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| "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - MLK Jr. |
I continuously learn while writing these posts; they, and I, constantly grow. To demonstrate, this marks the second time I've rewritten this post from scratch, because I've refuted myself a second time as to the main impetus for unity.
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I discovered the greatest justification, yet, while reading Tasos Kazepides's Education as dialogue: Its prerequisites and its enemies, a book I stumbled upon while reading towards my Master's thesis.
Like my proposed concept analysis, Kazepides sifts through the various potential requisites and obstacles to effective dialogue. Although, as of what I've read so far, he has yet to mention the importance of unity.
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Succinctly, "unity is the way" because unity develops through discourse, and discourse develops through unity.
I've highlighted the importance of dialogue before, twice. However, when I wrote those posts, I hadn't yet thought systematically about the criteria for effective dialogue. While reading Kazepides, I had a small eureka when I considered the relationship between discourse and unity.
Simply stated, dialogue is a vehicle to unity, and unity: a vehicle to dialogue. Unity develops as a result of the mutuality established in effective discourse, like that which I described in "OnMethods: How Dialogue will Change the World, Part 2." I provided an example in the former post of a dialogue on values in which participants develop and utilize empathy to understand and grasp the values of other participants. I pragmatically labeled this development, and use, of empathy as "mutuality;" in quotations because I'm sure others have already used the term for such transactions or terms like it. Mutuality consists of a harmony in which two or more individuals become more conscious of the degree to which their values shape their actions. Mutuality terminates in a greater group consciousness: in collective insight and understanding. In sum, the development of mutuality coincides with a greater harmony of the part(icipant)s.
Further, unity is a criteria for such dialogues. As described in Part 2, unity is "the harmony of the parts that compose the whole." Without the harmony of the parts, i.e. the absence of respect; active listening; and engagement of the the participants, dialogue will be ineffective. As such, there is a requisite unity, or harmony, in order to create or establish a greater unity. For example, effective dialogues have rules, conscious and unconscious, possibly including, but not limited to: respect, dignity, symbol systems, organizers, etc., all of which must be shared by participants for effective discourse.
Therefore, unity is both the means to, and ends of, an effective dialogue. In order to tap into the transformative power of effective dialogue, unity must be the way. And in order to create unity, there must be effective discourse. The logic buttressing my argument is self-evidently circular. But this circularity consists of a causal relationship. To demonstrate, if you remove either, the other is limited: without effective discourse, unity is constrained.
But importantly, as a causal circular relationship, unity and discourse function in a positive feed back loop. (I.e., the more effective the discourse, the greater the unity and the greater the unity, the more effective the discourse.)
To consolidate and conclude several recent posts, to bring about real change and transformation of society: especially the good life for all, there must be discourse, and as such, there must be unity. Neither is effective, or genuine, without the other. Further, they are the vehicles to one another. As such, one could equally argue that "discourse is the way," when arguing for the way of unity. However, in general, in our society people are already discoursing: discussing, debating, deciding, etc., although most often ineffectively. Because, in general, North American society has yet to do so truly, and genuinely, united. At this juncture, most of us could benefit from unity more than discourse. Ultimately, unity through discourse; discourse through unity; til my last breadth, "unity is the way."
