Next Live Dialogue - April 2, 2008

Cheers Citizen Philosophers,

This is just a friendly reminder that our next Thinking Out Loud gathering will take place this coming Wednesday, April 2nd, at 7:00 pm as usual. The topic has not yet been chosen, but we have several excellent suggestions.

1. "What is the nature of transcendence?"
2. "How do we reinvent ourselves?"
3. "Is the perfection of the self what life is all about?"
4. "What is the nature of collective responsibility?"

If you have other topics you would like to add or modifications to these you would like to suggest, email them to me or bring them with you to the meeting. We will decide on the final topic by consensus when we meet on Wednesday.

I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Steve Whiteman from Georgia to our group. (So many Steves! Is somebody being channeled?) Steve is a regular member of Steve Stokes' group in Atlanta and will be participating through our cyber connection, along with Steve S., Debbie, and David. Will the cyber guests out number the locals this time? We shall see.

Lastly, I would l pass on some insightful comments I received concerning our last dialogue on Human Responsibility:

Alma Cunningham wrote:

"Steve: As an absentee 'voter,' I enjoy being included in your shared thoughts, and would like to add my comments on responsibility. Looking down your list [of "first responsibility" summaries], it occurred to me that if when talking about Self, we mean the spiritual Self and not the ego, then "To thine own Self be true" (at all times) takes care of almost everything else on your list and would be automatic, since (I believe) the Self is selfless. The challenge, of course, is the most basic (and hardest) of all: becoming aware of and acting from that Place, yes?"

Alma added that of course this is easier said than done and is not claiming to have master this herself, but rather, that it is simply something to be striving for.

I also heard from Steve Semienick, one of the original founders of our Charlottesville philosophy group. Steve wrote:

"All of these seem like means to an end, in my view. That end, as I know it, is to be a co-creator of reality. What the nature of that reality will be is dictated by the means employed in its creation, as well as the intent of the creator. Most of the above seem aimed at creating a world centering around trust, compassion, and acknowledging the connectedness, even one-ness of all humanity. The others appear aimed at becoming a better creator, through self knowledge and self improvement. The two go hand in hand. Especially as the process is not voluntary. We co-create whether we realize it or not, all the time. Ingnorance or denial of this can lead to irresponsible, counter productive expenditure of energy, creating realities that are counter to our conscious desires and best interests. We get such results as wars,. disease, exploitation of others, neurosis, psychosis, stress - you get the idea. - Just my $0.02"

Thanks, Steve and Alma, for sharing your thoughts. We miss you both and hope you can join the live discussion again sometime. In the meantime, stay tuned and keep sharing you insights. We all benefit.

Best Regards,

Steve

******************************************************
Steve Donaldson,
Personal Growth Consultant,
Independent Educator,
Citizen Philosopher
www.citizenphilosopher.com


P.S. If you prefer to just listen in, that is fine as well. The podcast of our conversation will be released on iTunes few days after the live discussion, usually on the following Sunday. Enjoy.

First Responsibility - Thoughts and Variations

While listening to our recent discussion on our human responsibilities, I was struck by the number of ideas that came up, as to what our "first responsibility" might be. Here are some of the thoughts and variations I gleaned from the discussion, with which you may or may not agree.

• "To thine own self be true."
• "To thine own self be responsible."
• "Be your brother's keeper."
• "Be your brother's brother."
• "Know thy self."
• "Be authentic,"
• "Become your best self."
• "Be a moral person."
• "Just be yourself - that's crazy enough."
• "Express the goodness that you are."
• "Do no harm."
• "Be of service."
• "Follow the golden rule."
• "Take care of your children."
• "Clean up your messes."
• "Be present."
• "If you see a problem, it's yours."
• "Be willing to be interrupted."
• "Be a good Samaritan."
• "Do all the good that you can, for all the people that you can, in all the places that you can, in all of the times that you can, for as long as ever you can."

Cheers,

Steve

What are our human responsibilities?

Greetings Citizen Philosophers,

The latest Thinking Out Loud podcast has been released on iTunes. The session was recorded on Wednesday, March 5, and the topic was:

"What are our human responsibilities?"

Thank you, Billie Lagerwerff, Deborah Martin, George Garrett, John Tytus, Steven Stokes, and Uriah J. Fields, for your participation. We had a great discussion. For those of you who missed out, here are some of the questions we wrestled with:

Where do responsibilities come from? Are they imposed upon us by our culture? Are there any responsibilities that are innate and universal? To whom are we responsible? Are we first and foremost responsible to ourselves? Do we have a responsibility to be authentic? Do we have a responsibility to grow - "to become our best self"? Do we have a responsibility to be introspective - "Know thyself"? Do we have any fundamental responsibility to others? Is our responsibility to others merely passive (do no harm) or is it also proactive (be of service)? Are we "our bother's keeper"? Does our responsibility to others extend beyond our culture? Is being responsible the same as being moral? Do we all have the same responsibilities? Are knowledge and ability prerequisites for responsibility? Do our responsibilities change as we grow older and more aware? How does our personal responsibility relate to our collective responsibility?

To subscribe to the podcast with your podcast software (such as iTunes or iPodder) copy and past the following link into your software:

www.citizenphilosopher.com/rss/tol_podcasts.xml

If you have iTunes, you can find us listed in the Apple Music Store directory under Podcasts/Society & Culture/Philosophy, or just do a search in iTunes on Thinking Out Loud People. The direct iTunes link is:

phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=214321935

If you don't have iTunes or other podcast software and just want to download the mp3 file directly, use this link:

Listen to the broadcast (mp3)

You are invited to add your thoughts by clicking on the "comments" link at the lower right hand corner of this post.

The next Thinking Out Loud will be Wednesday, April 2, at 7:00 pm. No topic has yet been chosen, but we have some excellent candidates:

1. "What is the nature of transcendence?"
2. "How do we reinvent ourselves?"
3. "Is the perfection of the self what life is all about?"
4. "What is the nature of collective responsibility?"

Topics 1 and 2 where suggested by David, combined into one topic. I think they are each rich enough to be examined separately, as well. We can choose to discuss them together or separately, either way. Question 3 was suggested by Steve Stokes. I see a connection between Steve's question and David's questions and wonder if Steve's might be in some way a precursor to the other two. (Just a thought as to what order we might tackle these excellent questions.) The fourth question is a rich topic that came up at the end of our last discussion just as we ran out of time, as often happens.

If you have any other new topics to suggest or old topics you want to recycle, let me know. I'll add them to the list.

Cheers,

Steve

Transcendence and Offendence

Here are two comments I just received. The first is from David, who suggests we add the follow question to our list of topics to consider:

"What is the nature of transcendence? And what makes it possible to move from a static derivative life to a dynamic one in which we continually reinvent ourselves?"

Thanks, David. Nice suggestion. Looking forward to your participation on Wednesday.

The second comment I want to share is from Jnanam. (Jnanam is a long time member of our group who has not been able to participate recently due to scheduling conflicts.) Jnanam won't be participating on Wednesday, but had some insights she wanted to pass along concerning the question I posed on sensitivity in philosophy (or "What to do when philosophy offends?"). This is in part what she had to say:

"...Seems the internet functions above censorship but not the philosopher....There is a distinction between direct insults, tactless remarks, and someone taking offense. Sensitivity is the fabric of conversation....benefit to someone, harm to no one, including oneself."

Nicely put. "Sensitivity is the fabric of conversation...benefit to someone, harm to no one, including oneself." I like that.

Thanks Jnanam for your sharing your thoughts. Looking forward to sometime in the future when you can join us in person once again.

Cheers,

Steve

Next Live Dialogue - Mar 5

Cheers Citizen Philosophers,

This is just a friendly reminder that our next Thinking Out Loud gathering will take place this coming Wednesday, Mar 5th, at 7:00 pm as usual. The topic has not yet been chosen, but we have several suggestions.

1. What is friendship?
2. What are our biological property rights?
3. What are our human responsibilities (the flipside of human rights)?

I would like to add another suggestion in light of some recent feedback I receive concerning our last discussion on atonement. It was suggested that I, as the moderator, should steer the discussion away from religious examples out of respect for individuals who might find such examples too sacred or too personal to be discussed in a casual, secular settling. My immediate gut level reaction was that nothing should be off limits to philosophy and certainly, as an individual philosopher, I believe one should reserve the right to question anything and everything that one finds intriguing, including religious topics. The question becomes more complicated when one considers the role of the philosopher in society. It is one thing to philosophize for oneself. It is another to use philosophy to enhance the lives of others. Did Socrates improve the lives of the citizens of Athens by insulting them? Perhaps Socrates had a higher loyalty. Nevertheless, for us, more humble citizen philosophers, the question remains. How do we reconcile sense with sensitivity? How do we best advance the quest for understanding while compromising neither truth nor civility? How do we educate/illuminate without offending? I am not sure how best to phrase the question succinctly. Perhaps something like this:

4. Philosophy and the taboo - what is a philosopher to do?

If you have other topics you would like to add or modifications to these you would like to suggest, email them to me or bring them with you to the meeting. We will decide on the final topic by concensus when we meet on Wednesday.

Hope to see/hear you then.

Regards,

Steve

******************************************************
Steve Donaldson,
Personal Growth Consultant,
Independent Educator,
Citizen Philosopher
www.citizenphilosopher.com


P.S. If you prefer to just listen in, that is fine as well. The podcast of our conversation will be released on iTunes few days after the live discussion, usually on the following Sunday. Enjoy.