"Most educational practices consist of training the young to conform to authority and feed back the right answers to the questions asked"

That is the basis of the so-called educational reform. It is the old methods on steroids.

Well said -- education has become a way to nurture capitulation and mediocrity; training in the social pecking order; denial of one's inner connection to the universal. Committees of timid purveyors of conformity and mediocrity form committees to legislate, orchestrate, and hire others to do the same.

"No one would want to live in a chaotic society of adult two-year-olds all shouting and crying and singing at the top of their lungs whenever they felt like it!"

This is why I can't stomach AM talk-radio or cable "news" television.

I have trouble with the view expressed in the article.

As we grow, we become more able to see beyond our immediate emotional reactions and choose how we are going to react. That can have some negative effects, but it is essential to becoming an adult.

In addition, Children often have very negative and cruel immediate emotional reactions. So the governing of emotions can lead to a more kind reaction also.

I understand and appreacite the need for emotional spontaneity and authenticity also. Balancing spontaneity and self control is a major challenge of growing.

I wrote this several years ago, but the situation seems to have gone downhill ever since. Empathy and compassion are now weaknesses, to be treated with contempt.

Years ago, empathy used to be imbibed with mother’s milk. If you did something thoughtless or inconsiderate, mom or dad said, “How do you think that made them feel?” or “How would you feel if someone said (or did) that to you?”

Eventually, you learned to reflect upon the beliefs, customs and feelings of other people, not only in foreign countries, but in other areas of your own. If you were really lucky, your folks or your buddy’s folks subscribed to National Geographic magazine. After you got over your pre-adolescent sniggering over the occasional naked breast, you began to realize how diverse and rich in customs our beautiful world was. Now, with the advent of home entertainment centers and global satellite links, the world has shrunk to the size of our living room. With this benefit, we should be far beyond provincialism and jingoism, but unfortunately our current obsession with the “bottom line” seems to have blunted many of our human sensibilities. Empathy seems to have faded. The ability to put yourself in another’s place is now looked upon as a weakness. This extends not just to foreign nations and customs, but to our own.

The jobless and homeless in this nation, whose numbers are legion, are not freeloading parasites. They are, for the most part, people whose living has vanished as company after company has closed plants and “outsourced” the work to countries where people work for a few dollars per day, then move them even further when they find a place that accepts pennies per day, or perhaps just a bowl of rice. These companies, or their managing staff, look upon every dollar spent on employee retirement funding, medical plans, or workplace safety, as money wasted; money which could go into their pockets or into the acquisition of yet another company which can be raided and dismantled for profit.

To these people, the workers they displace are not people, they are merely ciphers. There is no empathy, they do not put themselves in the place of those desperate men and women trying to feed, clothe and house their families.

Albert Pike, writing for Freemasons in the nineteenth century said, “Teach the employed to be honest, punctual and faithful as well as respectful and obedient to all proper orders: but also teach the employer that every man or woman who desires to work, has a right to have work to do; and that they, and those who from sickness or feebleness, loss of limb or bodily vigor, old age or infancy, are not able to work, have a right to be fed, clothed, and sheltered from the inclement elements: that he commits an awful sin against Masonry and in the sight of God, if he closes his workshops or factories, or ceases to work his mines, when they do not yield him what he regards as sufficient profit, and so dismisses his workmen and workwomen to starve; or when he reduces the wages of man or woman to so low a standard that they and their families cannot be clothed and fed and comfortably housed; or by overwork must give him their blood and life in exchange for the pittance of their wages: and that his duty as a Mason and Brother peremptorily requires him to continue to employ those who else will be pinched with hunger and cold, or resort to theft and vice: and to pay them fair wages, though it may reduce or annul his profits or even eat into his capital; for God hath but loaned him this wealth and made him His almoner and agent to invest it.”

When Pike wrote this, the industry of the United States, and that of other industrialized nations, was controlled by the robber barons, or “Captains of Industry,” as they preferred to be called. To get an idea of the condition of the working class, one should read some of Dickens’ novels, set in the slums of industrialized England.

Many writers, including Dickens, brought enlightened views as to the dignity of man, as our Constitution had put forth the rights of man. The great depression of the 1930's brought forth Franklin D. Roosevelt, who instituted programs to provide jobs, and to see that none should be left to starve after their working years had ended. World War II left the world with hope, as the United States set out to help rebuild a ravaged planet. The United Nations was established so that all nations, all peoples, would have a forum to solve disputes without resort to war and violence; to promote programs to end famine, ignorance and poverty. To a degree, this worked. It was not perfect, but at least it provided a forum for understanding. People had empathy. They could put themselves in other’s places and understand and feel their problems. Slowly, we were taking steps forward.

(part 2 follows)

Part 2

Suddenly, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, which should have been a time of hope, we suddenly reverted to the days of the robber barons. Greed and expediency outweighed every other value. Laws and treaties which had given hope to the world were unilaterally discarded. The wealthy were given breaks beyond their wildest dreams. We suddenly became the power which, with overwhelming military force, could stand astride the globe, dictating what other nations must do, making war upon those that did not kowtow to the new power.

Whatever happened to empathy? How did the world suddenly become inhabited by good, red-blooded Americans and a bunch of gooks, slopes, ragheads, hadjis and any other pejorative which makes them seem less than human? How did the world suddenly become us and them? How is it that no one’s beliefs and concerns have validity except ours? How has it come about that the world is now divided between us, our few allies, and a world of terrorists?

Islam is not a religion of terror. It is a kind and loving religion, drawing its influence and origin from the time of Abraham. It regards the religions of Israel and Christianity as also being, “People of the Book.” Unfortunately, it has its fanatical adherents, just as we do, but in the main, the Muslim peoples are no different than us. All they ask of us, of the world, is the chance to live in peace, to raise their families and provide food, clothing and shelter for them. To educate them and teach them to live in peace when their generation matures. These are hard lessons to teach in the midst of death, starvation, war and killing. When this is all you know, you lose your ability to have empathy and put yourself in another’s place. You then grow to learn that there is you and the enemy, and you kill the enemy. If you have no hope, then life becomes cheap and it is easy to sacrifice it; to strap a bomb on your body and walk into a building full of humans, who are no longer humans, but the enemy, and push the button.

Somehow, we must take hold of our destiny and our lives and return to a path of peace and construction. War, greed and destruction is not working. A good start would be to once again learn the skill of empathy, and learn again to put ourselves in another’s place. As we would not be treated, so should we not treat others. Come to think of it, isn’t that covered in the Golden Rule?

Beautifully written, Jennifer! I am that same type of little girl. I've had arguments with my boyfriend about this very thing. Here in North Florida, every time I see a road crew, it seems they're there to kiill something. Instead of the sign "Men Working," 90% of the time the sign could read "Men Killing." When I've shown my upset for the same type of unnecessary killing of trees, ESPECIALLY amid the evidence of global warming, he tells me "There are plenty of trees." His perception is atomic, on the immediate level of what's before him, whereas mine is universal. Pulsing inside my awareness is the miles and miles of lush green tract cleared, cut, or burned (like so much pillage and plunder, all fitting the ethos of Mars rules) across this earth. The swaths of the Amazon taken from this earth, the jungles of Vietnam struggling with Agent Orange residue, etc.

I regard the forests as Earth Mother's pubic hair... and all this shaving away so that men, who entirely lack respect for the Great Mother, and how she bequeathes so much to them in the way of endless resources (like so many Mothers, in so many lands, taken for granted by those who swear exclusive oaths to God the father), step into her sacred recesses with hard boots kicking. Endlessly shoveling away at her essence, they leave behind countless poisons. And this is done without regard. Done as the fracking, the mountain top blasting, the deep sea oil plunging, etc. ad nauseum.

Cancer rates are rising. In two books (on astrology) I prophesied that great mutations will show up to disfigure the next few generations. All the chemical forms of pollution now in our rivers, air and soil become part of us. In my new book, a shaman from South America tells a small assembly in California, "You will not be able to heal yourselves until you heal the planet."

Killing is not healing. The sounds of saws, the drone of endless motors, the noises and emissions that everywhere are an insult to life--these will stop one way or another. If Earth Mother has no other choice, she'll have to twist and turn in ways she hasn't been forced to... in thousands of years. Plus at the rate the End Timers mated with the M.A.D advocates are going, they will bring on the grave disasters they court, like some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in the form of a construed as inevitable global Armageddon.

Delusions must be called out. Those who espouse an end to it all are NOT coming from Faith in a God-dess of Life! As those who, like moths, are drawn to the flame of yet more war ("Bring it on!") are in no way remotely resonant with Defense. There is still time to turn things around... a massive (or collective) awakening is requi8red for that to happen.

Thank you, Jennifer, for reminding readers that the spirit of Wonder that belongs to our "inner child" can atill be tapped.

When I was child , the strips along our country roads and the farmers fields were allowed to grow wild with trees. Saskatoons , wild raspberries, gooseberries and chokecherries would grow in abundance and we would take our bikes or walk down the roads to stuff our bellies with them.

In the springtime fireweeds and tiger lillies and wild roses would bloom in abundance and these roadsides would be filled with songbirds , the ditches with frogs and toads and the air filled with buzzing bees dragon flies and butterflies.

So I go back many years later and pull up on the roadside to pick berries. Nothing. There was once several types of trees growing now there only one. There are few birds, no toads or frogs that I can see. It a seemingly lifeless strip.

My cousins children, when asked whether they ever went to look for berries and the like along the roadside and wheree the best patches were would look at me with blank expressions.

My cousin tells me that in their wisdom the county decided that for reasons of safety and to cut costs (Ie lopping the limbs off trees that arched towards power lines) they would spray the roadsides with chemicals so as to get rid of unwanted species in a more effective and efficient manner.

There was no real valid REASON to do this but reason left the building long ago . I can envision how this happened. Some County official reads about the latest and greatest Chemical put out by Dow and decides it would be a great thing to spend the county budget on. Hey all these new technologies are progress are they not and we can not be living in the dark ages can we?

.EDUCARE: to lead out from-the monological imperatives of ignorance-................................................r.b. fuller

"[W]e get inured to the pain and suffering we visit on the natural world day after day. We learn to tolerate injustice with casual lack of attention. We lose the moral sensitivity with which we are born".

Fairly important points in that article.

With modern "forest harvester" machines, like the John Deere 1270E - cf. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf9d8KEzgvQ - a tree is logged - felled, branched and divided into lengths - in 20-30 seconds. The tree takes 50-70 years to grow to that desired size. - Now Russia is deforesting the taiga of Siberia - only possible with such "ingenous" machines.

Sensitive and sensible we're not.

We humans need to become and be environ-mentally (dash intn'd) harmonized custodians rather than "harvesters" of our surroundings. That appears to be our only hope for survival as intelligent species. And for survival of our good cheer in the immediate present.

In the Andean indigenous concept of Sumak Kawsay - the wealth of meaning cannot be translated into two English words - life in plentude, harmony with dimensions of life, addressing others in variants of the Mayan greeting In Lache - I am another yourself. This applies to the creation as social equal and many shamans speak of the innumerable interlocutors they have grown up with and learned to love, learn from and interpret their relationships and interrelationships.

Taxonomy of both flora and fauna are defined in much more complex interrelationship. For instance plants are named with prefixes and suffixes relating to the animals associated with them, the season of growth, cycle of use - on and on. In western taxonomy the name all too frequently panders to the ego of the 'discoverer'.

It would seem that the greater portion of western society is trained to be ineducable and the blame-the-victim domineering of the monocultured predator must play itself out. The old bumper sticker - 'subvert the dominant paradigm' has never been more salient. Resistance and allying with indigenous peoples and others who are marginalized, dropping out of the fractional externalization scheme and growing toward and in alternatives is the great opportunity in these dangerous times. One might be ridiculed but creative maladjustment is learned and honorable skill.

Hi Jennifer !!

Since the theme is the natural world - here is something from the early days of climbing in the Canadian Rockies:

Key phrase: "Nature in its wildness had humanized them."

Full passage - from William Spotswood Green's;

"Among the Selkirk Glaciers" (1889)

"Of all occupations, that of the prospector seems to be the most attractive. Once a man tastes the charm of the wild woods and secluded mountain glens, with the adventures incident on such a life, and has all this stimulated by the prospects of a trump card turning up in the shape of a lode of silver ore or a sand bar of gold, everything else in the world seems flat. It is wrong to think that such men are always dare-devil desperadoes, given up to wild dissipation and excess, like the picture of them usually drawn in study-books. Here we were in the midst of prospectors of the most enthusiastic type, all ready to face cheerily any hardship or danger, and as good fellows as you could meet anywhere in the world.

Nature in its wildness had humanized them. Its beauty was the charm of their lives, and the language by which every tree, and plant, and rock, and torrent spoke to them, had become so much a part of their existence, that life on the plain or in the centres of civilization would be to them the same as banishment"
----------------

Note: William Spotswood Green was an Irishman, and is generally acknowledged as the father of mountaineering in the Canadian Rockies.
http://www.peakfinder.com/people.asp?PersonsName=Green,+William+Spotswood
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As for myself - a hundred years after Mr. Green became one of the first white men to see Lake Louise, I fulfilled a childhood ambition and took up mountaineering full time for seven of the best years of my life.

In all honesty, nature in its wildness did have the effect of humanizing me.

Manysummits
======

I'd like to share two masterworks/Tours de force re- our increasingly serious (and species-wide) human predicament:

Homeland Earth by Edgar Morin (1999)

Manifesto for the Noosphere by Jose Arguelles (2011)

Good comments. The most tragic thing is that today's children, learning to interact with the world in a mostly virtual way... may never know the marvels that went missing, like bird song and companion-creatures of the wilds. Not long ago the children's book, "Where The Wild Things Go" (by Max Sendeck, I believe) was a big hit... it turned a child's bedroom into the uncharted wilderness an imagination leaps towards. With species going extinct by the hour, the vital realms that once supported these living miracles, like a window, are closing.

In the book, "Mutant Message From Down Under," the author, a middle-aged woman whose name I can't recall... travels with the Aborigines of Australia, and learns that they may collectively agree to leave this plane (of consciousness). A friend of mine is a well-regarded Florida photographer and he manages to catch intimate scenes of animals on the Endangered Species list. When I look at his photos, it seems to me that some of the creatures are posing, that a living witness be retained. They seem to know they are not long for this world as the road penetrates the forest depths, and everywhere, development along with the bustling armies of Mars, invade what once stood as pristine paradise. It's as if Sherman's trail of tears is now the dominant approach to the sanctuaries that belong to The Great Mother.

Gone are the wild places.

Toy Shop

Theodore Adorno

(this piece is an excerpt from Adorno's Minima Moralia: Recollections from Damaged Life. It also appears in John Zerzan's anthology, Against Civilization.)

"Hebbel, in a surprising entry in his diary, asks what takes away ‘life’s magic in later years.’ It is because in all the brightly-colored contorted marionettes, we see the revolving cylinder that sets them in motion, and because for this very reason the captivating variety of life is reduced to wooden monotony. A child seeing the tightrope-walkers singing, the pipes playing, the girls fetching water, the coachmen driving, thinks all this is happening for the joy of doing so; he can’t imagine that these people also have to eat and drink, go to bed and get up again. We, however, know what is at stake. Namely, earning a living, which commandeers all these activities as mere means, reduces them to interchangeable, abstract labor-time. The quality of things ceases to be their essence and becomes the accidental appearance of their value. The ‘equivalent form’ mars all perceptions; what is no longer irradiated by the light of its own self-determination as ‘joy in doing,’ pales to the eye." Our organs grasp nothing sensuous in isolation, but notice whether a color, a sound, a movement is there for its own sake or something else; wearied by a false variety, they steep all in gray, disappointed by the deceptive claim of qualities still to be there at all, while they conform to the purposes of appropriation, indeed largely owe their existence to it alone. Disenchantment with the contemplated world is the sensorium's reaction to its objective role as a "commodity world." Only when purified of appropriation would things be colorful and useful at once: under universal compulsion the two cannot be reconciled. Children are not so much, as Hebbel thought, subject to illusions of "captivating variety," as still aware, in their spontaneous perception, of the contradiction between phenomenon and fungibility that the resigned adult no longer sees, and they shun it. Play is their defense. The unerring child is struck by the "peculiarity of the equivalent form": "use value becomes the form of manifestation, the phenomenal form of its opposite, value."

In his purposeless activity the child, by a subterfuge, sides with use-value against exchange value. Just because he deprives the things with which he plays of their mediated usefulness, he seeks to rescue in them what is benign towards men and not what subserves the exchange relation that equally deforms men and things. The little truck travels nowhere and the tiny barrels on them are empty; yet they remain true to their destiny by not performing, not participating in the process of abstraction that levels down that destiny, but instead abide as allegories of what they are specifically for. Scattered, it is true, but not ensnared, they wait to see whether society will finally remove the social stigma on them; whether the vital processes between men and things, praxis, will cease to be practical. The unreality of games gives notice that reality is not yet real. Unconsciously they rehearse the right life. The relation of children to animals depends entirely on the fact that Utopia goes disguised in the creatures that Marx even begrudged the surplus value they contribute as workers. In existing without any purpose recognizable to men, animals hold out, as if for expression, their own names, utterly impossible to exchange. This makes them so beloved of children, their contemplation so blissful. I am a rhinoceros, signifies the shape of the rhinoceros. Fairy-tales and operettas know such images, and the ridiculous question...how do we know Orion is really called Orion, rises to the stars.

Just as one cannot cherry pick death, one cannot cherry pick life. One chooses lifeways or deathways. Rationalizations are not allowed. Choose!

Delete

As soon as you're born
They make you feel small
By giving you no time
Instead of it all
Til the Pain is so big
You feel Nothing at all

A working class hero is something to be.
A working class hero is something to be.
...
Til you're so fucking crazy
You can't follow their rules

"But instead they shrugged, resigned—it was too bad, but there was nothing to be done about it."

I am thinking your parents should have spent a little time and explained to you how the saplings if allowed to grow without any restrictions could have proved a safety hazard to the weekend home you and your parents routinely used and the local environment at large should the unregulated growth of the saplings eventually caused a fire or disrupted your telephone service.

Mother nature routinely breaks off branches, upturns trees and wipes out entire species or colonies without man's aid. Actions which make it possible for new growth. Some pine tree seeds will not germinate without fire. In this case man did it, but it would appear for a good reason. Your parents missed an educational opportunity to share with you a valuable lesson on the interdependence of life. They should have explained to you how this was not "wanton" destruction.