3 posts tagged “ted tuesdays”

Sorry for the absence. As many of you know I am in the midst of transitioning jobs and cities back to Seattle. More on that to come. This is the last TED Tuesday I will do in Detroit. I have missed blogging about the last two since TED Global, mainly because of the upheaval that commenced upon my return. Another thing I haven't been able to do is blog about day four of TED Global. It was a great experience my friends and frankly all my attempts to sum it up seem like purple prose, and I will not subject you to that.

Anywhoo, this week we watched Bill Stone's inspiring and stunning presentation from this year. I think everyone was pretty shocked by his announcement at the end of his talk. The interesting thing to me is that in the last twenty years or so, we have lost sight of what a true explorer is and I think that has an important impact on our world view. Bill reminded us that exploration is going where none have gone rather than where few have gone and in relation to his last announcement, doing what none have done and few would dare. If Bill is able to do this (you'll have to watch the video to find out what the announcement is), he might just inspire the world in the way all great explorers have inspired the world in the past. Check it below.

OK, so I know we just got started with the TED Tuesday thing, but I'm off to TED Global so I won't be doing TED Tuesday until I get back. In the meantime I will try and blog from Tanzania.
Cheers

Every Tuesday morning I present a TED talk to a group of friends, co-workers, clients and competitors. I call it TED Tuesday. I've been holding them, with few exceptions, every Tuesday for the last 18 months. This is an attempt to have a parallel experience here. Each week I'll post the video we watched (subject to availability from ted.com) and a few words from our discussion.

This week we watched Rev. Tom Honey who attempts to answer the question "How could God have allowed the tsunami?"

I think the statement Rev. Honey made that intrigued me the most is toward the end. He asks "Isn't it ironic that Christians who claim to believe in an infinite, unknowable being, then tie God down in closed systems and rigid doctrines?"

I think this statement is incredibly insightful and liberating. While he never says the word, Rev. Honey is describing aspects of Pantheism. As an atheist, I would welcome a religious view closer to Pantheism. It seems to me that saying God is in everything would result in much the same behavior as saying God doesn't exist. Both would foster a more thoughtful approach to life and our treatment of other living things.

I was also very impressed with the thoughtful and gentle way he delivered his talk. It set the tone for a great, measured and civil discussion between atheists and Christians.

See it here, join the conversation here if you like.

Thanks TED for making these available.