Tim LeBon featured in Times on Saturday 11th October

Tim LeBon was featured in Emma Cook's "Ask your Father" column giving advice about how to answer tricky children's questions about religion.

Ask your father: Does God have a mummy?

Expert advice on what to do when your child asks... Does God have a mummy? Charlotte, 6

Emma Cook

Typically this is a rather female question - at age 6 Charlotte will be much more engrossed than her younger brother in the physicality of human relationships; who's related to whom, and who's tummy we sprang from.

So it is logical that she wants to know who is mummy to the biggest daddy of them all, not that there are any logical answers. "In a straightforward way you could say that God is seen as the source of absolutely everything. God doesn't need a mummy or daddy because He isn't human - He doesn't get older and He's never been a child, but He is like a father to us. There's not a lot more you can say," says Dr Mike Higton, a senior lecturer in theology at the University of Exeter.

You could try to appeal to a child's innate sense of logic. As the philosophical counsellor Tim LeBon says: "God couldn't have a mother because He's the creator. So if God did have a mummy, then mummy would be God, and if she had a mummy, that being would be God. To avoid infinite regression, we have to have a being or entity that doesn't have a mummy." Another approach is to ask Charlotte how she visualises God; seeing Him in a different way could help her to grapple with the complex nature of God's parentage or lack of it.

LeBon says: "Any child who asks this probably views God as a kindly figure living in the clouds, a sort of celestial Dumbledore. You could ask them to look at Him in another way - God as everywhere and everything." If Charlotte looks confused, it's probably better to mention that she isn't the first one to suggest that God could have a mummy. Some theologians have argued that Mary is God's mother. In the early history of the Church, she was even referred to by some as the Mother of God, since Jesus and God can be viewed as one and the same.

Higton explains: "In Christianity, Jesus is seen as God's human form, showing us what God is like. So there is a sense in which God does have a mother."

There is the atheist option but it is no easy way out of a tough question. If you tell Charlotte that since God couldn't have a mother how could He exist, that leaves the big bang. And you're back to what came before that? As LeBon says: "God doesn't solve the problem, but take him away and you still don't have the answers."

EMMA COOK

Philosophical Life Coaching Course

Philosophical Life Coaching
One Day Course
London Saturday 24th January 2008 1030am- 1630am

Below is programme for 2008 course -2009 course may vary

Contents and Programme for Day

 

 

Contents	1
Philosophical Life Coaching- Introduction	2
The Stoics on gaining emotional control	3
Frankl can help creating more meaning in your life	5
Nietzsche’s Eternal Recurrence to create your own Groundhog Day	7
Critical Thinking to help with tricky decisions	9
Setting SMART Goals	10
Putting it into all into together and workshop review	11
Resources	12

To book,  contact City Lit 

City Lit courses from Tim LeBon 2008-9

Course	Date(s)	Day	Time	sessions
NEW – Positive psychology and happiness	10 Oct 08	Fri	10.30 – 17.30	1
PG646 – Personal development through philosophy	8 Nov 08	Sat	10.30 – 17.30	1
PC401 – Intro to  CBT	13 Dec 08	Sat	10.30 – 17.30	1
PG614 – Habits for effective living	16 Jan 09	Fri	10.30 – 17.30	1
PC404 – Intro to existential counselling	6 June 09	Sat	10.30 – 17.30	1
PG636 – Frankl	23 – 30 Jun 09	Tues	18.00 – 21.00	2
NEW – Intro to CBT (2)	3 Jul 09	Fri	10.30 – 17.30	1

To book,  contact City Lit 

If there's a God, why are there so many wars

Ask your father: Kids’ questions you dread

(The Times, Saturday January 19th 2008)

EMMA COOK gets expert advice on what to do when your child turns to you and asks...

Mummy, if there’s a God, why are there so many wars?

Charlotte, 9

After marvelling at your child’s sparkling intellectual curiosity, you may well feel a bit daunted by a question that, after several centuries, still baffles theologians and philosophers.

So where to start? Remember that not being able to offer your child concrete answers isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s pretty integral to the question. As the philosopher Julian Baggini says: “There really aren’t any clear-cut answers to this one. I might begin by asking the child what they think; using it as a way of starting a discussion. If parents can’t give clear-cut answers, they feel they’re failing their kids, but it’s a great mistake to assume children can’t cope with uncertainties. It’s important that they learn that there aren’t clear-cut answers to everything and not feel paralysed by that.”

Of course, your response will depend ultimately upon your religious values. If you’re an atheist, like the philosopher A. C. Grayling, you’ll have no problem pointing out, as he did to his children: “There are no gods, only people; people are a mix of good and bad, though most people are mostly good. Wars come from the bad things that people think and do, which makes the leaders of their countries quarrel with one another – and sometimes those sorts of grown-up quarrels use guns and bombs, and that’s very destructive and bad.”

If, however, you have a faith and hope your child will, too, you would do better to follow the Catholic broadcaster and author Peter Stanford who patiently explains to his children: “Good religion is what stops us having wars. The golden rule is never do unto others what you wouldn’t want done unto yourself. If we followed that rule, there would be no wars based on religion. I would also say that if you’re looking for one thing throughout history that has encouraged us to put people first, and not ourselves, it’s religion.”

You may also want to point out that God gave people free will – and so it’s their choice to go to war. If your child is smart, he may well ask why God didn’t make people nicer in the first place, so they didn’t want to fight one another. You could counter this by saying that if everyone was capable only of being good, they wouldn’t be so free. The philosophical counsellor Tim Le Bon suggests: “The debate may not end there, but a timely ‘What’s on telly’, may do the trick or you could quote Woody Allen who says: “If there is a God, I don’t think he’s evil. The worst you can say about him is that he’s an underachiever.” For Emma’s previous columns, go to

timesonline.co.uk/families

If you would like answers to tricky questions, just e-mail body&soul@thetimes.co.uk

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article3209856.ece

4 courses in practical philosophy and psychology starting in early January

If learning, personal development or well-being are amongst your new year's goals, then you might like to sign up for one of 4 courses I'm running in the next couple of weeks.
They are:
Frankl and the Search for Meaning
Friday 18th Jan 2008 1030-1730 Location: City Lit, Central London
Viktor Frankl's ideas can inspire everyone aiming to find more meaning and purpose in their life.
This lively and highly-rated workshop will help you start the New Year focusing on this important issue.
Call 020 7831 7831 to enrol or visit the City Lit website

Philosophical Life Coaching
Saturday 19th Jan 2008 1030-1630 Location: City Lit, Central London
" “Move over Carole Caplin. The new gurus of self-help are philosophical counsellors from beyond the grave” proclaimed the Independent recently.
Lead a more satisfying and meaningful life by using insights and methods from the great thinkers. This introduction will show you some of the most interesting ways it can be of help.
No previous experience required
Call 020 7831 7831 to enrol or visit the City Lit website


Personal Development through Philosophy

This 10 week course will show how studying philosophy can help you discover how they can be true to themselves, make wiser decisions and develop more enlightened values.

Course Information

Course Code:	CE1944
Course Fee:	£100
Start date:	Tuesday 15 January 2008
Class Time:	6.30pm – 8.30pm
Number of Classes:	10 weekly classes
Accreditation:	10 credits at level 1

Venue : City University, London

To enrol call 020 7040 8268 between 9.30am and 5.00pm.or visit the City Uni website

Positive Psychology

Positive psychology is the growing branch of psychology that focuses on the positive, including strengths, positive states and well-being. This course will have a particular emphasis on how positive psychology can make you more effective in your working life in terms of your strengths, emotional intelligence, creativity, decision making, meaning and purpose.

Course Code:	CE1941
Course Fee:	£180
Start date:	Thursday 17 January 2008
Class Time:	6.30pm – 8.30pm
Number of Classes:	10 weekly classes
Accreditation:	10 credits at level 1

Venue : City University, London

To enrol call 020 7040 8268 between 9.30am and 5.00pm.or visit the City Uni website

Free talk on Philosophy in Schools, London Friday, Dec 14th 630pm

Talk on Philosophy in Schools

Peter Worley is giving a free talk on "Philosophy in Schools" at 630pm on Friday December 14th in Central London

Peter studied philosophy at University College London and Birbeck College, London. He is a philosophical practitioner who for the last four years has been developing his own approach to teaching philosophy to London primary school children.

Venue: David Wynter Room 2nd floor Swedenborg House 20-21 Bloomsbury Way London WC1A 2TH

The entrance to Swedenborg House is in Barter Street and doors are open from 6.00 p.m.

The nearest underground stations are Holborn and Tottenham Court Road

Please e-mail spp@timlebon.com in advance if you would like to come.

Stand-up Philosophy in California, 30th November

Jeff Mason

Professor of Philosophy, California State University, Fullerton

Invites you to an evening of Stand-Up Philosophy

The theme is Skepticism.

The title of the talk is:

Peace of Mind in an Uncertain World:

The Virtues of Non-Dogmatic Skepticism

Do not let the ferocious subtitle turn you off. The whole subject is actually very funny for all those with a suitably warped sense of humor.

Date: November 30, Friday.

Time: 7-9 PM

Venue: SANGHA, Center for Spiritual Living:

7641 Talbert Avenue, Huntington Beach, CA 92648

714-469-4843