Asking Better Questions with Robert Fuller, Ph.D.

Hosted by: Justine Willis Toms

From traveling across Russia on the Tran-Siberian railroad to the “Golden Rule” in religion, Fuller takes us on a wide and deep adventure, always returning to the idea that learning to ask better questions is one of the keys to truly improving our lives and improving society. In Fuller’s varied career from serving as a college president and consultant to Presidents he always comes back to the fundamental practice of striving to ask better questions. Even in the early days when we first met Bob, he was asking the question of what would make a better game than war. He continues to be ever curious and says, “Once you’ve been able to formulate a question, you’re a lot closer to the answer than you might think. The really hard work is in coming up with the question. . . We’re trained to suppress our own questions because, in this society, it’s of value to be sure of yourself, so we don’t want to admit we have questions or that we’re questioning something fundamental about the culture or ourselves. But if you can, in quiet moments, listen to the nagging doubts that usually are borne home by what I call the witness.” He reminds us that this “witness”, this inner voice, doesn’t yell but whispers. This quiet knowing is a truth teller and will help us get closer to speaking our questions out loud.  This dialogue will also include thoughts on how the dignitarian movement can lead to personal peace as well as world peace. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms).

BIO:

Robert Fuller, Ph.D. is a physicist, former president of Oberlin College, and leader of the dignity movement to overcome rankism. He has consulted with Indira Gandhi, met with Jimmy Carter regarding the President’s Commission on World Hunger, worked in the USSR to defuse the Cold War, and keynoted a Dignity for Allconference hosted by the President of Bangladesh.  Fuller co-authored the text, Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics. His books on dignity and rankism include Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank (New Society Publishers 2003)  He co-authored with Pamela A. Gerloff, Dignity for All: How to Create a World without Rankism (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2008), Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship? (e-book, Smashwords 2012), and the novel The Rowan Tree (Robert W. Fuller 2013). To learn more about the work of Robert Fuller go to www.robertworksfuller.com.

Topics Explored in this Dialogue:

• How citizen diplomacy helped end the “cold war”
• What is the dignitarian movement and how will it help form a new form of governance
• How religion can be a great ally of change
• Why the “Golden Rule” is a universal concept in all the world’s religions
• How deep listening can lead to survival of truth
• How do we learn to ask better questions
• Why the whole “somebody” and “nobody” game is on its last legs

Program Number: 3464

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