For quite a while I've had the feeling that BQ has evolved into more of a chat group than a discussion group. Like we all, I live for the interactions we create as we consider the questions we come up with and that I post in this space. We see each other in our Zoom meeting, and the check-in time is where we get caught up with each other's lives and activities. I'm all for that, and it will continue, of course.
What is missing is what I consider to be the in-depth and insightful discussions that the Big Questions should be drawing out of all of us. Philosophy is the act of asking questions with the innocence of a child and answering them with the rigor of a lawyer, or a philosopher. Socratic dialectic wasn't a process of finding answers to the questions posed, but rather the progressive exposure of the many ways a question could be turned this way and that, wringing out perspectives that we might not have expected to exist. Knowledge creeps in here and there, and we end up wiser than when we started. THAT is the outcome I seek, and that is the outcome I count on all of you to help me, and everyone, to achieve.
I pulled out my copy of Socrates Cafe by Christopher Phillips for inspiration for this week's meeting. The first page of that text was all I needed to get my philosophical juices flowing. What is insanity? That was the question being asked. What do we do individually, as a family member, as small group members, as a community, as a country, as a society, that include elements of insanity? How many could we identify? The book's text lays it out in a clear way. I'm sure that in a group setting it would take quite some time, and lots of interjections and comments to get to the point, but the seemingly endless questioning was invigorating. I hope you feel the same.
We can use the same question as our starting point. What is insanity. And if you don't have a copy of Socrates Cafe, get one. It is a great read, and you will be pleased you took the time to read it.
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