This Sunday’s speaker at the Tryon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

will be Dr. Donald Emon.

The field of evolutionary psychology has provided significant insight into why we are the way we are. The basic idea is that we are born with a brain that has information in it that has helped previous generations to survive. It includes: a strong attachment to others in our tribe and provides a basis for why we have racial bias, even though we need not act on this bias. Other characteristics will also be presented. Dr. Emon has presented this a number of times and it has resulted in new insights for many people.

Don is excited about introducing this subject to the Tryon UU Fellowship. It has given him a framework to understand his life and the lives of others. This is primarily been accomplished by getting in touch with his roots. Remember how excited and interested you were in finding your roots, say a few generations back?

Don has found his roots hundreds, if not thousands, of generations back by understanding what characteristics he has inherited. Using this information and being sensitive to the present environment, you will be able to better understand your behavior and the behavior of others and realize that you have choices on how to act, or not act, on those inherited characteristics.

Here is a quote from the book “The Moral Animal” by Robert Wright: “altruism, compassion, empathy, love, conscience, the sense of justice – all of these things, things that hold society together, the things that allow our species to think so highly of itself, can now confidently be said to have a firm genetic basis. Human beings are splendid in their array of moral equipment, tragic in their propensity to misuse it, and pathetic in their constitutional ignorance of the misuse.”

Dr. Emon has a PhD in nuclear science and engineering and retired from the US Department of Energy after 25 years of service. Dr. Emon is a member of the Hendersonville UU Fellowship and has been an active member and volunteer in many civic and charitable organizations in western North Carolina.

The Thermal Belt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meets at 10:30 a.m. on the first and third Sundays of each month. Services are held at 835 N. Trade St. in Tryon. The fellowship welcomes all regardless of their spiritual path, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Coffee, snacks and fellowship are available after the service. For more information about the fellowship call 828-513-0570 or follow them on Facebook at TBUUF.

– article submitted
by Phil Nungesser