I like to attend a Socrates Cafe at an area library. It is refreshing and challenging to have a two-hour, face-to-face conversation about ideas with a diverse group of people. The one I have attended, the only one around me, is somewhat dominated by a couple of men who turn to science to answer all questions and cling to the idea that what is worthy of attention is what can be proven through reasoning and scientific method. I have asked them a couple of times:
"What kind of world would we have if everyone were a scientist?"I've been going through some notebooks from the past year and found something I wrote in April 08 after one meeting in which the group discussed the idea of progress:
A truly progressive society is one that is growing in its capacity to support the good life for all people. True progress for me as an individual is growing in knowledge, understanding, and wisdom as I ask the questions that need to be asked for our time and act as responsibly and lovingly as possible.
What if we viewed progress as a process of passing through stages of increasing complexity and sophistication toward simplicity, peace, plenty (enough for everyone), health, wholeness, and pure being?
Check out the Socrates Cafe idea. (They have materials for teaching kids philosophy too.)
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