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The Art of the Debate

// June 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // Philosophy

It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it. ~Joseph Joubert

An idea is where it all begins, then comes the opinion, then the choice and finally the action: this is the process of life.

Debate is “how” Adam and Eve ate the apple, the choice is the “why” the did it, the opinion is the flirting with the snake and the Idea is God…

The Idea

An Idea is at first shapeless, its a patch of light floating true thin air. Our thoughts try to sculpt it and define it but most of the time, specially for the important ones, the process never ends.

What is tricky about an Idea is that as any form of creation can carry different meanings, different messages, different perspectives according to the way it is perceived.

This is the hardest part: in order to understand an idea we should give up the notion that understanding it is possible at all. Let me elaborate: an Idea is a perpetual living organism and can only be caught in the moments that surrounds the perception of it, therefore it changes according to time, place, surroundings and most importantly the “thoughts of the beholders”.

So just in order to have some sort of security, we tend to transform Idea’s into “knowledge”, knowledge though by nature is such an insecure entity that immediately sets deep roots settling itself to becoming “Prejudice” and the Idea dies.

The only way to keep an Idea alive is to perpetually reshape it with debate and discourse.

The Opinion

Its comes very natural to any human being to form an opinion. Its a chemical process very similar to connecting dots. You would be surprised though to see how many unique shapes could be formed connecting the same dots…

The trouble is that in many cases we jump immediately into connecting the dots, without first understanding where they are coming from, what they represent, what is their context. This is why many times we express opinions based on Ideas that are quite different from the ones we have at hand.

Taking the time to understand first what is it that needs so desperately to be “opinionized” is crucial if any kind of progress in understanding [the moment] is the desired outcome.

So now that we have our shaped opinion in our hands we need to play with it. To play with it we put it into a battle field and let it run amok other opinions, sometimes teaming up and fighting others, sometimes cornered and beaten up, sometimes crushed into pieces.

The beauty of the opinion is that it bears the soul of a phoenix, if the opinion burns itself and understands that needs to die, it is reborn from its ashes into a stronger more beautiful bird capable of spreading its wings and capable to have a higher view of the whole field.

This is also a never ending game, there are no breaks, some could sit on the bench for a while but by nature should always accept to join the game if called for. When an opinion is ready to leave the game it means its ready to go on a mission, and I will come to the mission right next.

Retiring an opinion should never be an option. If we do, very similarly to an understood idea, the opinion intensifies and hardens into a heavy stone that we need to carry around.

The Choice

The choice is when an opinion decides to leave the play ground and join a mission,

The Choice is an Opinion with a Sense of Purpose.

It will be challenged and will be put to the test trough various adventures and experiences. This is where the opinion dresses up and gets ready to have some face time with the material universe, what we need to understand is that there are endless journeys to be experienced and there is no death, only development. If a choice understands to have failed, it decides to dress down and return to the playground in order to reshape itself into a new opinion, collecting though within, the experience it gained in the process of loosing.

The Choice is what we live for, its the essence life.

The Action

The action is the awareness of our choices, its the experience of the Idea. Its the world surrounding us, the world we experience trough our senses. This is where our choices come to life and struggle trough the fabrics of the universe and put to the test itself (The Choice), its motivation (The Opinion) and its understanding (The Idea).

The Debate

So what is really the debate ? The debate is what shapes an Idea. Is what connects the dots, and disconnects, and connects again. Its the game that is played in the field, its what keeps alive the game, what makes the journey worth leaving. The debate is what makes choices grow into statements or into experience. Its what gives you the power to move forward and prevents you to stall.

If the choice is the reason we are alive, the debate is the energy that powers it all.

and The Debate shall never end…

Sadok Kohen
In truth, without deceit, certain and most veritable.

The Right to Vote

// June 9th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Philosophy

One of the biggest problems with democracy the way its run today is who gets to vote?

I think that having a say on any matter should be something to earn. How can anybody vote without first understanding what is it that is debated. Shouldn’t at least the voter prove that he has at least a level of understanding that would allow him to?

I am not saying only doctors should vote on health care for example, i am saying that whoever wishes to have a say in the matter should prove that he knows enough of the current policies, the options around, the different opinions with their reasoning and then be allowed to vote.

Can you imagine a courthouse where each jury member is allowed to come as it may, ask for brief summaries about the court case at random from somebody in the courtroom and then give his vote based on that? How is this different from the way politics are run today?

Sadly well informed citizens have equal influence to the clueless and politicians ride on that.

Plato said:

Philosophers [must] become kings…or those now called kings [must]…genuinely and adequately philosophize

But it takes a philosopher to vote for a philosopher king so this is my quote:

philosophers [must] become VOTERS…or those now called VOTERS [must]…genuinely and adequately philosophize

Sadok Kohen
In truth, without deceit, certain and most veritable