"But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.”
I have
earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive,
nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.
Just as Socrates felt
that it was necessary
to create a tension in the mind so that
individuals
could rise from the bondage of myths
and half-truths to the
unfettered realm of creative analysis
and objective appraisal,
we must see the need for nonviolent gadflies
to create the kind of tension in
society
that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice
and
racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood."
What started me on this quest was a training
course about Customer Service. The course dealt with some concepts of self
help, ‘Know they self,’ how to communicate, and interact with others.
At the onset of the course the instructor
quoted Socrates, “Know They Self’, he did not say that it was Socrates. I was familiar with the quote from not only
Socrates, but other community thinkers that are champions for the uplifting of
the marginalized and oppressed. I remembered another quote by Socrates, “I know
that I am intelligent, because I know nothing.” I ordered some books on the
subject of Socrates, and discovered Socrates Café by Christopher Phillips. His
work is bringing philosophy to the people in the same way that Socrates did.
My community and many communities around the
world are in need of healthy dialogue; a how-to. If we are to improve as people,
organizations, an ethnic group, groups, a nation, a world; how to communicate
effectively is a crucial key component. If we are to come to viable solutions
that will promote positive actions; learning the Socratic Method can be a
valuable tool. If we are to build a society that is transparent and
participatory, communication skills are vital.
We are in a global predicament, at a juncture in
human history, in terms of which way forward. Questioning is key. Know thy self is empowering.
We have been empowered with brains by the creator with the ability to question,
and to think. The challenge is to acquire skills to think collectively, to
create better environments, and a better world. There should not be a monopoly
on thought or thinking, but a process for many, and not for a few. We have all been
endowed to think, to learn, and to grow. Creativity and curiosity are tools for
empowerment in achieving human greatness, for the love of the mind, and God. There
is beauty, when minds meet each other in open dialogue.
Building communities of inquiry is a wonderful
thing, exploring using dialogue, dialectic thinking, critical thinking, African
dialectics, the Socratic Method are all a part of human reality, and growth. This
method belongs to all of us; a productive important way forward. It tunes us
into tapping into each others' God given knowledge. It is a way to expand
each others' horizons, and to expand, and grow our communities. These are wisdom
encounters.
It is important that common folks are heard,
and that space is created for healthy dialogue. We live in a so-called
democratic society. Yet we are always hearing people say that the American
people are ‘dummied down’, and that television creates couch potatoes. If we
are a nation of couch potatoes and consumers then we are the opposite of a democratic
society. The public should be encouraged, and trained to think. In most
of our political elections the real issues are not discussed. Just think the sources for great plays,
writers, novelists, and great thinkers comes from the populous.
I am planning a Socrates Café event in Harlem, in June. If you are interested, or have any
questions that you think should be explored collectively, please feel free email
me at, belrivers@gmail.com.
Bring philosophy to the Streets to the communities, as we self examine and learn to communicate and respect each other, so as we can create better sustainable environments.
* Gadfly is a person who upsets the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions.
"to sting people and w hip them into a fury, all in the service of truth". Socrates, referred to himself as a gadfly.
To sting people out of their complacency, to arouse.
To sting people out of their complacency, to arouse.
Below Please Find Videos, An Examined Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfD3X3f5C_w
Cornel West - An Examined Life!
Cornel West: So here we are in the middle of the Big Apple.
Astra Taylor: Since we haven’t settled on a theme in advance, let me throw some possibilities at you: truth, faith, love –
West: Truth is fine, truth is fine. Absolutely.
Taylor: OK, let’s go for truth. A big topic. [The engine starts and we begin our drive downtown.]
West:
I think in many ways it is the ultimate question: What is truth? How do
we understand truth and what are the ways in which we wrestle with
truth? And I believe that Theodor Adorno was right when he said that the
condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak. He said that the
condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak – that gives it an
existential emphasis, you see, so that we’re really talking about truth
as a way of life, as opposed to a set of propositions that correspond to
a set of things in the world.
Sincerely,Adjoa Linda Fletcher
My Ideas, on Questions to Ponder!
I have been reading Socrates’ Way. It is an
exploration in learning to value, and learn how-to dialogue effectively. I
realized in the process of organizing for a Socrates' dialogue session, that I
had not come up with a question to ask. A question that I want to be explored.
I thought that I needed to come up with a question that can be beneficial to
others, to myself, and my community in a truly Socratic Way. I have been
searching for the right question. When a question did surface with
an ‘Ahah’, I realized that the question had already been in my mind.
Each generation of parents, and educators have the
task of preparing youth for the future, and how to deal with life. The future is unknown.
If this is the case, what do we do. It is a task, and a responsibility.
The more I thought about coming up with one question, other questions came to
mind. What did my parents prepare me for? What did their parents prepare
them for? Did they ask themselves questions in regards to what
environment their children will grow up in? Do parents give the
question of what to prepare their children for much thought? Is the question
answered for them by society? Do we question, or do we go along with
the norm.
When I was growing up reading was a big part of my
environment. I read whatever was in front of me. I liked magazines. Whenever
I would visit some ones home I liked looking at their magazines. The coffee
table was the showcase for magazines in most homes. My father would read the
newspaper at the dinner table before dinner and afterwards. I read
cereal boxes, bubble gum and candy wrappers. They were a source of
reading material.
What did my parents instill, implanted, and taught me
that has survived? I think the main thing was ‘get an education’,
and read. My childhood friend and neighbor’s father would always say get some
book sense when he would catch us being unproductive. We played library when we
were in grammar school. I loved being a child. I was full of what(s), and why(s). My mother was good at
answering my questions. I learned a lot of history from my mother. My mother Willa Mae Sudduth is
a conscious Black woman. She knew that the world was rough outside, and would
remind me of the reality of hardships in the world outside. She knew who the
Black leaders were, and this was my political introduction. I like the fact
that I had a mother and father, in spite of the hardships they had in raising
five children. My father was the major bread winner, but my mother joined the
workforce. She went to Laney college in Oakland,
and learned how to sew on power machines. I remember she once had a job making
parachutes. My mother's best friend was Edna. They did a lot
together. It was a productive friendship. They canned fruits and vegetables
during the summer for the winter months. They made quilts together. The kitchen
was their meeting place in the mornings when their husbands went to work.
Music was a part of my environment growing up; bebop,
Sarah Vaugh, Nancy Wilson, Lou Rawls, Count Basie. What my father called the
‘pretty blues’. We had a vegetable garden. We had a peach tree. Easter lilies
grew on the side of the house along with strawberries that would appear
every spring. I remember the snap dragons, the bird of paradise plant, roses,
and carnations that would grow in our yard. We had a back yard, side yards, and
a front yard. Flowers were like toys along with making mud pies. We would pick
the thorns off the rose stems and connect them. I loved pretending to cook and
making mud pies, and playing with dolls. I loved watching my mother cook, and
sew. She was very thorough, precise, creative, and crafty. This was the
artist side of my mother. I think this is why today I love vegetables. There
was a wide variety of vegetables that my mother prepared for meals. Snacks were
healthy, too. We ate pumpkin seeds, walnuts with honey, lemons with peppermint
sticks in the center, celery and peanut butter. We had home made ice
cream. Desserts were varied too, lemon cream pies, oatmeal cookies, tea
cakes, chocolate cakes, pumpkin and sweet potatoes pies. It was like a
restaurant eating wonderful Louisiana Creole cuisine. My father's tools
were my toys. I liked playing with hammers, wheel barrels, and the mysterious measuring
tool that had water enclosed in the center. I played with rakes, hoes, and hole
makers. I used the lawnmower, grass edging tool My father's outings were
interesting, too. I think he took us to certain places to implant knowledge and
information into our brains.
I remember outings to grape fields in central California, apricot
fields, and natural nature parks, and hay rides. One field trip that sticks out
in my mind is when he took us; my sister and our neighbor friends to Walnut Creek to pick
walnuts. This was quite an experience. This was the first time I saw black migrant
workers in the fields of California.
It looked like I had been transformed to the South. I thought I lived up North
or rather out West. It was an outing for us. My father left us in the fields,
and came back when it was time to pick us up. We worked a while, and then we
got smart. We gave that foreman hell. We would pick some rolls of walnuts, and then
drag them to another row and get extra credit. We kept finding ways to out
smart the foreman. I remember one of the neighbor kids out a hold of the puncher,
and we adding points to our cards. It was all about outsmarting the foreman. I
think we won.
We lived in an all Black suburban neighborhood. Most
of the families had mothers and fathers. This was before integration. It was a
real sense of working and middle class community. There were seasoned
musicians, artists, doctors, a dentist; you name it – it was a part of the
community. I was a child observer like most children. My mother was very close
to her family, even though most of them were still in Louisiana. She always talked about her
family with admiration. She had a uncle, they would call Uncle Henry who lived
not too far away. It was wonderful visiting my Uncle Henry in Sacramento
in Oak Park.
These were family outings I cherish. They built their own house. Many black
families in the late 50s built their own homes. The men had skills, and during
the summers family get-togethers were working on building a house. These are
lasting impressions that I cherish deeply. My mother's family was an extended
family. She had lots of uncles and relatives. She lived on a sustainable farm
that was owned before the Civil War. I
love getting historical details from my mother. They raised chickens, ducks,
cotton, beekeeping, grew their own food. They used herbs for medicine. They had
a compost toilet. They even had a compost pile.
What did I teach my daughter? I came of age during very turbulent times.
As the song goes the ‘times they were a changing’. People moved a lot. I felt
that this would create a sense of uneasiness; whereas I grew up when neighbors
stayed the same. I did not really know
what to do. I did feel that it was important that she attend church and
college. I went to church as a child. A lot of my friends, and other young
people in my age group when I become of age did not think going to church was
important. I went against the grain.
I think the main focus in raising my daughter was for
her to get an education, and to expose her to films, the arts, and culture. I
was very vigilant. I wanted to make sure that she was exposed to math, and the
sciences. She went to a lot of political events, and exploring the nature
environment I felt was important. The early part of her growing up was in Sonoma Valley.
We lived on different farms, while I was going to college. We lived near grape
fields, a chicken farm, and an apple farm. One day she wondered into a
neighbors yard and was running with the horses.
I took this task very serious. I was very vigilant. I wanted to make
sure that she was exposed to math, and the sciences.
To be continued.
A work in progress.
This is a draft.
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