Tabula Rasa

I enjoy the opportunities presented by the recent clean sweep of the postings on this forum. It puts us in a sort of solidarity with the victims of Drought , Hurricane, Earthquake, Tsunami and the like. We are forced to re-initiate the conversations and revise our ideas and their presentation. I began reading a book lent to me recently in response to my perception of losing the potency of my presents here. Gerry Spence is the winningest Lawyer in America and he shares the secrets of his astonishing success. ' How To Argue and Win Everey Time ' begins at the beginning by identifying the roots of Argument and how we surrender our power to win by locking it up in erroneous thinking. He's from Jackson Hole Wyoming and benefits much from dialogue with Cowboy Pragmatism. In one metaphor he compares putting a Thousand Dollar Silver Saddle on a Ten Dollar Horse with the Florid language he has heard from fancy lawyers built around a dead argument. I'm currently on an early chapter titled Understanding Power. Argument respects the power that we give the Other and that which the Other gives us in the process. The Winning Argument is focussed upon giving the Other what She/He wants while getting what you want in the process. Otherwise the whole dialogue is uselessly sabotaged. Choosing how and when to argue is critical. Sometimes his wife lets him rant and rave until he convinces himself of the merits or demerits of his case. Silence can be powerful too.
I thumbed ahead , and perused the chapter on arguing inside of large organizations like government , corporations and the Catholic Church. He has found in court that corporate officers are immune from the injustices of the corporate interest. They don't even have incentive to do anything about these faults unless ordered by courts to do them.
This is very important at this particular juncture in our history to learn the arts of dialogue as we dicover the overarching nature of our shared interests , and I look forward to expanding my role in mastering these tools in the Art and Science of Dialogue. Genuine Human Empathy is critical to credibilty.

Sainthood for John the XXIII !!!