Solstice Thoughts Yule Love

Solstice Thoughts Yule Love

The morning after the longest night, and three days before Christmas, Andrew Welch returns to us to deliver his own unique take on the winter solstice, oral traditions, and trials and tribulations of Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Working within the framework of Dickens' popular classic, Andrew shows that this so-called 'timeless tale' is, in fact, increasingly timely. "A Christmas Carol" is a Victorian ghost story that is 100% about values - our guest speaker's favourite subject!

Watch the Recording of the Gathering

Readings

First Reading - Michael Sandel’, outlining some economists' beliefs (not his own) in "What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets"

From the standpoint of market reasoning, it is almost always better to give cash rather than a gift.  If you assume that people generally know their own preferences best, and that the point of giving a gift is to make your friend or loved one happy, then it's hard to beat a monetary payment. [...] Your friend or lover can either spend the cash on the item you would have bought, or (more likely) on something that brings even greater pleasure.

Second Reading - "To Know the Dark" by Wendell Berry

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,

and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.