We have to cancel the last session this year on November 17 due to unforeseen circumstances. Sad thing – we were going to discuss what constitutes personal identity and now we may never know!
But we at the Library wish you all a very good winter and hope to see you again next year. This has been a very successful year and we hope this will continue, especially in our new building which we will move into sometime in the Spring.
And here a wise word from the old man, Socrates, himself:
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
Our session on October 20 was lively and engaging, all about obedience, Galileo, coercion, when to be obedient and when to give in. We did not necessarily solve any problems, but raised awareness, as it is called.
We discussed the Stanley Milgram experiment which was done 60 years ago with the result that almost 100% of test subjects went ahead and applied painful electric shocks to others, as long as somebody else had the responsibility for the experiment. If you like to read more about it, go to LINKS.
We also welcome a first-time visitor, Michael Chesloff from Chatham, a very interesting fellow and quite a philosopher. Brian left early because he was instrumental in the operation of the Copake soup kitchen. He actually brought up the life of Galileo , who unlike Socrates, did not drink the hemlock or flee, but recanted his findings that the earth was not the center of the universe. Two kinds of obedience.
And here is a picture showing that the world is tuning in to our little discussion group!
You are cordially invited to attend the next meeting on Tuesday, September 15 from 5-6:30 at the Library about “Moral Compass – Integrity”. What does Integrity have to do with Character? How is it related to Intention, Responsibility, Values? We are looking forward to a lively sharing of ideas.
Our last meeting about the components of American culture was lively and interesting. The group was the largest we had so far – it seems we are growing – and afterwards a number of us went to the Four Brothers for something to eat and to continue the discussion. A heart-warming evening!
You are welcome, as always, to attend our next Socrates meeting on Tuesday, August 18, at 5 pm at the Roe-Jan Community Library in Hillsdale. The topic is “The components of American culture”. Immigrants coming to the United States clearly see the sometimes glaring differences between the culture they have left and the culture which confronts them here. One’s own culture is like the water a fish swims in – it is taken for granted and is not even questioned, and yet so many misunderstandings arise from the divergent customs and belief systems of two different cultures.
The facilitator is Brian Belt who has travelled the world and is familiar with all kinds of different approaches to questions of life. If you are interested in this subject matter, please click on LINK and read on.
Our July discussion on “what does it mean to be rich?” started out with money and its purpose (security, and the need for dignity, for instance) and ended with its relationship to happiness. What is necessary beyond a certain amount of money, to be determined by each individual? Being rooted in one’s world and place, trusting one’s neighbors, a meaningful project, a certain amount of boredom (Bertrand Russell), because “affluence breeds impatience and impatience undermines well being” (Avner Offer), and “maybe happiness is this: not feeling like you should be elsewhere, doing something else, being someone else.” These were some realizations, discovered and cherished, and none of them mentioned money.
“The components of American Culture” will be the subject on August 18, 2009. All are invited.
This is the topic for the next session on July 21 at 5:00 pm at the Roe-Jan Library. It seems like a simple question, everybody needs money, and only the very rich say that riches don’t mean anything, but what is enough and what is too much, and what is its connection with happiness? Come and join us.
“Socrates in Hillsdale” will be renamed “Roe-Jan Socrates Cafe’” next year as soon as the library moves to its new home on Route 22 which happens to be in the town of Copake. It will be a happy day when we move to the new location which will be spacious and light and will have its separate community room for meetings, complete with a coffee pot and kitchen facilities. The first “Socrates Cafe” has now grown to an organization with hundreds of locations worldwide, all frequented by people who like to ask questions and examine the issues. We love people who are curious, perplexed and filled with an insatiable sense of wonder, who are more interested in learning how to think, not what to think.
Here is a video by the founder and creator, Christopher Philips, speaking about the purpose and aims of Socrates Cafe’.
A friend told me the other day that the word “philosophy” made her uncomfortable. She thought philosophy was for the college student, or the “highly intellectual” person who seems to know a lot about everything. She thought that she wouldn’t measure up.
But even the dictionary doesn’t confine it to the highly educated person. Philosophy is the “love and pursuit of wisdom and a search for a general understanding of values and reality”, as defined by several sources. So, why should you feel that philosophy is not for you? Do you sometimes discuss your thoughts openly and honestly with others? Have you ever questioned society and it’s assumptions or your own? We love people who are curious, perplexed and filled with an insatiable sense of wonder, who are more interested in learning how to think, not what to think. Socrates did not “lead” people to a specific truth; rather, he inspired people to question and think and discover and articulate their own unique truths.
It was Socrates after all who said “I know that I know nothing”, and “the unexamined life is not worth living.” He also said: ““Wisdom begins in wonder”, and therein lies Socrates’ greatness.
Our next meeting is Tuesday, May 19, from 5-6:30 pm at the Library. The topic is “Is doubt necessary for faith?” and Christiane Marks will facilitate.
As is our usual procedure, we start out with examining definitions, since two people cannot even approach an issue unless they have the same meaning in mind. Here are some definitions of faith, to give you something to think about until then:
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Samuel Butler
You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.
Eleanor Roosevelt
He who loses money, loses much; He who loses a friend, loses much more, He who loses faith, loses all.
St. Thomas Aquinas
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
Augustine
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
Reinhold Niebuhr
Life is a battle between faith and reason in which each feeds upon the other, drawing sustenance from it and destroying it.
My favorite one is from Tagore: “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.”
We have faith that there will be a good number of you on May 19.
This is the topic for the May 19 discussion facilitated by Christiane Marks. Everybody is invited.
The April 21 discussion on Worldviews and Paradigms was lively and interesting and led us through many different worldviews and also made clear to us how worldviews change with changing economic, political, social and legal developments. Especially satisfying was the realisation towards the end what is important to us and what we should keep in mind when confronted with the global onslaught of multiple viewpoints. It was an extremely satisfying session.
As always, everybody is invited. Meet us at the Roe-Jan Community Library at 5 pm.
Socrates said: “The Unexamined Life is not worth living”
The Roe-Jan Forum invites you to come and participate in discussions about important issues of life. The facilitated meetings are free. Come and bring your open-minded curiosity and love of philosophical inquiry. All are invited. PLEASE NOTE: In 2010 the newly renamed “ROEJAN SOCRATES CAFE” will meet every third Thursday of every month from 5-6:30 pm at the lower level of the Roe-Jan Community Library in Hillsdale.
Coordinator: Inge Etzbach
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Since August 2008
"The philosophy which is so important in each of us is not a technical matter; it is our more or less dumb sense of what life honestly and deeply means. It is only partly got from books; it is our individual way of just seeing and feeling the total push and pressure of the cosmos."
·William James
