The Great Debate
Setting: Debate Hall- Library
A group of highly intellectual Philosophers got into a debate about Inner Truth and Facts. The group of inner truth seekers; Jesus, Buddha and Mister C. Rogers. The group of facts seeking science believers: Mr. Hume, B.F. Skinner, and Sir Pierre Simon Laplace. These philosopher came together for one last time for the great debate.
Tzu: the mediator- a quiet obscure monk
Louis: the spectator- a weird old man dazed and confused at the back of the room
watching the debate.
Jesus: Preacher and religious leader- He is the central figure of Christianity.
Buddha: an enlightened teacher who attained full Buddhahood- the primary figure in Buddhism
C.Rogers: theorist on the theory of self- all behavior is determined by the conscious self
Hume: Philosopher- influenced a system of philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism
B.F. Skinner- A behaviorist- developed radical behaviorism
Sir Pierre Laplace- A mathematician- developer of mathematics
Scene I – Who we are
Tzu- “I call this debate into order, all those who wish to debate come gather into your parties.’’
( Jesus, Buddha and C.Rogers gather on one side)
( Hume, B.F. Skinner and P.S. LaPlace gather on the opposite)
Tzu- “We come together as opposites and every side has a different value and idea. This balance of differences and intermingling ideas creates the yin and yang. So I ask
for peace and balance for this debate and at the end embrace these ideas with love and respect.”
(The two groups smiled and knotted in acknowledgment )
Louis T- “ ROLL CALL!!!”
( Everyone looking in a baffled but receptive at Louis, who is sitting in the back corner waiting with anticipation for the debate to begin)
Jesus: “ I’ll go.”
Tzu: “Okay Jesus we will start with you and go down the line. Just introduce yourself and share something about yourself.”
Jesus: “Hello, Im Jesus Christ. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
(Humes eyes roll and looks at B.F. Skinner that has a mere half smirk on his face)
Buddha: “Namaste, I am Buddha. I was born into the world as the king of truth for the salvation of the world.”
(Humes huffs with a slightly chuckle)
Tzu: “Remember balance of love and respect everyone.”
C. Rogers: “Hi, I’m Carl Rogers. I like to think of myself as a quiet revolutionary.”
(The groups look at one another to see if Tzu was going to chime in, but he sits waiting for the next group to continue the “roll call”)
Hume: “HI I AM DAVID HUME!”
(Everyone’s eyes widen in the reaction of the projected voice Hume had compared the the mild, soft spoken the other group had.)
Hume: “I believe a wise man proportions his belief to the evidence!”
(Jesus smiles as he plans for a miracle so that Hume will see such evidence)
B.F. Skinner: “Hi I'm B.F. Skinner. I believe you can get along very well in this world by simply coming up with a quantity of reasonably valid statements; and so far I’ve only heard one.”
(Hume and Skinner nudge each other for confirmation and confidence)
Tzu: “So last but not less that leaves us with Sir Pierre Laplace.”
Pierre Simon Laplace: “Yeah, yeah, I’m last at everything even with the credit for the work that I do; I’m used to it. Anyways I’m Pierre Simon Laplace but you can just call me Simon. I believe life's most important questions are, for the most part, nothing but probability problems.”
Tzu: “ Thank you Pierr…”
( Abruptly interrupted by P.S.Laplace)
Scene II- The Debate
P.S.Laplace: “I would like to say to that group.” ( Pointing to the opposite side)
P.S.Laplace: “What we know is not much. What we do not know is immense. So Jesus leader of the truth, the truth is you can’t prove to me that you are the way to the “Father”. So your truth is not credible enough for anyone with common sense to understand probability theory and is able to reduce this claim to calculation and mathematics.”
Jesus: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. I am a Theologians and I am not one to debate the existent of my father. You sir are a philosopher and want to debate that. However I am one who has faith, something mathematics and science cannot prove, nor can you tell someone what they do or do not feel. You can’t prove to me that you know what love feels like, but do you believe in love?”
( P.S.L. looking put off by the rebuttal question)
P.S.LaPlace: “Yes, I know what love feels like!”
Buddha: “Prove it..”
(P.S.L staring blankly, looking over at his fellow group members)
Jesus: “Like love, faith is a conversion experience that you cant sit down to read and learn; experience with soul by the holy sprit.”
Hume: “All human knowledge is founded solely in experience but the rest, nothing but sophistry and illusion. And so a wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.There for if we have not experienced the Great and Wonderful God it is only sophistry and illusionary to us.”
Buddha: “You blindly follow these scriptures and traditions all without having real knowledge of what you do or do not believe in because you only seek “facts”. Let me tell you a story, a file of blind men each in touch with the next: the first one does not see, the middle one does not see, and the last one does not see. In the end what did you learn?”
(Hume, PSL and skinner look at one another seeing if anyone understood) Hume: “I must of missed something”
Buddha “Indeed. You cannot seek inner truth if one can not see. If you don’t trust your own heart but instead only base your trust and knowledge on: likability, emotional inclination, reflection on reasons and consideration of theories then you do not learn and you do not grow.”
B.F.Skinner: “But human beings are programmed, pre-determined, and essentially without free will to seek their own inner truth. So we must abandon these notions of inner life and constructs of soul in order to apply scientific advances to mankind. If we waited for miracles to happen every time someone is rushed to the emergency room than we would have far more people on our team than yours; because the truth is science is proven to work, not this inner truth of finding and worshiping these Gods.”
(Still focused on the scientific method of truth T.Louis quickly chime in)
T.Louis: “We are learning from one another, each of you have strengths that can be your weakness such as relying on facts or listening to only your inner self but also your weakness can be your strength. You all know what you don’t agree on, you are able to understand what you don’t like or possibly don’t clearly understand.”
Tzu: “Thank you sir, I absolutely agree it’s about adapting. Maybe humans are pre- programmed and relying on theories and reasons are preventing you from becoming your true self. This makes me think of a story about water. Water is flexible to the extent that it adapts itself to every form that contains it. Water, or will, is powerful and can change form and adjust to different situations; life is identical in the same aspect. So learn to adapt to new ideas and beliefs for all of you.
(Everyone stands, pondering the story Tzu just told )
Roger: “The story with water representing life and how in life situations can change from what you believe to what you think you know; it helps with self-actualization to occur. When a person’s “ideal self” is in touch with the here and now, his or her subjective experiences and feelings continually grow and change. Such as right now, us, everyone in this room are experiencing this and even if we take just a little bit of what we talked about it shows that we were open to the experience; be existentialism voiding prejudging and preconceptions, expressed our feelings, creativity is the way we think and try to fulfill our life as happy as we know.
Buddhua: “Well said, do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
T.Louis: “I learned each of us must find our own unique path to discover this unfathomable Creator. There are many paths to God all different and most of them are roughly paved.”
Tzu: “Well said everyone, If no one has anything else to add we can conclude this mini debate. And remember life is all about the Ying and yang.”