The Brain: A User's Manual

 

Called to Question

presents

The Brain: A User’s Manual

with return guest speaker

Stephen Brown, Ph.D.

(Stephen is a professor of Psychology at Red Deer Polytechnic. He completed his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience in 2015 at Leiden University (The Netherlands). His dissertation focused on the role of the locus coeruleus, a small brainstem nucleus, and noradrenaline (a signalling chemical in the brain) in attention and learning.)

“Here is this three-pound mass of jelly you can hold in the palm of your hand and it can contemplate the vastness of interstellar space. It can contemplate the meaning of infinity and it can contemplate itself contemplating on the meaning of infinity,” said the neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran. 

Our brain consists of about 86 billion neurons and 87 billion glial cells; astronomers have estimated the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy to be about 100 billion, so we carry a comparable number of nerve cells in our heads. In this meeting, I’ll give an overview of the human brain and its parts, after which we will discuss some neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s and what they have taught us about human cognition.  This is an opportunity to ask anything you ever wanted to know about the brain but were too afraid to ask.

Date and Time:

Saturday, April 23rd, 2022 at 7pm

The Green Flag Of Surrender

 Called to Question

presents

The Green Flag Of Surrender

with return guest speaker

Dayle Binet

(Dayle Binet is currently an 8 year member of the City of Calgary Police Service and currently holds the position of School Resource Officer in High Schools. Prior to that Dayle was an Associate Pastor at the church she helped start in the town of Okotoks, where she still resides with her children. During her time in Church Leadership roles Dayle has held positions of Youth Director, Music Director, and taught at a Bible College and has had the opportunity to travel to several countries with both youth and music teams to provide food relief, assist with building and other projects. Her greatest passion is relationships.)

Surrender! There is no other word for it. It’s hard, sometimes seems impossible, imposing its will on you. It’s awkward, it’s deep, but it’s more necessary to every aspect of life than we care to admit. Surrender is less about giving up and more about opening up. It is a green flag. 

(I, Dayle, share out of the middle of this journey, not out of any level of achievement.)

Date and Time:

March, Saturday 26, 2022  at 7pm

Coffee and snacks provided. 

The Scientific Method

 

Called to Question

presents

The Scientific Method:

How To Make Sense Of A World That Increasingly Makes Less Sense

with return guest speaker

Stephen Brown, Ph.D.

(Stephen completed his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience in 2015 at Leiden University (The Netherlands). His dissertation focused on the role of the locus coeruleus, a small brainstem nucleus, and noradrenaline (a signalling chemical in the brain) in attention and learning.)

Can COVID vaccines make you magnetic? Why are eggs claimed to be healthy one day only to be identified as harbingers of terrible disease a while later? What is truth?  More importantly: How do we distinguish what is plausible, and likely to be true, from what is not true?  We have an outstanding and reliable system to make such decisions, called the scientific method.  In this discussion, I would like to discuss what this method entails (e.g. Does all research allow you to infer causality? Is all research experimental?  What does it mean for a scientist to publish something?), how this method can be used and how it should not be used. We will also create a mental toolkit to distinguish good research from bad research, and bad research from blatant nonsense.

Date and Time:

Saturday, 18th, 2021 at 7pm

Coffee and snacks provided. 

*If you are experiencing any flu-like symptoms, stomach bug and/or respiratory sickness (or have been in contact with someone who does) within ten days of the event, we encourage you to skip out on this event. We'll catch you at the next one. Thanks for the consideration. 

**Please let us know if you plan on attending as seating is limited.

Living, Working And Relating In An Ever Changing, Racially Charged World

Called to Question

presents

Living, Working And Relating In An Ever Changing, Racially Charged World

with guest speaker 

Dayle Binet

(Dayle Binet is an eight year member of the City of Calgary Police Service,  and currently holds the position of School Resource Officer in High Schools. Prior to that Dayle was an Associate Pastor at the church she helped start in the town of Okotoks, where she still resides with her children, ages 23, 21, 17. During her time in Church Leadership roles Dayle has held positions of Youth Director, Music Director, and taught at a Bible College and has had the opportunity to travel to several countries with both youth and music teams to provide food relief, assist with building and other projects. Her greatest passion is relationships.)

 Dayle will begin with a brief explanation of her experiences policing in a dynamic climate. She will then proceed to discuss navigating life and relationships within the racial tensions of today's world.

Date and Time:

Saturday, July 24th, 2021 at 7pm

Coffee and snacks provided.

Nicaragua to Nunavut

Called to Question

presents

Nicaragua to Nunavut: 

Exploring Conquest and Early Missions in the New World

with guest speaker 

Dr. Carrie L. Dennett

(Archaeologist and Social Anthropologist)

Carrie Dennett received her PhD from the University of Calgary, Alberta. Now an interdisciplinary instructor at Red Deer College, she teaches in Anthropology, Sociology, and the Justice Studies program. As an active archaeologist, Carrie has participated over two decades in projects exploring the prehistory of southern Ontario, eastern Honduras, and Pacific Nicaragua and Costa Rica. As a scholar, her interests cover a wide range of social topics and issues related to gender, sexuality, worldview, religion, language, and Indigenous colonial experiences, among

others.

“In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-Two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” ... and here we all are. In truth, conquest of the New World was an extremely complicated process – a process that we are still involved in today and that this evening’s discussion seeks to illuminate. Together we will explore a little bit of the good, the bad, and the truly ugly impacts that European colonization brought to the Americas. But we’ll also dig a bit deeper to discuss the reality of expansive Indigenous-led conquest and missionary campaigns that were well underway when theEuropeans arrived. From Nicaragua to Nunavut, the colonial experience has played out very differently in each country and understanding a bit more about each might help to make better sense of the world around us today. Ultimately, the goal is to share knowledge, generate stimulating discussion, and (hopefully) provide sound answers to some titillating questions you might not know you had about the past!

Date and Time:

Saturday 21 March, 2020 at 7pm

Coffee and snacks provided.

Undue Influence

Called to Question

presents

Undue Influence: 

Tactics Used Within Cults and Society Itself.

with guest speaker 

Donald M. Maxwell, B.Th.

(Mental Health Advocate, President of Maxwell Builders, Real Estate Entrepreneur)

Whether enjoying childhood adventures in the jungles of the Colombian Andes, learning Spanish, Hindi, Urdu or Swedish, renovating one hundred year old homes or exploring the depths of family dysfunction or personal pain, Don embraces the various journeys of life. Along the way he found himself, in a devastating turn of events, the unwitting parent of a religious cult member. This began the mind numbing journey of educating himself in cult psychology, thought reform and undue social influence. It is interesting to note that before this he spent several years participating in and facilitating recovery groups, supporting mental and emotional health. 

 A story worth hearing; Don shares about his interaction with cult members and their leaders, and how to identify and deal with the tactics used by cults and within society itself. Learn of leading psychiatrist's criteria used in thought reform and brain washing. While addressing myths surrounding cults and recruitment, Don will expand on how undue influences play out in areas you may not have ever anticipated.  This evening will leave you with a clearer understanding of the subject, tools to spot red flags, avoid personal hardships and ways to better help others trapped under the influence of another person or group.

Date and Time:

Saturday 22 February, 2020 at 7pm

Coffee and snacks provided.

*Please let us know if you plan on attending as seating is limited.

Business by the Book

Called to Question

presents

Business by the Book

with guest speaker 

Mark L. Maxwell, MBA, CFA

Mark is President of Prairie College, a school that has undergone a corporate transformation, qualifying as a "Best Christian Workplace" with its rating going from one of the lowest scores seen by BCWI to one of the best over a span of 11 years.  Mark's story ranges from the riches of being born to SIM missionaries in Africa to the privilege of building investment businesses on Toronto's "Bay Street" during which time he was recognized as a "top-ranked analyst" and, together with a team, helped build and sell two firms that each grew to more than $4 billion in assets.

 According to Mark there are no books on business or leadership that compete with the profound wisdom bedded in the Holy Scriptures. Mark will explore those key principles that he believes are critical to building good businesses.

Date and Time:

Saturday 18 January, 2020 at 7pm

Coffee and snacks provided.