Diagnose The Planet!

Tue Jun 19 12:39:20 CDT 2007

Anath and Adam

I may have met you a couple of times, Anath, around twenty years ago at
annual meetings. What you've written here has tremendous depth.

What I've suggested to the psychodrama community is a diagnosis of the
planet: The Sociatry Project. What I am seeing as I look at it is several
primary assumptions written in cynacism. My problem with that is probably
task oriented problem solving as a life method. Life is not a series of
problems to be solved. It can't be.

What is life, then? I see life as an opportunity for joy. I like the idea of
postive psychology. (You remember Zerka's joke "What is an optimist?") That
doesn't mean living with closed eyes at all. Awareness is essential but not
the center of life. Having said that, consciousness (and not just, perhaps a
little too often said, raising of consciousness) is an essential.

The question (other than answering the meaning of life in a single email
(!), is What IS Consciousness? Do we know? If we do, and you may well be
right, therein is the diagnosis of the planet and, perhaps the treatment of
the whole of humankind as well.

*"We have to abandon the arrogant belief that the world is merely a puzzle
to be solved, a machine with instructions for use waiting to be discovered,
a body of information to be fed into a computer in the hope that, sooner or
later, it will spit out a universal solution." *

Vaclav Havel (1992), "The End of the Modern Era"
http://stanleykrippner.com/papers/Postmodernity.html

Oh, if you follow the URL, you might like (a lot) what Stanley has to say.

>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:53:28 +0000
> From: "thana ag" <anathga at hotmail.com>
> Subject: RE: Sociatric Diagnosis
> To: adam at blatner.com
> Cc: list at grouptalkweb.org
> Message-ID: <BAY106-F38D00A1221334EB223EF6DBB130 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>
>
> Hi Adam,
> Perhaps one slogan could be useful: H/she who raises their own
> consciousnes,and that of one other ----raises overall consciousness.
> To  emphasise the value  of individual  contribution,responsibility..each
> person a therapeutic agent to another...each person's contribution ,no
> matter how small ---counts.
> Multitudes are made of individuals.
> warmly,
> anath

>From: "Adam Blatner" <adam at blatner.com>
> >Reply-To: Adam Blatner <adam at blatner.com>
> >To: "Edward Schreiber" <edwschreiber at earthlink.net>
> >CC: list at grouptalkweb.org
> >Subject: Sociatric Diagnosis
> >Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 22:52:55 -0500
> >
> >Responding to Ed Schreiber's comments on Who Shall Survive, my
> provisional
> >"diagnosis" of
> >much of the present socio-political situation, global warming, etc., is
> as
> >follows:
> >
> >    A major cause is a widespread limitation of consciousness. The key
> >dynamic, in addition
> >to pervasive ignorance---simply not knowing information---is based on a
> >principle I think
> >is more pervasive and key to human psychology than anything Freud
> >suggested: People tend
> >to avoid thinking, and they avoid thinking about things that for them are
> >difficult to
> >think about, too complex, too much of a mind-stretch.
> >      Corollaries:
> >          1. If one makes it easier to think about things, there will be
> a
> >little progress.
> >                 a. It's possible to include as a more prominent item in
> >the school
> >curriculum a variety of subjects that relate to critical thinking, such
> as
> >basic
> >semantics, introduction to rhetorical and logical fallacies (the key to
> >understanding
> >propaganda and advertising), etc.
> >                  b. It's possible, though difficult---because teachers
> >need to be taught
> >this, also, and then supported in their teaching it--- to make this kind
> of
> >critical
> >thinking a much greater priority.
> >                          (1) Reinforcement by granting bonuses, smaller
> >classrooms, more
> >role playing and experiential education, learning by doing, praise for
> >creativity, making
> >creativity a value, etc.
> >                  c. Promote this idea also on public television, other
> >media. Make it an
> >ethical demand.
> >                          (critique mainstream media for under-valuing it
> >and continuing
> >its appeal to more primal emotions through simplistic slogans, etc.)
> >critique those who
> >refuse to critique.
> >
> >        2. Promote a general norm and value for thinking, rather than for
> >pseudo-thinking
> >(i.e., mouthing platitudes, slogans, going along with general orthodoxy,
> >etc.) Creativity
> >is an important associated value.
> >
> >          3. Recognize the prevalence of the exercise of a wide range of
> >consciousness-limiting temptations, the operations of "defense
> mechanisms,"
> >rationalization, isolation of affect, distraction, etc., operating at all
> >levels---personal, inter-personal, group dynamic and cultural, all
> >colluding to avoid
> >thinking about what's difficult to think about.
> >               a. Distraction, thinking about easier things to think
> about,
> >spectator
> >sports, celebrities, packaged scandal, etc.,  offers relief from the pain
> >of encountering
> >actual challenges by giving the illusion of being involved and alive.
> >
> >        4. Recognize that much of sociometry, role reversal, etc.,
> requires
> >first a
> >motivation to stretch one's mind, to become more conscious, yet for many
> >people---including many who seem educated, college students, etc.---this
> >goal has not yet
> >been internalized with a significant degree of value. There are many ways
> >to give oneself
> >the illusion of being more conscious while not really doing so, as noted
> >above. (For
> >example, in most college classrooms, just getting by, pleasing the
> teacher,
> >getting the
> >grade, figuring out how to cheat, thinking about the next party or date,
> >etc., may be more
> >prevalent than any sincere desire to really understand in depth,
> penetrate
> >the superficial
> >cliches of the subject, wonder beyond what might be in the text, etc.
> >
> >      I may seem cynical, but that would imply giving up. Rather, I'm
> wary,
> >noting the
> >figurative size and steepness of the mountain of complacency,
> indifference,
> >self-justification, prejudice, in-group collusion, subtle addictions,
> fear
> >of shame (which
> >is often associated with explicitly noticing how little one knows),
> >discomfort with
> >ambiguity, sense of entitlement to simplistic answers, and so forth.
> >
> >      In short, I'm advocating a general raising of consciousness, and
> >doing what I can to
> >put the lever where I think it might do the most good. This location is
> >quite arguable, I
> >realize. My bet is more in the realm of education, applying it also to
> >religious
> >education.
> >          (Reading Ken Wilber's book, Integral Spirituality (2006), I'm
> >intrigued with his
> >recent suggestion that we may have to accept the pervasiveness of
> religion
> >and recognize
> >that religions can function as a "conveyor belt" from more immature to
> more
> >enlightened
> >forms of "spiritual intelligence." It will not help to simply trash
> >religion. Of course,
> >more immature forms of religion may be critiqued, but if one
> >overgeneralizes, then the
> >more subtle but incredibly important values of mature or enlightened
> forms
> >of religion
> >become neglected. It's all needed.)
> >
> >     So, let's teach emotional skills, self-awareness, communications,
> >problem-solving,
> >using experiential modes of education, and support those groups that are
> >trying to do it.
> >I'm trying to do this in my writing, spreading the word, speaking at
> >conferences. There is
> >a place for Moreno's contributions in all this.
> >
> >       Warmly, Adam
> >
> >
> >
> >Grouptalk mailing list
> >List at grouptalkweb.org
> >http://grouptalkweb.org/mailman/listinfo/list_grouptalkweb.org
>
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> End of List Digest, Vol 12, Issue 22
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