21st Century Philosophy
Café-Salon Philosophique #15
June 6, 1998
No. of Participants: 25
The Topic: Continuation of, "Exploring Your Visions and Philosophy for the 21st Century."
Samuel began the evening by welcoming all to the Cafe, by reading the Cafe guidelines, and by giving a brief description on the history of Cafe-Salon Philosophique.
He then introduced the evening's topic by first describing to the group how people learn to fear "speaking up" when in group situations. We learn to "be quiet," "sit down and shut up." So he reminded us that Cafe Philosophique is meant to be an open forum where people can speak freely in a nonjudge-mental atmosphere.
Samuel began the evening's discussion by asking us if we could even conceive of "living forever?" From the time that we are little, we are programmed on "how to" live life. We find that the "stages of life" have already been mapped out for us by "so called" experts, and that while we are learning to live, we also are preparing to die."
For the majority, death is seen as inevitable. Jean stated that, "everything must die." "It's just a part of nature." Some agreed with her. Others "didn't care to comment" or "had never thought about living forever." Why do we accept death so readily?
Samuel commented on how easily Americans accept death by relating to what he had read in the paper about euthanasia becoming "legal" in Oregon, what he calls "assisting people in suicide."
He stated that the "root of all diseases and illnesses lies in the way one thinks. He thinks that if people would change their way of thinking, there would be no diseases or illnesses." (But! But! But! But!).......
"People learn to become parrots, or what he calls (PP) "parrot philosophers." These people are comfortable with sheep consciousness and have a tendency to absorb and mimic what "people tell them, what is read in books, what is seen on TV, and what is experienced in life, etc." People have forgotten the art of thinking for one's self and developing their own personal philosophy of life.
Samuel then reviewed the main points that we discussed in our last meeting so that we could choose a topic to focus on for the evening. He believes that the form of Education and schools as we know it, will become obsolete. More and more education will take place in the home and via the internet.
Children and adults are becoming more restless and dissatisfied with the way that they are taught and with what they are learning. Academia is becoming more and more intolerable and unacceptable, because schools lack integration of the arts with "left brain" activities. New ways of learning will need to be created in order to meet the demand for a more balanced way of learning. (The Artist with The Scientist).
Samuel then posed the question, "Why are there schools? What is lacking in education? Why is self education not fully embraced?" It was obviously hard for some people to imagine a change in the educational system as we know it.
He briefly highlighted other points of the topic, "Exploring your visions..... beginning with Aging. What is it? Why do we age? Why can we not think of prolonging our youthful life? Why does quality of life steadily decline with aging? On the subject of Technology, the internet has made communication almost instantaneous. Is this breeding a new form of instant gratification? Will there be an info war? Is there really gonna be a computer glitch in the year 2000? And how will this affect life as we know it?
Human Relations - What is a friend? How are relationships changing within the structure of the "homes, schools, churches and the workplace?" How can we balance the four powers of - money, food, sex, and love? How can we maintain our privacy? And for what for? What is "public privacy?"
In the field of Scientific Research, What is happening in the world of genetic engineering and how is this going to affect our lives as humans, food sources and health in general as things are altered?
Health - What changes are happening towards integrating body, mind and spirit and what is the new trend in health going to be?
From these various topics, the group chose to focus on Education for the evening. We were then asked to give our definitions of education. Angeline thinks, that "information is synthesized into knowledge and that through experience, one comes into wisdom and understanding." Angeline also wanted to comment on the fact that she plans on "schooling her children at home," and agrees that the present forms of education are unacceptable for her."
Ricky thinks that "education is a process whereby she learns from what goes on in the world, and that experiences become a part of her." Marta believes that, "it is a process of encountering information, data and situations and learning to deal with it in new ways." Patricia sees education as "experiential, physical and nonphysical, and that one needs to use personal senses to develop personal knowns." Andy believes education is learning "to think and understand other people's ideas." Phyllis sees it as "integrating experiences." Suzy believes learning is a "form of exploration" and she "tries to be conscious while doing it." She also believes that "learning is a glimpse of understanding."
Samuel then asked, When do you know? How do you know? The group surmised that information is "forms of beliefs, concepts and ideas which are synthesized and processed into a natural knowing." Angeline stated that "knowing is when you understand and when you understand, you use or apply what you know."
We were then asked, "How do we learn and do we know how to learn?" Patricia said that "she learns the way she wants or learns from things around her in the world." Someone mentioned again, how we are programmed from the time we are little to escape from being one's self. We learn to "be busy" doing. Busy doing for everything and everybody else, rather than taking the time to learn about our true selves.
Ricky stated that she learns "experientially." Another person stated that there are various forms of learning. "There is automatic learning for everyday activities and then there is conscious learning, for when one focuses deliberately on something specific. Others stated that there are "lots of ways to learn;" "through books," "meditation," "from other people, places and things." One person mentioned that support groups offer a way to "help one understand themselves." Samuel disagreed by stating that "one doesn't need support groups, if one understands and knows one's self."
David felt that, "we are all going to have our own ideas and perspectives on this subject, and we could sit and define things forever." He believes that we need to remember that all of "the main points are part of the whole." Another person stated that we "need to get away from focusing all the time on problems and negativities."
Samuel then asked us to envision what education will be like in the future? Jim thinks that "we should dress up in costumes and play games." Andy thinks "the school systems are okay as they are." Many think that learning will take place "via the internet or home schooling." Someone mentioned that "all we need is a little discipline in the schools." And others didn't care to comment.
Samuel then asked if we thought people were ready to learn? Are we teachable material? Ricky commented that, "some people are sponges and some people are bricks." Everyone let out a chuckle to this. "But bricks still absorb knowledge," said Brad. And Ricky replied, "veeerry slowly."
Others thought that "we have plenty of information available." We need to stop, process, synthesize and learn a few things well." Duane added that "we don't use and practice what we learn."
The last question on education was, "What is lacking in education today?" David said, "that the systems fall short of teaching the truth." Angeline thinks, "education needs to be made simpler, without the stress of grading and testing, which belittles the intelligence for all those involved in formal education." Another thought, "there needs to be more focus and discipline while learning," but yet in a fun and creative way. Ricky thinks we need to "quit focusing so much on the time aspect." Everybody everywhere is "in a hurry." "They live as though time is running out." We learn that instant gratification is rewarded rather than savoring the moment. But is instant gratification satisfying?
In conclusion, Samuel reminded us that we should be "a walking question mark." We must be willing to learn new ways for retraining our thinking and being in the world. And as Patricia suggested, we need to be "in touch with our senses" in order to learn from life around us. We must remember that the whole body is sensory. "Eyes and ears are everywhere." Overstimulation of Society has dulled our senses. One needs to learn to sharpen the senses, sharpen the skills for learning to activate all the parts of the body through a systematic approach. One way is through BodySpeak™ - The Avital Method.
We will be continuing with the present topic for awhile in order to cover all the major points of interest for: "Exploring your Visions and Philosophy for the 21st Century." The next meeting for Cafe-Salon Philosophique will be June 20, 1998, 7:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 2915 Pearl St., Boulder, CO.
Reported by Alessandra
