This late update is to remind everyone that the Altadena Socrates Café is still very active and growing. I would like to write something in response to our new member Mark, who asked if there is anything he should know before the big day?

Welcome to the Socrates Café Mark, the Socrates Café is to me - an experiment. It is an exercise in democracy, an engagement in dialogue, a chance to meet different people, a step in self understanding. It can entertain you, piss you off, set you free and make you think. Pure thinking is not enough, a great deal of what happens in a Socrates Café meeting are intense dialogues, talks taken seriously, thoughts investigated, interrogated and examined over not just you, but all members of the gathering.

I call it an experiment because it is always changing, it is always challenging, we challenge ourselves, and we strive to ask the next big question. We are all aware of the changes because when genuine dialogues talk place, a consensus is no longer the goal, but inroads to greater understanding would be present to everyone who listens carefully to what others have to say, then you can challenge them. And when you are challenged, you should try your best to take on the fight to give the best reason possible for other members, but of course, ultimately, for yourself.

A Socrates Café usually has a facilitator, who directs without determining the discussion. A Socrates Café doesn't have a preset topic of discussion, it is usually picked on the day of discussion, so come in with your philosophical question, or any question really, we'll make it philosophical in two seconds time.

Before you come, you can always visit the homepage for the Society for Philosophical Inquiry, a non-profit organization that started the Socrates Café movement ten years ago.

Visit: http://www.philosophe...

That's it, our June meeting would be on the 21st, it looks like Bernard, one of the founding fathers of the Altadena Socrates Café, has RSVPed a "maybe", it should be very interesting.

Look forward to seeing all of you there.

Mike Li