In a sped-up world, the virtues of
introspection, reflection, and contemplation are sometimes discarded. As we rush to
get to the "bottom line" on the numerous topics that we confront in the news
and in our daily lives we can lose sight of the big picture as we narrow our
focus on the seemingly most relevant details. The result is a world awash in
rash judgements, harsh, but empty sound bytes, and self-fulfilling prophecies
where the answers are had before the questions are even posed.
This book is my reaction to such a world. It is an attempt to
inject more thoughtfulness into the great debates of our time and of the past.
However, my solution, at least in this book, is not to delineate my
answers to the philosophical problems of our world but to revel in the questions
themselves. To explore the many dimensions of the questions in order to
gain deeper understanding of the issues in hopes of finding a middle
ground between the distant poles involved in the debate. This book is in no
way an end to the conflict...it is, hopefully, the beginning of a great
discussion.