The next main meeting of the Middle Way Network will be on Sun 28th June at 7pm UK time on Zoom. There’ll be a short talk on the focus on error as our fourth criterion for the Middle Way, followed by questions and discussion in regionalised breakout groups. Some other regionalised groups will meet at other times. If you’re interested in joining us but are not already part of the Network, please see the general Network page to sign up. To catch up on the previous session, on the focus on judgement, please see this post.

Here are some brief details, stimulus questions and suggested reading for this session. The video of the talk and initial questions will also be posted here after the meeting.

Focus on error

The focus on error refers to the ways that we can be more confident in judging errors than we can in finding completely correct positive values. At a later time when we’re more aware, we can judge that we made a mistake in the past by limiting or absolutising our judgement. Positive values, on the other hand, are very subject to confirmation bias, where we get attached to one sort of positive ideal and perhaps have difficulty recognising alternatives.

Most political, religious, or other ideologies rely on appealing to a positive value (e.g. Enlightenment, God, Justice, Freedom), which is then in danger of justifying inflexible beliefs. The Middle Way, however focuses on how we judge rather than what we judge, whatever the values we are applying. The values we favour may well be good ones to apply to a particular situation, but our judgements about how to apply them will be less adequate if we’re not also aware of the dangers of interpreting them in fixed ways.

Stimulus questions These can be used in the group discussions if you wish.

1. Can you identify specific errors in your past experience, in the sense of judgements you have made that you now recognise were based on over-narrow assumptions?
2. What sorts of positive ideals do you find most inspiring?
3. In what ways could the positive ideals that you find inspiring be interpreted narrowly and thus be less adequate? What other values might they come into conflict with, that you might need to recognise?

Suggested further reading/ listening

Migglism chapter 3 (4 in e-book), first section, ‘Avoiding metaphysics’

MWS Podcast 125: Arie Kruglanski on close-mindedness and the Middle Way (there is also a discussion in the comments between Kruglanski and me)

Middle Way Philosophy 1, 4.g. ‘Objectivity, adaptivity and evolution’

The Buddha’s Middle Way 7.e ‘Alternative Sources of the Middle Way: Scientific Falsificationism’

The next main meeting of the Middle Way Network will be on Sun 14th June at 7pm UK time on Zoom. There there’ll be a short talk on the focus on judgement as our third criterion for the Middle Way, followed by questions and discussion in regionalised breakout groups. Some other regionalised groups will meet at other times. If you’re interested in joining us but are not already part of the Network, please see the general Network page to sign up. To catch up on the previous session, on the aspiration to universality, please see this post.

Here are some brief details, stimulus questions and suggested reading for this session. The video of the talk and initial questions will also be posted here after the meeting.

Focus on judgement

‘Judgement’ refers to all the different responses we have to the world at successive moments. These can be very large (your career) or small (which thing to eat first on your plate). They involve choices, but also interpretations. They are just as much ’emotional’ responses as ‘cognitive’ ones, and they are not necessarily ‘judgemental’.

Being aware of these judgements and changing them is the basis of Middle Way practice. The focus on judgement is a central part of its practicality, and contrasts with making claims about the universe – ones that we do not need to make to improve our judgement. The focus on judgement distinguishes a Middle Way approach from many other approaches, which rely on shortcuts or absolutisations that distract us and don’t actually improve our judgement. These shortcuts in belief should not be confused with sources of inspiration.

Stimulus questions. These can be used in the group discussions if you wish.

1. Think of some recent judgements in your own experience – large or small. How did you make them? Are you satisfied with them?
2. What role, if any, did either practical or absolute beliefs play in your recent judgements?
3. How much do you generally focus on what is practically required to change your judgement on things, rather than distracting beliefs?

Suggested further reading

‘Judgement’ (webpage)

‘The Buddha’s Middle Way’: 1.h (Awakening: Meaning versus belief) and 4.b (The ontological obsession)

On 17th May at 7pm UK time will be our first full Network meeting over Zoom, consisting of a short stimulus talk followed by questions and regionalised breakout groups. About 40 people have already signed up for the Network, and if you want to know more, or to sign up, please see our Network events page.

Here are some brief details, stimulus questions and suggested reading for this session. The video of the talk and initial questions will also be posted here after the meeting.

Practicality

The Middle Way approach is defined by its practicality as a central value, but what does practicality mean? Robert M Ellis will suggest that our division between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ is leaky. Some ‘theory’ is actually very practical, and some is not. The goals we have in our practical efforts, and how far ahead they are is also crucial. It will be suggested that Middle Way practicality is a matter of intermediate goals: neither so far ahead that they are merely abstract, nor so close that they don’t take enough into account.

Stimulus questions: these can be used in the group discussions if you wish

1. Do you have any resistance to theory? What issues does it raise for you?
2. What sorts of theories do you tend to refer to to justify your judgements (for instance, think about your professional life, your politics, or your personal relationships)? Are they practical theories?
3. Do you tend to focus on near, intermediate, or final goals?
4. How well do your ways of thinking about your goals tend to help you or hinder you, when seen from a wider perspective?

Suggested further reading

Introduction to Middle Way Practice (web page)

‘Migglism’ chapter 4: Practical Application (especially first subsection) – chapter 3 in ebook version

‘Middle Way Philosophy’ 1.3.e: Pragmatism and the Feedback Loop (more challenging)