How does a passionate person guard against crossing over to zealotry?

Highlights from our meeting on 03/26/03

1. Is zealotry necessarily bad?
2. Zealotry tends to be seen as a negative thing.
3. Zealotry implies closed-mindedness.
4. Is zealotry, then, the enemy of truth?
5. Truth is difficult to define.
6. Some say there is no absolute truth, only relative truth.
7. Isn't it a contradiction to state as an absolute truth that there is no absolute truth?
8. Being closed-minded does not necessarily mean you are wrong.
9. Can you be a zealot for a good cause, such as preserving the environment?
10. An important characteristic of a zealot is the distinction between self and others.
11. The zealot insists that self is right and others are wrong.
12. Does zealotry then mean defining others as the enemy?
13. Were Japanese Kamikaze pilots zealots?
14. Doesn't zealotry imply fanatical pursuit of a cause greater than the self?
15. Is zealotry, then, a social or cultural phenomenon?
16. Is passion, by contrast, more of an individual phenomenon?
17. An artist can passionate about his art or a teacher passionate about his subject without being zealots.
18. Is brainwashing involved with becoming a zealot?
19. Isn't all socialization, just brainwashing by another name?
20. It seems brainwashing differs from socialization in that brainwashing implies malicious intent.
21. Perhaps intent is a useful distinction between zealotry and passion?
22. Perhaps to guard against zealotry one must examine one's intent toward the other.
23. If one's intent comes from a position of compassion for the other, then passion can be a positive force.
24. A teacher who cares about his students and is passionate about his subject can use the power of passion to inspire his students.
25. One might cross the line if one becomes willing to sacrifice the well-being of the other for the sake of one's cause.
26. If the zealot sees the other as an enemy or threat, then fear might be part of the motivation.
27. So to check one's motives, one might ask, am I acting out of love and compassion or out of fear and defensiveness.
28. But how can you distinguish between compassion and self-serving behavior masquerading as compassion?
29. What if zealot missionaries "brainwash" native people into adopting a happy but unquestioned way of life? Is that compassion?
30. Is happiness the best measure of compassionate action?
31. Compassionate action ought to enhance life.
32. What does it mean to be truly alive?
33. True compassion seems to have associated with it a kind of humility.
34. There but for the grace of God (or circumstance) go I.
35. Scott Peck said that we will never have the luxury of knowing, in the moment, whether we are making the right decision.
36. However, if our will is steadfastly to the good, he said, in the long run, we will do more good than harm.
37. Furthermore, he points out that some of the greatest evil that has been inflicted on the world has been committed by individuals who were absolutely certain that their cause was good.
38. To guard against becoming a zealot then, perhaps one needs to beware of absolute certainty.
39. Being absolutely certain can be a red flag, a kind of alarm, that it may be time for some serious self-examination.

Rights, Responsibilities, Rules, and Rewards

Rights, Responsibilities, Rules, and Rewards
(suggested in response to our "off-topic" discussion on 3/19/03.)

"Socrates" Bill of Rights
1. You have the right to participate.
2. You have the right to be heard.
3. You have the right to remain silent.
4. You have the right to be treated with respect.
5. You have the right to express contrary opinions.
6. You have the right to be free from intimidation and personal attack.
7. You have the right to change your mind.
8. You have the right to say "I don't know".
9. You have the right to speak up in defense of your rights.
10. You have the right to question anything (including these rights).

"Socrates" Bill of Responsibilities
1. You have a responsibility to respect and defend the rights of others.
2. You have a responsibility to encourage the participation of others.
3. You have a responsibility to listen without interrupting or engaging in side conversations.
4. You have a responsibility to wait your turn before speaking.
5. You have a responsibility to speak loud and clear so others can hear.
6. You have a responsibility to limit your turn to a reasonable length.
7. You have a responsibility to stay on topic.
8. You have a responsibility to avoid personal attacks, criticism, and name-calling.
9. You have a responsibility to keep a sense of humor.
10. You have a responsibility to help others live up to their responsibilities.

Rules of Engagement
1. Wait to be called on before speaking.
2. Yield to the moderator after speaking.
3. Address the whole group when speaking.
4. Speak loud and clear so others can hear.
5. Stay on topic.
6. Refrain from one-on-one debates.
7. Refrain from interrupting or engaging in side conversations.
8. Refrain from personal attack, criticism, and name-calling.
9. Refrain from using hostile tone of voice or intimidating body language.
10. Refrain from absolute statements and grand generalizations.

Rewards of Involvement
1. You stand to gain increased understanding and insight.
2. You stand to gain intellectual stimulation.
3. You stand to gain new perspectives.
4. You stand to gain the opportunity to be heard.
5. You stand to gain the opportunity influence others.
6. You stand to gain motivation to organize your thoughts.
7. You stand to gain practice in articulating your ideas.
8. You stand to gain feedback for your thoughts and feelings.
9. You stand to gain the experience of group thinking.
10. You stand to gain the fellowship of others.

Why is there not enough time for the fun stuff?

Highlights from our meeting on 03/19/03

1. It seems we spend most of our time at work.
2. The things we really enjoy doing are relegated to the leftover time.
3. It is not only the amount of time but the quality of the time that is the problem.
4. By the end of the day, our best time has been spent and our energy level is low.
5. Some individuals have found a way to combine work and pleasure.
6. This may require going against what is expected of us and live a less material lifestyle.
7. In some cultures and "primitive" societies some individuals are allowed to do nothing, while others do the work that needs to be done, without complaint.
8. Would that really work in our culture?
9. Wouldn't everyone choose not to work?
10. If everyone did only what they enjoyed, would everything that needs to get done, get done?
11. Who enjoys laying hot asphalt in the summer time to repave roads in dire need of repair?
12. But a certain number of individuals do pursue their pleasure in their work.
13. Shouldn't we define our terms?
14. Shouldn't we distinguish between fun, amusement, pleasure, leisure, distraction, recreation, artful creation, etc?
15. What some people call fun is just passive amusement.
16. Watching sports on TV is different from actually playing sports for fun.
17. Does our tendency toward passive use of our free time come from the fact that our best energy is used up at work?
18. Is it part of the agenda of "the system" to keep people passive?
19. Doesn't one have the choice to buy into the system or not?
20. Some people have found ways to drop out of the system and become relatively self-sufficient.
21. If one has enough land, one can live off of the land.
22. Is there enough land in the world for everyone to live this way?
23. There is a lot of land out west that is not being used.
24. Is that land really fertile?
25. Is there enough water?
26. Isn't water more scarce than land?
27. There is a limit to the carrying capacity of any environment.
28. As population grows, sooner or later, these limits are challenged.
29. Technology and social structure can extend and has extended the carrying capacity of our environment.
30. For many this means "working for the man".
31. What choice do we have?
32. We always have the choice of attitude.
33. Victor Frankl, a survivor of the holocaust, made this point in his book, Man's Search for Meaning.
34. Does this mean we can be happy in most any situation?
35. If you don't like your work, is it enough to say "change your attitude"?
36. What if you were a slave in the old south?
37. Isn't there a legitimate distinction between oppressive work and meaningful work?
38. The Buddha referred to this as "right livelihood".
39. In situations that can't be changed, having the right attitude can help you find meaning in the face of dire circumstance.
40. In situations that can be changed and need to be changed, having the right attitude can help you make that change.
41. Without the right attitude, you won't be happy no matter what the circumstance.
42. Some say the attitude most necessary for happiness is the attitude of gratitude.

Off-topic topic about "going off topic"

Tangent highlights from our meeting on 03/19/03

1. Shouldn't the moderator/chairperson/facilitator keep us on topic?
2. Moderators have different styles.
3. Shouldn't we follow the same style as Christopher Phillips, originator of the Socrates Cafe concept?
4. Chris would be the first to argue that there is no one correct style or format.
5. What set of rules and procedures does this group wish to follow?
6. What is the will of this group?
7. Can a group have a will?
8. What set of procedures do we want to follow?
9. How should they be enforced?
10. What are the rights and responsibilities of the members of this group?
11. How do we decide these questions?
12. How is this group to govern itself?
13. Could we make that the main topic of our next meeting?
14. It could be a kind of Constitutional Convention for our Socrates Group.
15. We are a living experiment in spontaneous government formation.
16. Perhaps this is the same process Scott Peck called "community formation" in his book The Different Drum.
17. Let's hope we get it right.
18. Let's watch this process with mindful awareness.
19. Let's get back to our main topic this evening.

What should one do if one discovers one's government is corrupt and evil?

Highlights from our meeting on 03/05/03

1. Is that where we are in this country?
2. In Hitler's Germany the transformation to evil was so subtle at first that by the time people realized how serious things were, it was already dangerous to speak out and take action.
3. Hitler was democratically elected and in the beginning did much good for the Germans.
4. It seems that integrity in government in this country has been in decline for decades.
5. Jimmy Carter seems to be the only exception to what seems to be an accelerating decline in the quality and character of our political leaders.
6. Nixon was brought down in large part by the courageous journalism of Woodward and Bernstein.
7. The press today seems to be part of the same big money, vested interest, power structure that is ruining this country.
8. It seems we can no longer rely on our own press for accurate news coverage.
9. Foreign news services give a much different picture of events than our own press.
10. It would be nice if we had better access to foreign news services.
11. We can get foreign news over the Internet.
12. But what do you do if you are one of the few who does see what is happening?
13. Trying to work through your political representatives may not do much good if they are all part of the power structure vested in the status quo.
14. Where does the power structure get its power?
15. We give the power structure its power in a Faustian bargain.
16. "We will give you our money and our permission to act on our behalf, if you take care of our dirty work."
17. In exchange we don't need to worry about our responsibility to our fellow man/woman, because government will take care of that.
18. Government replaces individual compassion and frees us to pursue individual greed without guilt.
19. We empower government through the money we give it.
20. The same is true for large corporations.
21. The most powerful vote, the one that carries the most weight, is the vote of the dollar.
22. You could protest poor press coverage by cancelling your newspaper subscription.
23. If everyone agreed not to buy a new car in a given year, the big auto makers would really feel it and start paying attention.
24. To be effective, boycotts need to be organized and synchronized.
25. If you could coordinate a mass action to withhold paying income tax, the federal government would collapse.
26. Is total collapse the best goal?
27. Total collapse might cause much suffering among innocent citizens.
28. Ganhdi is a good model of effective use of mass participation.
29. How do you organize a mass action if the majority is ill informed?
30. Most people are already suffering from "information overload".
31. Actually it might be more accurate to say "misinformation overload".
32. There seems to be a time and credibility gap. Most people don't have the time to check the validity of all sources and therefore are left not knowing what to believe.
33. More powerful than facts, figures, and "hard news", is the power of stories to reach the general public.
34. The arts and entertainment media are ways to provide information to the public.
35. A musical parody about President Bush and Saddam Hussein is currently playing to sell-out crowds in London.
36. Actual stories are also powerful, such as the story of the young man who was forced by security guards to leave a shopping mall because he was wearing a T-shirt that said "Give Peace a Chance".
37. Middle America is sometimes slow to react, but when it does, it is a powerful force, like a sleeping giant.
38. Body bags coming home could be another kind of story that could wake up the sleeping giant.
39. Events happen faster and faster as history progresses.
40. Is there enough time for the sleeping giant to wake up before it is too late?
41. Is history inevitable?
42. Perhaps now is the time to start planning for the aftermath of the collapse of western civilization.
43. It may not be possible to repair or dismantle the present system by intent.
44. A system lacking integrity will have internal tension and in-fighting that weakens it.
45. The present system may come to an end on its own accord.
46. Like a car running out of gas.
47. Like a natural death at the end of a life span.
48. What happens after the collapse may depend on those with enough foresight to plan for it.
49. Remembering that we are spiritual beings can provide peace of mind when dealing with the injustices of the material world.
50. An alternative form of compassionate self-governing based on a higher power/authority has yet to be invented.
51. Could such an alternative power structure, if implemented soon enough, prevent a total collapse of our current way of life?
52. A total collapse would mean starting over from scratch.
53. Nature is indifferent.