For Your Consideration - 4

Who Are You?

            Today’s question is simple, straightforward, and nearly impossible to answer:

Who are you?

            Beyond being a great song by The Who, I think this is one of those questions that forces us to plumb the depths of our minds but really never come up with an answer that can suffice to explain us in our totality. Many of the students with whom I spoke today typically began with their names, which had me explaining that our names do not define who we are. Names are placeholders, convenient designations for us to grasp onto, but certainly don’t convey the essence of who we are. No label can do this. Sure I can say that my name is Ryan and claim to be a husband, brother, son, uncle, friend, teacher, mentor, philosopher, weirdo and a whole lot of other things in between, but none of them will ever get to the root of what it means to be me (or you).

            One of the best answers I received today mentioned how we are the sum total of our dreams, memories, and experiences. We may be closer to the truth with this idea, this notion of being an aggregate of many pieces, yet we must recognize the shifting sands upon which all of these pieces of our totality are constructed. Change is fundamental to living and growing, especially when it comes to wisdom. Are we the same person who experienced X at age 12 when we have a similar experience at age 38? Probably not (Heraclitus would offer a firm "No").

            I don’t have any other questions for you other than the one asked earlier. Who are you? To be completely candid, my answer is “I don’t know.” It’s tremendously difficult to put into words, as are all phenomena that defy linguistic limitations (a profound religious experience comes to mind—completely ineffable, inexplicable), but that doesn’t let us off the hook as philosophers. We must still contend, grapple, wrestle with this question…and all good questions.

Please leave your comments below and feel free to share with others.

            P.S. – If you’ve never taken a Briggs-Meyer Personality test and want to find out who you are (in whatever limited psychological sense these tests can convey), please click here to take one. It only takes a few minutes and is—admittedly—frighteningly accurate. If you want to know more about me and my results, click the link below:

My Results 

Success

            Today I was back out in the courtyard, strolling through the sunshine and brisk air. The word I had on my board was SUCCESS along with a few associated questions soliciting students to tell me their general ideas/definitions of success and how we can recognize it in ourselves and others. The response was overwhelming.

           

            The first few students to say anything to me mentioned being millionaires (shocking). I turned it around on them by asking is it okay to be a millionaire no matter how you got the money? They immediately recognized the difference between starting your own small business and living a life of crime. Then they went on to mention how it would be important to raise a family, live a good life, get an education, et cetera.

           

            The best reaction I had today started with one student. He told me—of course—that he had to have: 1) a huge mansion; 2) be a billionaire (I guess millionaire is not enough for him); 3) be famous; 4) have a model wife. I would have pressed him to explain what he meant by “model,” but I figured he meant one who displays the latest fashions rather than some notion of perfection insofar as who or what a wife is supposed to be. After he loudly proclaimed these to practically everyone within earshot, I asked him where he got such notions and was about to ask if reality television and American popular culture have distorted his (or our) views of success before his friends all started chiming in. They told him that that is not the only form of success; they mentioned accomplishing personal goals and dreams, living to the best of one’s abilities, and exceeding the expectations of ourselves and others. By the time I left, 5 or 6 students were discussing success with each other. And that certainly made today a success for me.

            How about you? How would you define success? Are there certain universal forms of success that people might agree upon regardless of culture and context? Why or why not? How do you recognize success in yourself? In others? Do you try to promote success by the way you live? Why is success important? Do we have to be successful at everything, or is it okay to succeed in only certain endeavors?

Please leave your comments and questions for others.

Beware! Commercials Ahead

            For the last several years I have had the habit of pulling some MLK, Jr. off my bookshelf to revisit his writings on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This probably would have been yesterday’s post had I read some before thinking about wisdom, but I never got around to perusing King’s sagacious words until later in the afternoon. Yesterday’s selection was from a collection of his famous sermons, Strength to Love, which is excellent if you’ve never read it.

            One of my favorite essays in the book also happens to be the first, “Tough Minded and Tender Hearted.” He speaks to the necessity of engaging in deliberate thinking, something we are trying to do with our little experiment on “What’s Up, Soc?” Here’s a short sample:

Let us consider, first, the need for a tough mind, characterized by incisive thinking, realistic appraisal, and decisive judgment. The tough mind is sharp and penetrating, breaking through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the true from the false. The tough-minded individual is astute and discerning. He has a strong, austere quality that makes for firmness of purpose and solidness of commitment.

Who doubts that this toughness of mind is one of man’s greatest needs? 

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

This prevalent tendency toward soft mindedness is found in man’s unbelievable gullibility. 

Take our attitude toward advertisement. We are so easily led to purchase a product because a television or radio advertisement pronounces it better than any other. Advertisers have long since learned that most people are soft-minded, and they capitalize on this susceptibility with skillful and effective slogans.

             This got me thinking about commercials on television. I am notorious for being critical about the “real” message lurking behind the overt advertisement for a particular product. The reason we should all be so critical of these types of (or all, really) ads has to do with what they are subtly conveying about our culture of conspicuous consumption. Take these AT&T commercials for instance:

            Overwhelmingly these commercials always tout the virtue of “more,” “bigger,” “faster,” et cetera. Is this always the case? Should these goals be the endgame of consumption? Are they even virtues at all? Why do we prize such values blindly? Can you think of ways in which more, bigger, or faster is not better? Try to watch more commercials in this way and think about aspects of life you might not otherwise deliberate over.

P.S. - Tomorrow I should be back in the courtyard at school. More posts themed on actual dialogue with students coming up!

Got Wisdom?

            Though the English language only has a few vestiges of gender left in its lexicon, most languages spoken today still use gender as an effective way to communicate the undercurrent of a word’s meaning. For the last several days, I’ve been thinking about the word “wisdom” and what it means to be wise. I think I have grown wiser over the years, especially as I close in on 40, but I know I have so much more to learn and experience before I would consider myself wise. And if our hero Socrates is any model for this, we would do ourselves a service by even doubting what wisdom we claim to have.

            The Greek word for wisdom that is at the root of the word philosophy is Sophia. It’s interesting to me that the word is feminine because it intimates tenderness, a supple nature that is yielding when it needs to be and firm only when absolutely necessary (like all good mothers are). More importantly, this reveals what I think the heart of wisdom is—our collected experiences being brought to bear on a particular situation in a particular moment. Wisdom does not have a one-size-fits-all solution to any challenge; instead, it is a skill that is honed over time if we are willing to learn from our failures and mistakes as human beings.

            Part of what brought on this reflection during the last few days is due to the book I am reading, Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing by Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe. They make a clear case for the need for cultivating wisdom in everyday living, especially in a society that prizes rules and incentives—two forces that essentially erode that wisdom (or at least its application). What’s most important about this book, though, is that the authors illustrate time and again how wisdom is not only necessary but universal. It is a skill that can be developed just like any other and, most notably, does not require super-human intelligence to be wielded.

            What is wisdom to you? How would you define it? Do you consider yourself a wise person? Why or why not? If so, how did you become so? Are there better ways of cultivating it than others? If not, why do you feel that is? Surely you must have some wisdom about some aspect of life, correct? How can we all encourage the use of wisdom in our daily living and the lives of others?

P.S. - If you love TED Talks as much as I do, check out Barry Schwartz's lament on the loss of wisdom in our society. It's quite good and full of useful anecdotes that demonstrate that anyone can be a wise person. I'm about halfway through the book, which is chock full of even more of these types of examples.

 

For Your Consideration - 2

            Here is this week’s “For Your Consideration” video. Like last week, it is another excellent TED Talk, though this one deals with another topic. Whether you realize it or not, Google (along with just about every other major internet entity) tailors your experience of the web through the use of algorithms. I had known this for some time, but I never realized the extent to which it was being used by other companies such as Facebook, Yahoo, etc.

            While this might not seem like such a problem, it has undoubtedly contributed to the radical political polarization we have seen here in the United States over the last decade or so. This also affects us in other potentially detrimental ways such as inhibiting the open-mindedness that one must cultivate as a philosopher. To be able to ask important questions is contingent upon being exposed to wide and diverse views, even those diametrically opposed to your own personal convictions. In order to dialogue with others—especially those with whom we disagree about our opinions—we must have the access to their perspective, to their worldview. But if we are being limited in that exposure, does it not stifle us and the wisdom we would potentially accrue?

            How can we work around these “filter bubbles”? How can we effectively seek out information that broadens the horizons of our inquiry? How can we help the algorithms better serve our needs while still allowing them to function properly and well? Why is this crucial for progress in a representative democracy such as ours, especially one that has been plagued with dysfunction and ideological gridlock over the last decade?

            As always, please post your thoughts, comments, and questions below.

Oh, Wobbly Words...

            Language can be messy. Sometimes we can’t find the perfect word to describe what we think and/or feel; other times the right word in our primary language just isn’t nuanced enough to explain what we mean. But we must be as careful as possible when we are engaged in philosophical dialogue so that each member of the discussion is on the same page, so to speak.

           

            I was thinking about this today because of a conversation that began in the “Rainy Day Exam Blues Hiatus” post. We were talking about happiness and how it can mean two different though equally important ideas: 1) the momentary experience of joy that arrives suddenly and is fleeting; 2) and our overall well-being or life satisfaction. As you can see, English can be frustratingly ambiguous. In the context of this discussion, I mentioned the ancient Greek notion of eudaimonia, which I am sure will get its own post in the near future. And, considering my interlocutor is a former student who studies Japanese, another word popped into my head—kaizen.

            Ever since the end of World War II, Japan has been kaizen crazy. Originally meant as a term to be applied in manufacturing and business, the word has expanded to include broader applications. It, too, suffers from the same fate as happiness in English because though the word literally means “good change” it is often translated as “continuous improvement.” This is noteworthy because it is an idea often discussed in philosophy circles, whether working toward the Golden Mean of Aristotle or trying to evolve into the Übermensch of Nietzsche. Part of living well requires us to continually refine ourselves as part of our search for wisdom.

            How do you accomplish this in your life? Do you see yourself as a work in progress, constantly trying to get better in all aspects of life? What can we do to make improvements in our lives? Can we improve physically (health)? Can we improve mentally (intelligence)? Can we improve spiritually (wisdom)? Is it worth trying to improve, or should we not strive so much? What are your thoughts on this?