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Thursday, Sep 15, 2022 at 8:00 PM to Sunday, Sep 18, 2022 at 10:30 PM EDT
308 Red River Rd, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 1B1, Canada
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Purchase includes all conference and pre-conference events and sessions, excepting the Airsoft & BBQ pre-conference event (please purchase separately). Includes Saturday boxed lunch and $25.00 Habit Café card. Enter the discount code EARLYBIRD before July 1 to save $50 per ticket.
What better way to prepare the mind and soul to participate in deep thought and connection with others than stalking through the woods with airsoft guns and eating a pile of meat? Get lucky and you might even manage to nail one of our speakers. (Includes airsoft rentals, protective gear and BBQ.)
Urban Abbey, 308 Red River Rd, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 1B1, Canada.
Our lives are embedded in a single constant medium - our own consciousness.
Despite this ever-present reality, we rarely take time to consider it. What does it mean to be conscious? How do we interact with other conscious beings and can we participate in their consciousness? Can we shape or impact consciousness? What role do ethics play? What is the implication that we humans appear to have a conscience embedded in our consciousness?
To answer these questions we have gathered four diverse thinkers and practitioners. Dr. John Vervaeke, a cognitive scientist, philosopher and professor at the University of Toronto; Pastor Paul Vanderklay, a Christian Reformed Church pastor who ministers in Sacramento California and engages in philosophy, theology and culture; Dr. Richard Maundrell, a philosophy professor at Lakehead University with particular interest in consciousness, brain death, biomedical ethics and phenomenology; and Jonathan Pageau, a Greek Orthodox icon carver specializing in symbolism, history and philosophy.
Join us in exploring these questions and more in a conference that will emphasize the development of insight and connection through in-the-moment process and discussion between our speakers and participants.
http://www.urbanabbey.ca/
Urban Abbey is an intentional service-based community following the way of Jesus in how we care for and serve people- particularly the marginalized. We take our inspiration from Irish Abbeys of old, and in similar ways we offer our space for free daily meals, community and private events as well as emergency sheltering. Irish abbeys also put a focus on arts, education, and deep conversations that bridged cultural and philosophical gaps between peoples. In a similar way, we hope that offering this Consciousness & Conscience conference inspires deep conversations, new relationships and friendships and blesses not only those who attend but our neighbors and friends as well!
Jonathan Pageau graduated with distinction from the Painting and Drawing program at Concordia University in Montreal during the late 1990s. Quickly disillusioned with contemporary art, he discovered icons and traditional Christian images along his own spiritual journey. Rekindling his love of art through study of traditional forms, Jonathan developed a passion for wood carving. Having studied Orthodox Theology and Iconology at the University of Sherbrooke, since 2003 Jonathan has been carving different types of liturgical objects. His carvings have been commissioned by churches, bishops, priests and laypeople in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. He has participated is several exhibitions of icons and teaches icon carving with Hexamaeron. Jonathan also produces online videos discussing Christian symbolism in all its forms.
John Vervaeke is an Associate Professor, in the teaching stream. He has been teaching at the University of Toronto since 1994. He currently teaches courses in the Psychology department on thinking and reasoning with an emphasis on insight problem solving, cognitive development with an emphasis on the dynamical nature of development, and higher cognitive processes with an emphasis on intelligence, rationality, mindfulness, and the Psychology of wisdom. He is the director of the Cognitive Science program where he also teaches courses on the introduction to Cognitive Science, and the Cognitive Science of consciousness wherein he emphasizes 4E (embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended) models of cognition and consciousness . In addition, he teaches a course in the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health program on Buddhism and Cognitive Science. He is the director of the Consciousness and the Wisdom Studies Laboratory. He has won and been nominated for several teaching awards including the 2001 Students' Administrative Council and Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students Teaching Award for the Humanities, and the 2012 Ranjini Ghosh Excellence in Teaching Award. He has published articles on relevance realization, general intelligence, mindfulness, flow, metaphor, and wisdom. He is first author of the book Zombies in Western Culture: A 21st Century crisis which integrates Psychology and Cognitive Science to address the meaning crisis in Western society. He is the author and presenter of the YouTube series, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis.
Richard Maundrell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Lakehead University. He received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Waterloo and began teaching at Lakehead in1985. He teaches courses in biomedical ethics, philosophy of mind, logic and critical thinking. He has published on a variety of topics in journals including The University of Toronto Quarterly, Dialogue, McGill Journal of Law and Health, and Impact Ethics. His current research concerns consciousness and the determination of neurological death.
Rev. Paul Vander Klay is the pastor of Living Stones Christian Reformed Church in Sacramento California. He has a BA in History from Calvin College and an M.Div from Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids Michigan. He grew up in Paterson New Jersey in his father's racial reconciliation church. He served 6 years as a missionary in the Dominican Republic. He's got a YouTube channel and podcast commenting on the work of Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke, Jonathan Pageau and others who pertain to the intersection of Christianity and the Meaning Crisis.
In town early and looking to connect with other conference participants? Join us for live music, drinks and delicacies.
Gather your conference package and orient yourself to the events of the weekend. Registration will remain open throughout the conference.
What better way to prepare the mind and soul to participate in deep thought and connection with others than stalking through the woods with airsoft guns and eating a pile of meat? Get lucky and you might even manage to nail one of our speakers. (An additional $50 includes airsoft rentals, protective gear and BBQ)
You are invited to join Urban Abbey's daily community lunch.
Topical discussion groups create space for you to dive in on favorite hobby-horses or simply listen in as others postulate, speculate and generally discuss the issues that matter most to them.
Welcome and introductions
There are three questions that must be answered for any cognitive scientific theory of consciousness. The first of these questions is the function question, viz., what does consciousness do? Given that so much sophisticated and intelligent behaviour is done unconsciously what is the specific function of consciousness. The second question is what is the nature of consciousness? What kind of thing (broadly construed) is it? It seems so unlike everything else that we need an explanation of what kind of thing it is. The third question is a meta-question, viz., how should the function and nature questions be answered? Can and should they be addressed independently or interdependently? My talk will argue that the two questions need to be answered interdependently, that we can answer these questions interdependently, and that this answer goes a long way to reducing (but not removing completely) the mystery of consciousness. This account of consciousness has important implications for altered states of consciousness and how they may contribute to the enhancement of meaning and the cultivation of wisdom.
Professor
University of Toronto
Reverend
Living Stones Christian Reformed Church
Jon and Paul will discuss one another’s ideas while seeking to develop and expand upon their own, working to reach dialogos.
Offer the benefits of distributed cognition to Jon and Paul by helping them deepen their thoughts through the multiple perspectives gathered in the audience. Throughout the dialog your questions and comments can be submitted through the event app. Your contributions will be presented to Jon and Paul to engage with.
Continue the conversation with other participants while enjoying refreshments.
Naturalism is the view that the only world we have is that which is available to scientific explanation and description. An essential part of science is the exercise of skepticism to counter the human inclination to indulge in wishful thinking. Science has been extraordinarily successful at explaining the natural world, but the demystification that has accompanied it has challenged traditional notions of morality, freedom and dignity. Can we live a meaningful life in a world in which our purpose must be found in ourselves?
Lakehead University
In this presentation, Jonathan will engage with the notion of attention as desire for the good using Dante, St-Gregory of Nyssa, Plato and ultimately the gospel of St-John.
Orthodox Icon Carver
Orthodox Arts Journal, The Symbolic World
Richard and Jonathan will discuss one another’s ideas while seeking to develop and expand upon their own, working to reach dialogos.
Offer the benefits of distributed cognition to Richard and Jonathan by helping them deepen their thoughts through the multiple perspectives gathered in the audience.
Lunch, in a box!
Please note in your registration if you have any food restrictions.
All the speakers will discuss the various ideas presented and answer questions from one another and the conference participants.
Take a turn on stage! Participants will be split into four groups and will join one of our speakers in a moderated discussion. The stage will be set with three chairs – one for a speaker, one for a moderator and one for participants who would like to fully engage in the conversation (sign up in advance on the event app). For those who don’t take the stage, enjoy being a fly-on-the-wall and listen as others offer their expertise and perspectives.
Participants will remain in the Round Table format but will join a different speaker for discussion.
Please enjoy one of our excellent local restaurants!
Jonathan and Paul will discuss one another’s ideas while seeking to develop and expand upon their own, working to reach dialogos.
Jon and Richard will discuss one another’s ideas while seeking to develop and expand upon their own, working to reach dialogos.
Closing thoughts offered by our speakers.
While Friday and Saturday were focused on conversation and reflection, Sunday will be a day focused on participation and cultivation of consciousness and conscience.
Feel free to come early to Urban Abbey for a coffee!
You are warmly invited to join Urban Abbey in our worship service. Pastor Paul Vanderklay will preach.
Jonathan Pageau will offer a seminar on the basics of iconography, walking through a visual history, exploration of symbols, themes and discussion of the practice of icon veneration.
Dr. John Vervaeke will offer a guided meditation practice and will lead a time of contemplation.
Closing remarks and benediction.
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Thursday, Sep 15, 2022 at 8:00 PM to Sunday, Sep 18, 2022 at 10:30 PM EDT
308 Red River Rd,
Thunder Bay,
Ontario,
P7B 1B1,
Canada
