Human hearted community of practice meeting

Event summary:
I've also been working with the Sydney Metro Humanist community on starting a 'human hearted community of practice' (COP). They are going to hold an initial COP meeting on Sunday May 19th at 12:00 midday. So, of course, everyone in this group is invited. The basic idea is the same as for this group, so maybe, we get started working with the humanists.

Human heartedness is an approach to life which sees humans as inherently social beings and sees the path to human happiness and fulfillment in life as being more dependent on realizing our human social potential, such as our potential for sympathy and kindness, by building good relationships and positive social connection. It is an evidence based secular underpinning of meaning and community that is the better alternative to relying on either religion or modernity's alternative focus on competition, hyper individualism, and being purely ‘rational’.

The COP is both a support group and a mutual encouragement group for people who want to explore living a more human hearted life. The plan is for the COP to have monthly meetings. The meeting will start with a brief explanation of the concept of human heartedness, and then we will conduct our first COP meeting.

Who is this event for ?
This event is for people who dislike the alienation and emptiness of our modern finance driven society, and are looking for a new form of community - one based on the reality of our human social capacities such as sympathy and friendship, rather than based on returning to religion and other traditional practices. If you would like to be part of building a supportive community for living out socially positive values in today’s world we encourage you to come along.

Some background: The meaning problem modern society faces -
The development of modern society has seen the destruction of earlier systems of meaning, like religion and tradition, and their replacement by market values and hyper individualism. This has created a socially atomsied world of material wealth in which far too many people feel insecure, alone, and unfulfilled

More background: The solution we will look at -
The obvious solution to the collapse of values in modern society is to build alternative forms of community. Many groups try to achieve this by calling for a return to religious values, or by building new religions. As humanists we do not turn to religion but the best of the human potential to provide a foundation for community groups.

So one part of the solution to the existential emptiness of modernity is for people to build small communities; groups of like minded people who want to live in a more human hearted way, and support each other to live better in the face of modernity’s onslaught. There are other parts of the solution of course. However in relation to this event our focus is on setting up a COP to support each other to practice living in a more human hearted way, and to provide communal support generally in today’s disenchanted world.

Basic structure of this meeting:
The meeting will be facilitated by a member of the Sydney humanist community and will involve a brief talk by Lyndon Storey explaining human heartedness and the problems of modernity. This will be followed by a model COP meeting in which Lyndon will run through a sample COP meeting agenda with the group. The meeting will finish with a QandA and discussion period, followed by a lunch and more informal discussion.
Meeting Agenda:
Introduction (5 minutes)
Overview of Human Heartedness (5 minutes)
COP meeting (40 minutes)
COP meeting model agenda.

1. Welcome
2. Group Welcome
3. Welcome of new members
4. Brief Reading
5. Reflections on reading in terms of members daily lives
6. Members news/concerns/joys/sorrows
7. Topical presentation (not part of today ‘s presentation)
8. Closing comments - including topic suggestions for next meeting, feedback, Q/A
9. Meeting declared closed by meeting facilitator

Lunch
Venue:
We'll be meeting in the 'Green room' at the Botany View Hotel, 597 King Street Newtown; just a few hundred metres from St Peters train station and the St Peters station King Street bus stop. The Green room is up the stairs and then at the end of the corridor. If in any doubt just ask at the bar near the entrance.