Join First Parish of Sudbury for our summer lay-led service: Bayesian Search for Truth & Meaning with Colin Warwick!
This service is based on the book The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself by Sean Carroll.
The first step in answering Big Questions like “How should I live my life?” and “What happens to me upon death?” is answering the meta-question “How do I know what is true?”
Einstein said[1] “Truth is what stands the test of experience.” Bayesian reasoning (also called abduction) provides a method to update our prior belief against each experience, and come up with a more complete and secure belief, called the “posterior.” These updates can be applied iteratively: the old posterior becomes the new prior for the new update.
Having explained the method, we’ll try to apply it to questions about the nature of consciousness and the existence (or otherwise) of a creator God, immortal souls, and free will.
[1] Closing words of his foreword to Philipp Frank’s book “Relativity: A Richer Truth."
In-person only.
First Parish of Sudbury, located at 327 Concord Road, Sudbury, is a diverse and welcoming community of spiritual seekers who strive to learn together and support one another as they celebrate life’s important moments and serve the larger community. The First Parish was founded in 1640. The congregation worships in the historic meetinghouse that was built in 1685.
Contact 978-443-2043 or [email protected] for further information.
