The Dialectic in The Garden

[1] Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
[2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
[3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
[4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
[5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
[6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

The Dialectic in the Wilderness

[1] Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
[2] And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.
[3] And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
[4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
[5] Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
[6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
[7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
[8] Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
[9] And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
[10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
[11] Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

The Dialectic

A diverse group of people dialoguing to consensus over a social issue in a facilitated meeting

For the dialectic to work in a praxis (theory and practice) environment it is necessary to have a diverse group of people, dialoguing to consensus, over a social issue in a facilitated meeting.

The dialectic is simply the coming together of two opposing or obverse ideals. It is done in a way which forces both ideals to compromise their original position for the sake of unity. The first stage, "Thesis," might be your position, the second stage, "antithesis" might be someone else's position, (different than your own)

And the third stage "synthesis" would then be the new position held by both you and the other person for the sake of solving a problem.

I refer to this way of thinking as transformation because every position must be transformed into a new position when its obverse position comes along. "Let's agree to disagree" and "diversity in unity" are dialectic phrases.

Traditional thinking justifies its position with facts and is founded upon the verb "is" and the phrases "I know," "It is the law," and "It is written." Reality is always external and therefore one's accountability is always to a higher authority.

The dialectic, to "liberate" mankind from tradition, must take everyone through the antithesis stage called transition. In this stage, where thesis and antithesis meet, a bonding based on feelings, not facts (as in tradition) takes place. Empathy becomes the ruling or driving force. Thus transitional thinking justifies its position with feelings, and is founded upon the phrases, "I ought to be able to…" or "If it feels good do it." Reality is found in feelings and therefore one's accountability is always to one's feelings.

The dialectic, to "liberate" mankind from transition, from potential anarchy, must take everyone into the synthesis stage called transformation. In this stage, thesis and antithesis are united through justification or reasoning skills, called "higher order thinking skills" (HOTS). Justification for unity of opposites becomes the ruling or driving force. Thus transformational thinking justifies its position with reasoning and is founded upon the words "potential" or "practical." Reality is found in reasoning and therefore one's accountability is always to one's reasoning or justification skills for the sake of harmony between opposites. Hegel stated that "Whatever is real is rational, and whatever is rational is real."

The transition stage when used in the dialectic is a somewhat painful experience to go through. When opposites compromise their original positions for the sake of unity, and actively seek ways to justify it, they must be willing to justify the compromise they are making to their conscience. While compromise in the traditional way of thinking does not require the searing of one's conscience, since one is always given the right to hold to his principles, i.e. majority rule or the power of office, compromise in the transformational way of thinking requires the searing of one's conscience, since both parties must be willing to set aside their principles for the sake of the two or the group.

Praxis

Praxis is a Greek work found in the New Testament i.e. "Praxis Apostolan" or the Acts of the Apostles. It means to act out or practice to completion. Therefore, according to the current formation of education, the workplace and politics in America and around the world, we are all to act our (role play) the dialectic until our conscience no longer bothers us when we compromise for the sake of any group of people who are themselves acting out or praxising the dialectic.

Next Week: The role of the change agent is to keep the process of "change" going on indefinitely.

Charlene Sanders
Hot Springs, Arkansas