preventing columbines
Dr. Elliot Aronson, in his book, "Nobody Left to Hate: Teaching Compassion After Columbine", and on his website www.jigsaw.org, presents a solution to the prevention of violence in our schools. As a social psychologist he was asked to come up with a plan to combat racial rioting in Texas public schools in 1971. He proposed a method of learning where classes were divided into small, racially mixed groups to work on lessons. The success of each group depended on how they worked together. After several weeks the initial resentment gave way to acceptance and prejudice declined, even in the schoolyard.
Dr. Aronson believes this "jigsaw classroom" method can also help stop the cliquish environments that are at the root of school violence today. When unpopular students are ostracised and humiliated it leads a second and third tier of cliques to tease them as a way of identifying with the most popular group. They know who they can get away with taunting. Those at the bottom of this pyramid are ridiculed by all. They may remain silent or contemplate suicide, but a handful retaliate violently against a random part of the student body. Since the majority is oppressing them they attack any member above them on the pyramid. The social structure of the school has made them outcasts that have become killers. They have shown us we need to change our school environments.
spirituality and politics
First let's be clear about the difference between religion and spirituality, one's individual spiritual condition. Spirituality is an inner state of one's being while religion is an external form, an organization following its own religious ideas. The Constitution provides for the separation of church and state, which means keeping religion out of our political institutions. In my opinion religion should influence politics only indirectly by affecting the moral and ethical principles of its followers, rather than telling them how to vote.
Spirituality, however, can never be kept out of politics. All our views, including our political views, are concrete, real-life expressions of our spiritual condition. Our political views are hard to change because this would have to come from inner changes, in our spiritual condition, which are difficult to accomplish. If we want to improve our personal politics we need first to improve our spirituality. Then we will be able to see and discuss political issues in a more enlightened way and vote for a better government.
The only real way to change the world is by changing yourself. By becoming more attuned to the voice of our conscience we can prevent our ego from dominating our thoughts. The ego wants to feel in control and insists that we are right in spite of any reasonable evidence to the contrary. It derides any intuitive messages from our conscience as fuzzy thinking and lives in fear of appearing inconsistent or losing face. It makes us judgmental toward others so that we can use them as scapegoats for our own hidden judgments about ourselves that we are in denial about. Only by connecting with our conscience can we hope to find a political position that's not dominated by the selfish concerns of our ego. Then we can go to a new perspective where others get equal treatment and rights to the privileges we vote to give ourselves. We begin to let go of our feelings of entitlement and the automatic assumption that we, and our institutions, are better than others. We find the golden rule has moved beyond our lips and into our hearts. We begin to lose our anxieties and to discover lasting inner peace and true happiness.Family values are an important element of our culture that can imbue our children with a sense of support and belonging. As they get older, however, they need to be able to assert their individuality and find their own identity as members of a larger community. As this happens, the family needs to let them have the freedom to go their own way. If the family is built on rigid rules and requires unquestioning obedience to its authority, then the young person requires a lot of courage and determination to establish the autonomy they need to become complete citizens.
Government is the only real defense the people have against the overwhelming power of big business and the very rich. These powers would like us to think that the federal government is our enemy so we'll vote to reduce it. They'd like to buy control of it through campaign contributions and lobbying perks. This is easier for them at the state level so they play up the importance of local and state control. They want tax reduction to further cripple government and also give them another financial benefit. The media are being taken over by huge conglomerates so as to influence our voting with slanted news and diluted infotainment. The public news media have been denied federal funds by congressional disemboweling of the National Endowment for the Arts, so now are forced to accept corporate ads, with the inevitable corporate influence that goes with the money.
Let's all try to keep connected to our consciences in our political discussions and be responsible to our spiritual side rather than to our ego-minds when we enter the voting booth. Voting is a serious and hard-won right for a citizen to play their part in choosing their country's destiny. Let's not reduce it to a game for our egos to play at. If we allow the powerful to control us through our egos the country will suffer the consequences. We will have to share in both the resulting ills and, if we are honest, in the responsibility for them. Let's take the high road with all its benefits for both the country and our own inner peace and the fulfillment of a new milennium's promise.
ted knerr, 10/24/00
to the editor, NY Times:
re: counting all the votes
We're all waiting to hear from any fair-minded Republican voters who want all the votes counted. The movie "Titanic" on TV this week reminds us how the privileged will lock those they consider inferior out of sight in steerage to die unheard from. Meanwhile the "Captains of the Universe" steer blindly into destruction for all. The ship of state breaks in half and goes down. When the ego is in charge it allows no fair thoughts to arise. It finds clever ways to justify itself.
ted knerr, 11/29/00
political arguments
In my case when feeling angry in political arguments with my family or friends I have learned the value of the argument in discovering my own buttons that are still available to be pushed. Republicans have become my gurus on the path toward enlightenment. When one becomes open to learning, there is a teacher behind every tree.
I've also benefited from understanding their points of view better and so making my own view clearer. I can step outside the box of mainstream bickering and try to introduce a wider perspective. By showing my respect and love I have some chance of connecting on a deeper level. I stop playing their ego game of transparently false arguments presented disingenuously as obvious facts. The ego has no shame in it's desperate campaign to remain in control of the mind and keep the soul's conscience in exile. When in doubt, brazen it out. The bigger the lie the more effective it is in stopping any serious attempts to clarify and resolve issues fairly. To the ego, fairness is for wimps. Those in it's trance don't even notice their own inconsistencies.
In going around this sham argument and becoming a supporter of their conscience, it becomes a win-win situation for both sides. Their ego won't accept this change, but it has now begun to be exposed for being the parasite on one's persona that it is. But it keeps whispering in their ear that they are superior, therefore right and therefore entitled.
ted knerr, 12/4/00
quotes from edmund burke, british philosopher and statesman, 1729 - 1797
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one ..."
thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents, 1770
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
thomas jefferson -
"Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: (1) Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. (2) Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depository of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist; and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves."
From a letter to Henry Lee, August 10, 1824.
Fear and distrust are the signs of the ego asserting itself. The soul expresses itself in feelings of love and humility, and identifies itself in all other souls. Thus the two parties are basically: (1) ego dominated and (2) soul dominated. Of course many individuals may be exceptions to this. We all deal with the daily struggle between ego and soul. But there are obviously wide differences in this struggle's outcome for different individuals, from one extreme to the other and every condition in between. To know where we stand in this continuum we need to ask: is my worldview based in fear, pride and distrust - or love, humility and identification with others? Only by answering this honestly can we begin to make progress in honoring the higher aspects of our persona.comments by ted knerr, 12/6/00
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