Saturday House!,
Brian Rice, John Lynch, and I came up with an informal event last
week for this Saturday, from 12:00 noon - 2:00 PM, and you are
invited. Brian Rice had the basic idea, ("let's share our
favorite books,") and I fleshed out this email.
The purpose is to develop a stream of conversation around what has
heart and has meaning for us, with the underlying hypothesis being
that it can point us towards the Divine. But you don't have to
see it that way at all, and can substitute in your own purpose.
(Just as long as the intent is basically positive.)
It works like so:
* Bring your **favorite books** of all time.
Not just books that are "good," but books where you, perhaps
uniquely even, see some spark of the Divine.
It could be the Bible, it could be The Long Run [1], it could be
Beatrix Potter, it could be The Blind Watchmaker [2], it could
be the Koran, it could be Everything You Know is Wrong [3], it
could be the Heart Sutra (प्रज्ञापारमिताहृदयसूत्र), [4] it could
be Manga, [5] it could even be a book of mathematics, or a book
on entrepreneuring.
It could be anything -- just as long as YOU see some spark in
it, something that affects or affected you in some crucial way
that you care about.
Bring as many as you like, though remember that we need to share
time.
* Come in a spirit of sharing, listening, humor, joy, honor, respect.
The idea is that there is a spark of life in every individual,
to share a feeling of connection and solidarity, to welcome
difference, and appreciate uniqueness.
Debate plays an important role in life, but this is NOT an event
for debate. ( That may come on another day. {;)}= )
* When it's your turn, for each book, describe the book briefly,
and then describe how it affected you, and (if you like, what
effects you've seen in your life from reading it.) This is a
loose direction, you aren't to feel bound by it. But this is
the basic idea.
Nobody else is supposed to talk, while you're sharing your book.
After you share a book, people can ask you questions, and you
can choose to answer or not. In a way, you are like the
moderator of this Q&A period.
Time will be shared on a balance of books & individuals. If
someone comes with 20 books, and you only brought 2, you get
more time per book, and they get less time per book, but they
might get more time altogether, simply because they decided to
bring 20.
We want to fit two hours, maybe a break in the middle.
* I (Lion) won't be sharing any books, at all.
* Instead, I'm going to be moderating, to make sure everyone gets
to share their book, what they saw in it, and just generally
make sure that things flow smoothly.
My goal is to help ensure that everyone is seen & heard. But I
can't do it without your help.
* If two or more people want to share the same book, that's fine;
People often see different things in the same thing, and that's
great!
It might just be John, Brian, and I, or it might be big. At this
point, I have no idea.
We'd like to do this from 12:00 - 2:00 in the back room, unless it
happens that a lot of people are interested, or unless it happens
that we are invited, to do it in the front room.
Maybe we'll go get lunch afterwards.
Feel free to invite people who you think would be interested.
Take care,
Lion {:D}=
PS NOTICE: Several of us (similar & different people) are planning a
Boarduino [6] soldering event for the future; some of us have
already completed ours. Be alert! We're looking into expanding
into **electronics**, and IF YOU HAVE IDEAS, we're still in the
planning phases. It's pretty open right now. Robert Eickmann may
be the best contact person.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Long-Run-Tale-Continuing-Time/dp/1576466396
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Watchmaker
[3] http://www.amazon.com/Everything-You-Know-Wrong-Disinformation/dp/0971394202
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga
[6] http://www.ladyada.net/make/boarduino/
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Website: http://saturdayhouse.org/
Post: [email protected]
Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
