DT Strain
Spiritual Naturalist
Ruby,
You're quite right about the benefits of the internet, especially for those in remote areas. As you noted, however, Houston provides wonderful opportunities for face-to-face meetings of Freethinkers, Humanists, Atheists, etc.
As such, what seems to happen is that the online discussions get too bitter and the subjects too academic. Meanwhile, when we're face to face, we have good discussions but there is a civility and friendliness that gets lost in online debates and discussions. The overall effect seems to be harmful to our groups.
I would say that if we are to begin to build an applied life practice similar to what Eudaimonist has outlined above, the face-to-face needs to be emphasized. It also seems like too many good conversations are had online between we who live in the same city, and then there's less to say when we get together. Not to mention the fact that we're trying to "live" and "apply" these things, not just have academic discussions.
I enjoy my online conversations greatly, but there are plenty of other forums and email lists which are independent of geography that myself and the other members can get on and use on their own (such as this one). This has the advantage of including far more than just our local folks. Then we can save all these interesting conversations for when we get together, and our relationships are better off. That's my current impression anyway.
I'm on a member's suggestion committee for the HCoF and abolishing their email discussion list (but keeping their official email announcement list) is something I'm thinking of suggesting.
You're quite right about the benefits of the internet, especially for those in remote areas. As you noted, however, Houston provides wonderful opportunities for face-to-face meetings of Freethinkers, Humanists, Atheists, etc.
As such, what seems to happen is that the online discussions get too bitter and the subjects too academic. Meanwhile, when we're face to face, we have good discussions but there is a civility and friendliness that gets lost in online debates and discussions. The overall effect seems to be harmful to our groups.
I would say that if we are to begin to build an applied life practice similar to what Eudaimonist has outlined above, the face-to-face needs to be emphasized. It also seems like too many good conversations are had online between we who live in the same city, and then there's less to say when we get together. Not to mention the fact that we're trying to "live" and "apply" these things, not just have academic discussions.
I enjoy my online conversations greatly, but there are plenty of other forums and email lists which are independent of geography that myself and the other members can get on and use on their own (such as this one). This has the advantage of including far more than just our local folks. Then we can save all these interesting conversations for when we get together, and our relationships are better off. That's my current impression anyway.
I'm on a member's suggestion committee for the HCoF and abolishing their email discussion list (but keeping their official email announcement list) is something I'm thinking of suggesting.