’s collective shadow. Such people are termed “Scapegoat Identified Individuals” by the author, renowned Jungian analyst, Sylvia Perera. Perera goes into great detail explaining how such individuals can be healed of this complex through identification of it and working through the negative introjections.

A must for anyone who wants to understand the shadow and how some of us end-up with more than our share of it.

Sylvia Brinton Perera, M.A., is a Jungian analyst who lives, practices, teaches, and writes in New York and Vermont and lectures worldwide. Originally trained as an art historian, she earned her M.A. in psychology and graduated from the Jung Institute of New York. Her publications include Descent to the Goddess; The Scapegoat Complex; Dreams, A Portal to the Source (with E. Christopher Whitmont); Celtic Queen Maeve and Addiction and The Irish Bull God: Image of the Multiform and Integral Masculine.

NOTE: I was unsuccessful in finding a FREE PDF file in Z-library,

I hope everyone will be able to procure a copy of the book. Make sure it's the same book, there are many books with the same and similar title.

with gratitude,
Jorge :(