Who: Eric Maisel, PhD
What: free public presentation, "Living Well Without Gods"
Where: University Settlement, 184 Eldridge Street (and Rivington St.) [map] 273 Bowery (Bowery & Houston) [map]
When: 730pm, Thursday, 17 September
Eric Maisel, PhD, is the author of more than thirty works of fiction and nonfiction. His latest book is The Atheist's Way: Living Well Without Gods, in which he discusses how to find rich personal meaning in life despite the absence of beneficent gods and the indifference of the universe to human concerns.
In his book, Maisel addresses atheists who don't always find it easy to live as atheists, as well as religious believers who have doubts. He describes how the atheistic scientific worldview offers more advantages than the religious perspective. He encourages an understanding of the "tradition of atheism," and explains how to derive inspiration from it. He talks about how new atheists may cope with the loss of their church communities, even when they satisfy important human needs. He details the "main problem" for atheists, which he argues is making meaning in an indifferent universe. He talks about the importance of the atheist actively self-creating, being the hero of her own story, defending a radical individualism. He talks about existential depression that atheists may experience, and ways to respond to this nihilism and ultimate meaninglessness in the universe. And he defends the position that each atheist should be an "active moral philosopher," and "make his own ethics."
A columnist for Art Calendar magazine, Maisel is a creativity coach and creativity coach trainer who presents keynote addresses and workshops nationally and internationally. His nonfiction titles include: Coaching the Artist Within, Fearless Creating, The Van Gogh Blues, The Creativity Book, Performance Anxiety, Ten Zen Seconds, A Writer's San Francisco: A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul, and A Writer's Paris.
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Hmmm. Pretending to have meaning in an ulitmately meaningless universe. That otta be good.
It's simple enough, the universe may be ultimately meaningless but I don't live my life at that scale.
These meetings (as Pam and I discovered last night after a three-hour trek in from the NJ sticks to attend the Toni Van Pelt event; thanks, rush hour) aren't held at the Eldridge/Rivington site but at the 273 Bowery site (that's at Bowery/Houston, just next door to an excellent Whole Foods branch).
Please make the correction for future postings!