In 1784, the philosopher, Immanuel Kant described enlightenment as “humankind’s emergence from its self-incurred immaturity”, its “lazy and cowardly” submission to the “dogmas and formulas” of religious or political authority.
Humans are innately emotional beings, made from what Kant referred to as the “crooked timber of humanity”, combined with which the way we understand the world around us changes over time.
Elements such as cognitive bias can evade our personal awareness and we can be convinced that we’re seeing clearly, and thinking rationally, when we’re not. We still embrace or reject evidence too easily, but civil contact with people of different perspectives can keep the resulting distortions within bounds. Our interpretation of reality, our reason and our intellect needs to be tested at times with the guidance of another which often takes courage.
I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed the discussion.
This podcast was recorded as a series of lectures given to people in 12 step addiction recovery treatment. The purpose of these talks was to teach and motivate individuals to search for their own spiritual solution to their addiction.
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+27 012 345 1186 Pretoria
+27 010 597 7784 Johannesburg
