Action and philosophy

A great many years ago in ancient Greece, Socrates established the dialogue as a form of philosophical discourse aimed at helping people reach a mutual agreement on topics. Socrates himself was quite a contradictory figure. He was neither ugly nor beautiful. He considered knowing nothing, yet people came to him for counseling. He was thought a sage, a being in the intermediate state between man and God, who was always striving for perfection but never reaching it. He was a lover of wisdom.

Around the same epoch in ancient India, the Buddha of our age was born. Before him, Indian philosophy has reached many practical conclusions which helped the peoples of the subcontinent to develop their spirituality and lives. The Buddha, after striving for perfection for some years, managed to reach enlightenment and taught it to many.

In some way, both the philosophers of ancient Greece and India wanted to reach wisdom. The wisdom beyond anything material and timely. The wisdom that surpassed our daily suffering. Actually, philosophy means “love of wisdom”. To do philosophy means to practice love of wisdom. In more practical terms, philosophy helps you distance yourself from the misgivings of your daily life.

Philosophy was always in conflict with the virtues of the worldly life. To do business, to be a citizen, to have a job is thought of as to always make swift decisions and fast actions. You have to strive for money, power, and acclaim. You have to conform to the state and its rules. People who philosophize are sometimes thought as of worth-for-nothing time-wasters.

In many ways, to succeed in the world, you have to act, to decide, to organize. And these activities we think are alien to philosophy. I don’t have time to meditate on the existence of our organization — we need that money now. I don’t have time to meditate on whether our workers should be happy or not — they produce, don’t they? I don’t have time to meditate on whether winning the Oscar is actually worth it — I’ll be famous, won’t I?

There is nothing bad about striving for achievement and reaching your goals, but it’s important to reflect at what cost. Philosophy alone distances you from the practical world. Action alone makes you go on and on without living. Why not get that money later, but evolve your organization in a way that will make it last for centuries? Why not make the workers happy, so they both produce more and have prosperous families? Why not leave that Oscar and don’t miss your best friend’s birthday again?

At Camplight we always try to balance between philosophy and action. Sometimes we have lengthy discussions about the “why” of our actions. We deliberate extensively on our purpose. And there are times when written discourse and dialogues get so out-of-hand that someone has to step in and guide the discussion on a more actionable path.

Yet, at times, we focus too much on action. I see an opportunity and go chasing it without thinking. Someone else writes a witty proposal that will actually harm us but sounds grandiose and profitable in the short-term. Then the philosophy kicks in and makes us step back and deliberate. Do we want short term profits or long term value? Should we do lots of selling without having what to sell? Is business the only thing that can thrive in our cooperative?

This balance provides our middle-ground for reasonable action, long-term value, and passionate collaboration. And, I think, this balance is what makes an organization humane.