Reflections on 21st Century Earth

My classroom is out there, by the lagoon. There is always so much to learn. When I look at the incomprehensible beauty of the scenery, I try to understand, not only with my intellect, but with my whole being. The blue mountains with snow caps, the sky with soft feathery clouds, the forests, the gardens, the lake, the fountain, the swans, seagulls, mallards, geese, pigeons, raccoons, and squirrels all seem to be teaching me something, so very beautiful, lively and grand, more than anything I have learned from books, from society.

I want to find out what screwed up the lovely and lively children the majority of adults once were. What in society, in education, in employment replaced their beauty with ugliness, depleted their spirit, made them mean and coarse? If we can find these things, can we change them? Can each person develop from a lovely and lively baby to a lovely and lively adult? Why not? Is society anti-human by nature? Does growing up have to be the death of the spirit? Why?

We are really still in a primitive stage, despite all our technologies and sciences. Despite the complexity of all the derivatives, we are basically still animals living a life of feeding and breeding. Everything else is just decoration.

The human side of us is still far from developed. Most people do not live a life of the mind. Most people cannot appreciate the finest poetry and music. Most people work for pay, not passion. Their jobs often bring neither satisfaction nor growth. Many of them blind their conscience to be able to do their job. Many people do not have the urge to live life in an honorable way. Look at all the spammers, and even worse, scammers.

About 60 years ago, Carl Rogers, one of the most influential psychologists of the 20^th century, gave a presentation at a conference organized by Harvard University. The conference members were experienced, sophisticated teachers. He had been invited to give a talk on “Classroom Approaches to Influencing Human Behavior.”

Although he was allotted two hours, his presentation was short. It was simply a few points that expressed some of his deepest views on education. Inspired by Kierkegaard, whose honesty he had always admired, he wrote his points out as honestly as he could and presented them in his usual modest way. Then he opened the floor for discussion.

What happened afterwards was not what he had expected. He was besieged by a storm of emotions, with attacks coming from every quarter. His educator colleagues demanded he confirm that he did not mean what he said. Occasionally, there was a voice of agreement from a teacher who had not dared to utter such thoughts.

Many participants lost sleep that night. Although Rogers made no attempt to have his statement published, it was widely duplicated by members of the conference. A few years later, two journals obtained his permission to publish it.

So what was all the furor about? What did he say?

The main points are:

1. Nothing significant can be taught.
2. The only learning which significantly influences behavior is self-discovered, self-appropriated learning.
3. Such self-discovered learning cannot be directly communicated to another.
4. When teaching does happen, the results are detrimental. It seems to cause the individual to distrust his own experience, and to stifle significant learning.

Rogers affirmed that many consequences can be implied from these points. For instance, we would do away with

a) Teaching. People would get together if they wished to learn.

b) Examinations. They measure only the inconsequential type of learning.

c) Grades and credits.

d) Degrees as a measure of competence.

e) The exposition of conclusions, for we would realize that no one learns significantly from conclusions.

The complete list of points can be found in Personal Thoughts on Teaching and Learning (1952) , included in his book, On Becoming a Person (1961), which is very valuable reading.

This book also includes an illustrative example of his oddly effective “teaching” as experienced by a participant: Carl R. Rogers and Non-Directive Teaching, by Samuel Tenenbaum, Ph.D. The four-week course described by Tenenbaum took place in the summer of 1958 at Brandeis University. The students were a diverse group of teachers, doctoral candidates in psychology, counselors, psychologists, priests (one from a foreign country). Whoever wishes to “teach” effectively and whoever wishes to take control of his/her own learning should read Tenenbaum’s record. It is eye-opening that real learning can be accomplished in such an awkward way, while the teacher refuses to take on his traditional role and is willing to take blows.

If one cannot think well, then one cannot read well. This explains why so many well-read people get no wisdom out of their reading. The quantity of books read and the number of degrees attained do not count. It is better to read fewer books well. It is better to be less educated but equipped with a few well-digested fundamental truths verified by experience. A grasp of the natural laws is much more important than “the wordy ignorance that is often called knowledge” (George Eliot: Middlemarch, Lydgate’s moment of vocation), much more important than cunning and so-called worldly wisdom.

Preferably, thinking should precede reading. Only when the questions have been generated and have been boiling in the mind can learning happen. For a person whose brain has never exercised the thinking process on real problems encountered, whose heart cares about nothing and nobody, books can add no value. If a book does not address your own set of puzzles and dilemmas, pains and longings, I say drop it. You can always come back to it when you have thought about the questions it addresses. Then it will speak to you, if it is a great book. You can critique it, absorb the nutrition you need, and obtain the vocabulary to express your thoughts.

I often think about how wise it was of Hermann Hesse to call the contemporary academic enterprise “the Glass Bead Game,” one that is intellectually satisfying  but has nothing to do with the creative force. Such endeavor centers on the interpretation, study, research, and the manipulation of the intricate structure of its subjects, yet exists only in the ashes of past great creation. The vigor is wasted on argument instead of advancement, on trivial details instead of significance.

Mortimer Adler, in his bestseller How to Read a Book, proposes four levels of reading: elementary, inspectional, analytical, and the highest: syntopical. I’d like to propose yet another, even higher level: applicational reading. By this I mean that you apply what you are reading to at least one troubling case currently in your life. Thus, you follow the author through his discourse, all the while critically relating the content to your situation, smiling or frowning, nodding or shaking your head, hesitating, questioning, conversing, and debating. If you cannot do this, you should put aside this book, at least for now. Or, if it belongs to the Great Books list, give it a quick once-over at best.

When there is nothing that appeals to a person below the head, no change will happen. In this case, do not read; instead, live. Go out into the world, experience nature and people. Your real university lies there. This is what Gorky calls his university in his autobiography. All learning should be visceral. I disagree with the academics. I disagree with the dispassionate and indifferent.

The most pressing danger, for this human race and for each individual, is the lack of ability to understand, respect, pursue, and defend liberty.

On the individual level, this deficiency leads to voluntary dehumanization of oneself, to a life that is either mechanical or animalistic, to surrender of freedom and growth, to oppression on others in domestic or public life, to willing or acquiescent cooperation with crimes committed to fellow human beings.

The crimes an individual participates in can be completely lawful, such as killing civilians of another country, manufacturing a drug that research has proven to have detrimental side effects, producing food with legal but harmful ingredients to lower cost and improve flavor, or issuing financial statements in compliance with the letter of accounting standards but meant to deceive the public. These crimes are common practice today, performed by large groups of highly educated and qualified professionals.

Judging from such reality, schools have failed us on humanity, certifying professional bodies have failed us on ethics, laws have failed us on justice. The only protection we have is the few persons who refuse to participate in crime, who choose to act on their understanding of human rights. These are the protectors of liberty, for whom the punishment is severe, without whom mankind would be extinct.

On the largest scale, this deficiency has led to nearly all catastrophes to the human race, including but not limited to genocide, world wars, concentration camps, man-made famine, and epidemics. In each of these incidents, there have been either none or not enough qualified soldiers to defend mankind.

It is owing to those who understood liberty and fought for it that each of us lives to see the sunlight of this day and enjoys the rights we take for granted.

The future, whether it will be an era of hope and freedom or a new age of darkness, depends on the current and future soldiers of liberty.

For humanity as a whole, the problem is: how can we have enough soldiers of liberty to prevent future catastrophes? Unless the majority of the population has been orientated with the fundamentals of liberty, a livable future cannot be guaranteed. Relying on an enlightened few to defend mankind has proven to be risky business. Adolf Hitler knew this. He said: “The great masses of the people in the very bottom of their hearts tend to be corrupted rather than consciously and purposely evil…therefore, in view of the primitive simplicity of their minds, they more easily fall a victim to a big lie than to a little one…” The masses must be enlightened and truly educated in the human sense. The majority must become qualified fighters for liberty. Otherwise, we are not safe.

On the individual level, the question is: how can we enlighten ourselves, so we live our lives free from unjust limitations, aware of and resistant to mental manipulation, propaganda, brainwashing, and indoctrination that surround us every day and everywhere?

Autocratic or democratic, a system—be it a mechanism, hierarchy, organization, war machine, or society—tends to dehumanize, explicitly or implicitly, to different extents. It runs more smoothly on standardized, obedient parts, not on unique individuals with thoughts and edges. But more smoothly to what end?

If we agree that the ultimate end of every honorable human endeavor is the prosperity and freedom for all, then to achieve liberty by any means of depriving liberty cannot be justified as logical. However, the fallacy prevails.

A system dislikes a component that questions the purpose of the establishment. There are vested interests in any system, hence the inertia is strong and personalized. Therefore, such unwelcome components must be punished and silenced, if they cannot be made identical with the “good ones”.

Since punishment and censorship are only after the fact, it is considered much better to preclude the making of troublesome free-thinkers. As proactive methods, mass media and schools are charged with the task of making standardized and obedient citizens. School accomplishes this task by rote learning, by standardized tests, mass media by endless dumb entertainments, by constant feeds of sensational news, by luring insatiable consumers with exaggerated advertising. The underlying, inherent message is: Don’t think.

Culture helps by providing conventional opinions. Religion assists by diverting attention to a future state. Employment implements control by offering or denying livelihood. Government presents patriotism. Community imposes peer pressure.

From birth to death, rewards and punishments—mental, emotional, physical, but mostly material—mold our psyche, induce fear, determine behavior, condition the mind, shrink the soul. As long as you live, you are boxed; a number represents you to the system.

As result, a small life is satisfactory, inhuman conditions are acceptable. Society runs smoothly, fulfilling nothing but the basic mission: reproduction. The advance is only in technology, not in real evolution. In fact, it is quite the opposite: the degeneration in mind and body is alarming.

You have to be very attentive to personal conscience and capable of independent thinking to be able to see through the lies and bullying we receive every day, from TV and radio, from school, from peers, from managers, from government. The Collective means to assimilate you, make you not a human, but a tool. Is resistance futile?

We think not. The time has become too dangerous for pessimism. It is your life as a human that is at stake. Moreover, it is the future of human beings that depends on you.

There is no cause nobler than this, and no need more urgent.

Therefore we are calling on you, freedom lovers, come here, get the training, face life with an equipped mind, defend liberty on small and large scales wherever you are, enlighten the stupefied, encourage the frightened, promote independent thinking, fight for a future in which life is safe, dignity is respected, and individuality can flourish.

Real learning happens on the subconscious level, causing real changes. This is the paradox: we must verbalize to communicate knowledge, yet real thinking happens in a non-verbal way.

We invented languages, written and spoken, to convey messages, to preserve knowledge. The mastery of a language is considered a valuable skill, and indeed is. A newly learnt language opens up a new world.

Language conveys yet distorts the message. During the transmission, the real power of the original message is lost. For example, at first, the founder of a religion lives his belief with the entirety of his life, the words spoken are from the bottom of his heart. From him to his disciples, the message loses some of its original living power, personality, passion, and depth. Afterwards, the next generation of followers does not even have the luxury of exposure to the master’s silent direct influence, to correct any misinterpretation. On and on the doctrine is diluted and distorted. By the time a belief is institutionalized, doctrine has become dogma, spark has left the ashes. 

However we have not found a better way of communicating, and must try again with the only tool we have, again and again, in any creative way we can imagine, in all literatures, in all conferences, in all presentations, in all documents.

Yes, we have also sounds and colors and shapes and touch and movements; therefore we invented music, painting, sculpture, dance, etc. But the majority of human messages are still carried by words.

There are very diluted messages, or pure junk. There are also forms of condensed wisdom. Great books are the latter. Though our interpretation is different from one another, or even from each read, some valuable messages get across. We are therefore nourished and grow in the rich soil cultivated by generations of our ancestors, not the barren environment called daily life we are thrown into. Whether to take this inheritance or not is up to us. There is no obligation.

To be able to live a good life in the full human sense, one’s given default setting is not enough. If it were, education and thought and action would not be necessary. Going with the flow is not an option. To be able to exercise consciousness and rationality and choice, there must be a reflective element in one’s life. A life that does not allow time and energy to think will be a life of ignorance and passive reaction. The command “slow down” has the beginning of wisdom in it. Too bad most lives do not have this element. People do not reflect, therefore they never learn the lessons hidden in life’s pains and frustrations.

One must reflect or remain at the psychical state of a 3-year-old, which is common in adults and even elders. They never mature or blossom in the true human sense. Their beauty is external, if it ever exists, given by nature and gone with youth. They contribute nothing to the human heritage other than their reproduction, which they usually fulfill instinctively and irresponsibly. 

The default life is not a good one. We live in a society defective in many ways. Without wakeful individuals, it will not be able to correct itself. Unthinking herds contribute to its evil. If one cannot command him/herself, he or she will have to obey society, which makes one a part of a machine, inconsequential, unimportant, not a human being that is unique and full of its own spirit.

An unexamined life is not worth living. But an examined life may still be unworthy of living. There must also be a creative element, a learning element (which I would like to think is supplemental and subservient to the creative element and without exception comes with it), and a meaningful element, through which an individual’s learning and creative action extend to others, and connect to the whole universe.

These, I think, are the conditions of having a good life. Reflection must come first and life must be examined, once the individual has gained independence from his family of origin in both mentality and financial means. This reflection must also be done continuously, as life more often than not poses unexpected and unwanted lessons to us. Paying attention is the key. Pretending to be dumb will make one truly dumb.

My first encounter with Western culture struck me with its central theme of “fun”. The frequency with which this word is used in common language amazes me. Fun loving and fun seeking seem to comprise the core of this culture’s mentality. Fun is the center, the purpose, the praised achievement, the pride. “It is so much fun” is the highest compliment to the merit of anything. “He/she is so funny” is the highest compliment to a personality. Every effort should be for fun. Everything you do should be fun. Work is frowned upon among adults and early retirement is most people’s dream, much like learning is frowned upon among the young and indulgence is encouraged by their peers.

Fun is more the emphasis of Canadian characteristics than of other western nations. I remember my first public speaking course. When everyone was asked to pick a topic they were passionate about and give a talk on it, the three Canadians by birth each picked a hobby of their own such as kayaking, while I talked about the education of Summerhill, and a black student talked about the darkness of his Africa.

Canadians are concerned with how much pleasure they can derive from this limited life span. Their dreamy expressions when talking about traveling, camping, skating, rollerblading, skiing, hockey, snow-shoeing, birdwatching, whale-watching, sailing, surfing, rock-climbing, vacations, road trips, a show, a sports game, or an entertaining novel or movie confirms to me a hundred times a day what is considered the highest value in this culture: life enjoyment and personal entertainment. Anything deeper and heavier is not their favorite topic. Their planning revolves around evenings, vacations, retirement. For them, real life lies in fun activities; everything else is the price to pay for these fun activities and considered a necessary evil, such as work and chores. For all the drudgeries they endure at work and in life, they demand immediate pleasures for compensation. When they get such pleasures through whatever ways humans have invented, they consider themselves satisfied.

This inability to look beyond, or rather, the ability to not look beyond, never ceases to amaze me. Even if they don’t read history, they must know what is happening in other parts of the world. And even in Canada there is still much social injustice and absurdity.

The elevators in my apartment building have a monitor in each of them, showing commercials, movie trailers, daily tips, and trivial facts. A repeated tip for cleaning a dog’s tear stain almost drove me crazy. When there are people suffering from starvation or slaughter somewhere else on this tiny planet, it seems to me almost a crime to be concerned with your dog’s tear stain.

The unthinking crowd comprises the masses. They are the back and the bottom of this world: brainless, mindless, indifferent, driven by lower desires. You may try to yell, to kick, but they have not the ear to listen, and the skin is as thick as an elephant’s. You shall despair, if you want to make a difference in this soulless village.

Both media and education are dumbed down for the masses, to get market share. This continual dumbing down results in an even dumber next generation. The vicious circle goes on.

Canada’s short and peaceful history may be the root of this indifferent and self-content attitude. Lack of suffering makes a person and even a nation shallow and unsympathetic. Secondly, the rich natural resources and sparse population may be the reason for the light-heartedness. And finally, the poor and dependent economy contributes to the absence of ambition.

What I see is a nation willingly surrendering itself to mindless pleasures and nothing beyond. It is a nation that cannot produce a leader who can safely direct it to a future of choice. It surrenders its destiny to fate, to any unexpected turn of history. Such a nation consists of individuals who do not look beyond their life span and their immediate environment. Pleasure is both the means and the ends. Don’t talk about anything beyond, or they will hate you and call you preachy. It is a popular understanding that most people prefer to talk about anything but the meaning of life.

There is some merit in this culture. Over the years I have been partially assimilated into it. I have learned to appreciate its good cheer, its love of living. I have adopted its life-enjoying attitude. It is an antidote to the fun-denying, life-denying culture I came from. It is here, in this beautiful landscape, among these friendly people, that for the first time my life has become enjoyable.

However, the deepest part of me will never be assimilated. To divert me from a purposeful life is nearly impossible. After much suffering, I appreciate more yet value less the pleasures in life. They are not the essentials.

Those who never get to know the pleasure of intellectual growth are pitiful. Unfortunately, they are the majority. Most people live a stupefied, stagnant life. Their growth stops at an early age. The rest of their life is left to life’s abuse and authority’s manipulation.

Most people are not blessed with good experience and good company. Who knows what you will be born into? If you are born into a ghetto, then without any conscious self-directed effort by yourself, you will become part of the ghetto. If life treats you harshly and meanly, you will likely be harsh and mean to other people, not only because you are conditioned by hatred, but also because this is the only way you know. The best blessings of life, I think, are positive experiences and good people. Fair competition, recognition of merit and of good work, dedication and enthusiasm, care, vision, nobility, stamina, courage, sacrifice, gratitude, integrity, forgiveness, kindness, gentleness, generosity, honesty, friendship based on mutual admiration for each other’s character … these are the best things you can witness and experience in this life. These are the fertile soil for the blossoming of your soul. There are heaven and hell on this earth. You know which one you are in. Heaven or hell, it is the people around you. So too are you other people’s fateful environment. When you are aware of this fact, I urge you: make a conscious effort, and make a paradise of where you are. Show some devotion, bring out the good in you despite sarcasm, dare to be different, think of yourself as the rock others depend on, lead and serve, care, appreciate, encourage, act, make a difference. The rewards are endless. There is no greater joy than bringing hope and inspiration to the darkness in which you and others are imprisoned.

No matter how bad your environment is, you can rise above it. Heroes are born in all kinds of places. They are made heroes by their own conscious effort. There is no natural hero-making environment on this planet. Society is designed to produce mediocrity, if not failure.

A child is always curious and open-minded. He never tries to fit either himself or the external world into a set frame of reference. He adapts without making a fuss. He never assumes he has known enough, or has known better than what things really are.

A child is soft, relaxed, fluid. He completely trusts himself to be taken care of by this universe. He is vulnerable, so he does not stress himself out trying to protect himself from adversities. What happens, happens. Meanwhile, when he is alive, he is busy learning and enjoying life. There is no perceived limit, no planned goal, only endless joy. He is happy without having much. At the same time, he sets no limit to his perceived capability, his ongoing growth, and his wild dreams.

Adults have lost such an ability. We think we have learned enough, because we have spent the entire first half of our life learning about facts and rules and boundaries, and settled our mind and life based on and within them. When things go beyond our expected way, we adults, who have long stopped learning, become really confused and make a bigger fuss than necessary inside the self. Our minds and attitudes are too hardened. We panic when we cannot find an image to attach ourselves to. Every time we wake up from sleep, we figure out who we are first, then go on to go about life. We try to be something, something we can tell people and ourselves we are. We cannot not have a status, an identity. And we need various identities to define and confine ourselves from all sides and in all directions: I’m a professional, I’m a Christian, I’m a father of three, etc. Within such a framework we thought we were safe and solid, like a diamond. In fact, we are hard but vulnerable, easily broken, like a diamond.

A child is like a drop of water. A child endures failure and sickness and hardship without much ado, not holding back tears either. When all is passed, all is forgotten, and he faces life once again with no baggage or hindrance, still enthusiastic and intact. He merges into things he encounters, without restrictions or stereotypes, and comes out still purely himself, even more so with new self discovery.

The human beings who have reached real maturity are like children again. They have been able to acquire knowledge but have overcome its hindrance. They are eager to learn and are never held back by their social status. They may be the experts in their fields. When they speak, they speak with natural authority and people listen in awe. However, they are also the most curious. And they are happy, which is an indicator of ultimate wisdom.