Guest Blog by Gary Nelson A common-sense view of our own cognition is that we see things as they actually are unless we are hallucinating – our cognition is veridical (the truth). Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman says NO, our cognition is not veridical, it is optimized by evolution to maximize our chances of staying alive … Continue reading What is a Cognitive Bias, Anyway?
Our covenant statement carries deep meaning for me. It was crafted as the distillation of a group effort in 1997 to express an agreed understanding of our intentions and ideals as we settled into our first building and strengthened our identity as a liberal religious community. QUUF’s subsequent growth and outreach within our community and the broader world have been a heartening tribute to those stated ideals – to love, to share and to serve in myriad ways.
Guest Blog by Frances Loubere I had not imagined, when I cautiously agreed to be a QUUF Board nominee, that I’d begin my tenure as a small square on a Zoom screen, in a time-warped 2020, with depleted QUUF staff and budget, and that these Zoom meetings would continue into a fraught and surreal future. … Continue reading Our Transforming World!
Guest Blog by Dean Carr* Just after mid-March, I developed what I thought were nasal allergy symptoms. But when a sore throat, low-grade fever, and intense fatigue developed two days later, it was clear that allergies were not the cause. My wife Kathy had developed more severe symptoms a few days earlier than I did, … Continue reading Never Thought It Would Be Us
Happy New Year! Our fiscal year started July 1, and with that, we say good-bye to President Nils Pedersen, Vice-President Rob Wamstad, and member-at-large Pam Daly. Nils, Rob, and Pam: we cannot thank you enough for your fine service to QUUF. We also welcome three new Board members – David Covert, Frances Loubere, and Virginia … Continue reading Greetings from Your New Board President
Guest Blog Post from Membership Coordinator, Abigael Crecca. I am in Eastern Oregon regularly these days, in the quiet and solitude of my family home. Hearing stories and flipping through mountains of photographs to find my place in the order of things. My mom passed away last March, and my nephew Jake is caring for … Continue reading Journey to the East Side
I’m just five weeks away from concluding my time as your minister, and as such I’m attempting to turn over as much as I can of whatever I have to whomever is interested. In this frame of heart and mind, this morning I stumbled across a print version of a service from Sunday, February 7, … Continue reading Oh, We Give Thanks…
Who are we, really? And what is the consciousness that can ask this question? I’ve been prompted to reflect on this quintessential philosophical question in relation to a bout of the “Quimper-area crud” that befriended me early in the week of Good Friday/Easter and from which I’m still recovering. During these past four weeks, I’ve … Continue reading The “I” and the “Not-I”
This morning I’m working – or planning to work – on my message for this Sunday, a shared sermon with Joseph Bednarik – “Poetry, Poets, and Religion: Personal Glimpses” – in which each of us will speak about our individual journeys with poetry. One of the poems for my journey that yearly cycles into my … Continue reading Nature’s First Green Is Gold
Each of us, no doubt, will have our individual responses – various combinations of sorrow, anger, frustration, despair – to yet another mass shooting this past Wednesday in which the lives of seventeen persons were killed and many more injured when a former student entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland FL in mid-afternoon … Continue reading The Sorrows of the World
