ICC-SBS Joint Meetup 41, "What Happens After We Die?"
Details
Secular Bible Study, Circle of Ijtihad and First Minneapolis Circle of Reason have caught the attention of the St. Paul Interfaith Network (SPIN) -- and we're talking!
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For our Joint Meetup #41 on the 3rd Monday in June 2016 between INTER-BELIEF CONVERSATION CAFE, SECULAR BIBLE STUDY, CIRCLE OF IJTIHAD, and FIRST MINNEAPOLIS CIRCLE OF REASON, our topic will be:
"WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE DIE?"
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Time & Place: Monday, June 20, 2016, 7:00-9:00 PM (doors open at 6:30PM), St. Paul Area Council of Churches HQ, 1671 Summit Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105
St. Paul Interfaith Network (SPIN) is again inviting the theists, atheists, liberals, and conservatives of Secular Bible Study (SBS), Circle of Ijtihad (COI) and First Minneapolis Circle of Reason (FMCOR) to jointly meetup with SPIN's newly renamed "Inter-Belief Conversation Cafe" (ICC), co-hosted by none other than our own long-time SBS member, Steve Miller.
In our last joint meetup, we discussed our own personal life stories; in our next meetup, we'll reasoningly discuss our views about what comes after one's death!
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What ICC host Steve Miller and SBS/COI/FMCOR organizer Frank Burton are saying about "What Happens After We Die?":
Author Henry James reportedly said on his death bed, “So here it is at last, the distinguished thing.” This sounds encouraging, but what really happens? Is the afterlife a great place, like inventor Thomas Edison hinted when he said, “It’s very beautiful over there”? Or is it less cheerful, like Sigmund Freud indicated when he said, “Now it’s nothing but torture and makes no sense anymore”? Or does the afterlife depend on who you are? Beethoven said, “I shall hear in heaven.” Author Victor Hugo on his deathbed proclaimed, “I see black light.” Maybe Steve Jobs said it best when he observed, “OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.” But what was he observing?
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Perhaps these statements are as reliable a report as we get. Scriptures promise pearly gates and streets of gold; virgin companions; a light show beyond belief; or rebirth as something else (hopefully not a cockroach).
But many who don’t believe in divinity, and even many who do, argue that maybe this life is all we have -- when it’s over, it’s really, really over. Immortality, such as it is, then consists of who remembers us (which, since they are mortal too, may not be a great comfort).
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Our most detailed description of an afterlife may be Dante’s Divine Comedy based on an imagined expedition accompanied by the poet Virgil and others. Most readers focus on the ingenious tortures of the damned in Inferno, but Dante travels up the seven-story mountain of Purgatory, onward to souls happily existing on our solar system’s planets. Finally there is the great light itself. But since Dante put his still living enemies in Hell, might his description not be reliable?
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In the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a handy guide to actually avoiding rebirth is chanted over a dead body to guide its floating spirit. The departed is reminded that scary She-Demons carrying bloody severed heads in their hands may actually be friendly -- and that, if one is dead, does it matter if one’s form is shredded by dreadful creatures? The Egyptian Book of the Dead was more practical, telling how to keep one’s soul from confessing all one’s misdeeds and being eaten by a diabolical dog. In Homer's Odyssey, the hero journeys to Hades for advice, learning that being dead is miserable and that even heroic Achilles would rather be somewhere else.
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Science may have things to say about the afterlife. It may one day encase our consciousnesses in artificial bodies, or upload our thoughts and experiences -- in more detail than our present "afterlife" in our oral stories or (since Gutenberg's invention of the printing press) in our written biographies, novels, research articles, and philosophies.
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Do we, as human beings, deserve to live forever, or to live after death, regardless of whether such survival could be attained religiously or technologically? If God indeed notes "the fall of every sparrow," should He/She/They/It "save" the essence of every sparrow? And are we so much greater, or so more deserving, than sparrows? If Asimov's "ultimate computer" could one day record and save all of our Universe's past history, would it want to bother with such fine-scale resolution as saving human beings' individual experiences, memories, and lives? Might our immortality only be possible not as individuals, but as a species, or a technology?
Finally, most literary fictions about immortality -- of living forever -- actually end with a wish for death. After a thousand years, doesn’t it all get old? Winston Churchill’s deathbed remark was, “I’m bored with it all.” Besides, as the "2,000 Year Old Man" complains in Mel Brooks' comedy sketch, "The kids never come to visit anymore!" Is it as Shakespeare's Hamlet said, that the alternative to living may be something worse?
On Monday, June 20 from 7-9 PM at Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul, (formerly the St. Paul Council of Churches HQ)1671 Summit Avenue (corner of Summit & Pierce), St. Paul, ICC, SBS, COI, and FMCOR will consider the next step after life leaves us. Will memory survive? Or will a memorable quote be it? Our reasoning dialogue's agreements of open-mindedness, acceptance, curiosity, discovery, sincerity, brevity, and confidentiality will be with us as we look for the other side.
So tell us what YOU expect about death v. life, and hear what OTHERS expect -- RSVP "YES" today to, "WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE DIE?" Treats will be available; enjoy them while you can!
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SBS-ICC FAQ:
Q: What is the joint ICC-SBS Meetup all about?
A: Interbelief Conversation Cafe (ICC), formerly "Interfaith Conversation Cafe,"is an open, facilitated interbelief dialogue where those with different religious or ethics beliefs share those beliefs and listen to and question others beliefs with curiosity, discovery and sincerity. In response to holding joint meetups with the atheists+theists of SBS and to a request by its cosponsoring plurationalist members of The Circle of Reason, ICC in 2014 voted to become the U.S.'s first "interfaith" dialogue group to expand into an "interbelief" group, codifying its welcome to both those with religious beliefs, and atheists & humanists with no religious faith but with ethics or philosophy beliefs.
Q: Why should SBS jointly meetup with ICC?
A: One of SBS's original purposes according to our co-founders Chester Barber & Grant Steves, and our co-sponsors, the Methodist church, Minnesota Atheists, and The Circle of Reason, is to encourage local "interfaith groups" to become more inclusive in inviting atheists and secular humanists into reasoning dialogue -- this joint ICC-SBS Meetup is how we did it, and how we seek to further expand religious-secular dialogues!
Q: How does SBS's joint Meetup with ICC work?
A: This joint ICC-SBS Meetup will be a little different than SBS's earlier format: Rather than have an expert lecture followed by Q&A+dialogue, these joint SBS-ICCs meetup are all dialogue, around a topic pre-chosen by attendees at the end of the prior Meetup. In the first round of the joint meetup we pass a "talking object" and timer, and sit in a circle, to facilitate "Respectful Conversations"-format sharing of personal views. Then in the second round we hold a more SBS-like, back-and-forth (but reasoning) dialogue. With folks like long-time SBS and ICC member Steve Miller facilitating, we've had no dearth of informed, thoughtful dialogues about our topics of majority interest.
Q: Uh, is there FOOD?
A: There will be snacks (cookies, Skittles, M&Ms) available, as well as coffee, tea, & ice water. An expenses-defraying donation jar will be out, but Frank Burton & The Circle of Reason will put in cash on behalf of us SBS attendees, as part of TCOR's policy of insuring all people feel welcome to attend -- even those of us with no cash! :)
Q: Where do we meetup?
A: This joint ICC-SBS Meetup is held at the St. Paul Area Council of Churches (SPACC)'s St. Paul meeting room facility on Summit Ave, 2 blocks west of Snelling (or 10 blocks east of the Mississippi River), on the north side of Summit Ave., opposite Macalester College (see map link). Conversation begins promptly at 7:00 pm; doors are open at 6:30 pm.
Q: Why should I attend?
A: To change the world, of course! "Interfaith" groups for too long have been a club to which atheists or humanists weren't welcome. No more! Come on over to Summit Ave. to see what ICC+SBS's new "interbelief" outreach is all about! Join us for SPIN's and SBS's first "mutual outreach" between the religious & secular communities, to dialogue on issues of religious or ethical beliefs and society!
ICC-SBS Joint Meetup 41, "What Happens After We Die?"