Book Review Lecture Series: "The Power and Scope of Intuition," at the Women's Exchange on Friday afternoons. $15 includes with wine and cheese; details at www.womens-exchange.org

September 13, 2009
Cutting-edge work in neuroscience has recently provided remarkable evidence for what used to be called "women's intuition." Marco Iacoboni, Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect with Others.

October 30, 2009
Evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists agree that our innate, intuitive capacity to relate to how others feel is fundamental to human evolutionary success and to the development of sophisticated moral systems. Frans deWaal, Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolves.

November 13, 2009
Intuition plays a remarkably substantial role in sophisticated rationality and complex decision-making. Guy Claxton, Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: Why Intelligence Increases When You Think Less and Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves.

Sermon "Neuroscience and Morality, Part 2" Lake Shore Unitarian Society, 10:30 a.m. November 22, 2009, in Winnetka. Details at www.lsunitarians.org . Remarkable new studies of how the brain can change offer a powerful critique of despairing cynicism about humanity. It is possible to grow toward greater compassion, responsibility, happiness, and serenity.  We are not stuck with who we have always been: through intention and attention, the brain can rewire itself in astounding ways. I will be exploring the moral and spiritual implications of this new research.

Adult Ed Series on talking to kids in gay-inclusive ways about what sexual fidelity is and why it still matters, based on my book For Fidelity: How Intimacy and Commitment Enrich Our Lives. 11 am in parish hall, 1111 N. Wells, Chicago; January 10, 17, 24, 31. Details (including where to find free parking) at www.lasallestreetchurch.org For an excerpt from this book, please click here.   Sunday worship at LaSalle Street Church is 9-10:30 and 11-12:30; senior pastor Laura Trust will be preaching about sexual ethics.  She’s extraordinary.  This is my own congregation--a progressive, diverse, post-denominational, activist little place. The beautiful old church is on LaSalle Blvd, not Wells, just south of Division.  It’s walking distance from the Clark & Division Red line subway stop.

Lectures to Writers on Writing at Off Campus Writers Workshop in Winnetka, 9:30-12 on March 4 and March 11, details at www.occ.bizland.com. Our skills with wordcraft are pure gift. And they are a way of making money. How do we handle that duality? There's a lot at stake--perhaps more than we ordinarily realize. Sources will be Lewis Hyde, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World and my book on consumerism, compassion, and altruism, Selling Ourselves Short: Why We Struggle to Earn a Living and Have a Life. This is part of a years-long series I've been doing for OCWW on aspects of writing and spirituality.