Political correctness may be a symptom of living in a subtly authoritarian State.
It begins in public schools.
In the end, few people realize they gave away their right to be totally free, mainly because all the kids who exercised their freedom openly were branded "bad" out of fear that they could be a "bad influence" on their socially compliant peers.
Since the exercise of freedom often conflicts with social order, the State is empowered by laws to check the freedom of those people who challenge the status quo.
In a subtly authoritarian State, compliance is still demanded to maintain public order. Those people who fight with the State over this are often maligned and sometimes given too much notoriety by the press. Consequently, some of them may become social outcasts.
While they feel they are entitled to their place in society, such people remain non-compliant with the rules of society, and may develop conduct disorders as a result of their anti-authoritarian behavior.
In a real democracy, there cannot be any distinction between people who do good and people who do evil just because the latter experience delayed character development due to their unwillingness to comply.
People with character defects may be narcissistic, and treat family and loved ones as extensions of their personality.
However, the only help which will deflate the ego of a narcissist is humility. For the character of people who believe the world should revolve around them is defective.
It is important for therapists, teachers and social workers to help the person with character defects to develop in character to face the challenge of a world where the importance of serving the greater good outweighs our potential for great evil.
IMO political correctness is a form of subtle authoritarianism that few of us recognize. It may misdirect people with character defects inclined to follow a path of narcissism but does not cause them to become social outcasts.
Indeed, it is mass media in the form of the press — along with other media such as the Internet and the film, radio and TV industries — that actually "manufactures" the stigma against social outcasts and brands any anti-authoritarian figure as outcast.
In doing so, mass media portrays the socially compliant people as serving the greater good and the social outcasts, as being "up to no good". This portrayal of the People places them in an Us versus Them scenario that is often simplistic and makes it easier to stigmatize the social outcast.
However, I refuse to maintain an Us versus Them mentality regarding compliant people who serve the greater good and people who are self-serving.
Although people have the potential for great evil, they also have the potential for great good.
When their acts are exceedingly self-serving and egocentric, their narcissism leads to them becoming social outcasts when they challenge authority and suffer the consequences without learning humility.
When their acts serve the greater good without fanfare, their service brings them acclaim because of their humility and compliance to social order.
Each person is unique in their qualities such as intelligence, physical health and attractiveness, yet these qualities are accidents of birth. Together the People represent a society that is a blend of distinctive ethnic cultures working together for the greater good.
While we may assume political correctness is always done for the greater good, sometimes our assumptions blind us to its misuse by the State.
This misuse of political correctness by the State is done to "divide and conquer" the People. By dividing society into the socially compliant and the social outcasts, the State does not serve the greater good of the People but only serves the lesser good of the elites.
Thus, the first three words of the US Constitution — "We the People" — refers all Americans, be they the rich and the poor, those of us with homes and the homeless, the mentally healthy and the mentally ill, the able-bodied and the disabled...
Yet "the State" also refers to the servants of the People, duly elected by the People to provide for the People the rights and freedoms that the Bill of Rights guarantees through laws which serve the greater good.
Political correctness not only occurs when the State censures the People, it also occurs when a group of people objects to a person who presents a position which different from theirs and refuses to listen to him lest it compromise their status quo.
In a real democracy, those servants of the People actually serve the greater good. In reality, a great many politicians appear to be self-serving but the few politicians who truly act as servants of the People deserve to represent the State.
This is why the Occupy movement arose, to provide direct democracy in action without a leader to mislead them. For direct democracy is why the Sudbury Valley School produced students who used their experience to innovate creative methods to succeed in college.
Yet mass media propaganda misled the public, predicting the Occupy movement was doomed to failure because it had no leadership. Very little time was given by the talking heads and even less column-inches was given by the press regarding direct democracy.
By omitting that fact mass media has done its version of political correctness by consistently omitting facts to serve the agenda of elites
Commentary from Down Under about the US health care system and American authoritarianism within the political system: http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/07/31/authoritarianism-its-bad-for-your-health/
Example of political correctness in the public school system: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/school-orders-child-to-remove-god-from-poem.html
The Powers that be (phrase): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_powers_that_be_(phrase)
Showing posts with label compliance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label compliance. Show all posts
20131113
20101207
Notes on Being Mentally Captive and Compliance in Morita Therapy
Currently I am rereading an article from the Journal of Morita Therapy (Vol. 1 No. 2 Oct. 1990) entitled "On the meaning of toraware (being mentally captive) and sunao (compliance) in Morita therapy".
The part of the article which fascinates me currently regards the theory of M. Tokieda that its author, Fujita Chihiro, calls "interesting":
'According to Tokieda, the Japanese language is characterized by its dependence on predicate logic rather than on subject. The language is at all times a product on man's act of expression and comprehension. Furthermore, while European linguists tend to regard a language as "a thing", i.e. as a tool, Japanese linguists consider it more as a factor of human mind and always conditioned by a given "situation".
'As to the "situation", Tokieda expressed it as follows: 'The word "situation" is close to the concept of place, but "situation" includes not only things and sights in it, but also the mental attitude, feeling and thought of the person who is looking at it. Therefore, a situation is not a purely objective world, although it is not a purely subjective representation of mental activity either. A situation is the world in which subject and object are fused together.'
At this point, the author then states that Tokieda's concept regarding "situation" is consistent with the "field of psychotherapeutic communication" of Morita Therapy.
Since the therapeutic process of Morita Therapy is "a process of mental change from hakarai . toraware (contrive . be captive) to sunao . arinomama (compliant mind . the mental facts as they are), using words in daily usage, the field of psychotherapeutic communication could be conceived as an implicit situation which provides the patient's mind with an opportunity to regain universal control of the separation-fusion of the subject/object duality."
Next, the "authentic self" that is prepared for universal control through the field of psychotherapeutic communication is defined:
'All of us have a source of direction which makes it possible for us to ride freely on our own desire to live, and this natural mentality is the expression of our "authentic" self and of our arinomama (proper and sincere) life. On this occasion, our conscience is entirely subjective and there is no subject/object duality.
'If this free flow of mental activity is blocked for some reason, then the relation between subject and object become disparate and leads to "contradictoriness in thinking". Speaking of this, Morita made the following comment: "our mental activity is natural ...it is intuitive, not critical, or we may say that it is a pure conscience .... If we watch ourselves and decide that we are healthy or sick, we are already taking ourselves as an object or as a third party projected on the outside world .... We can say that subjective mind and experiential comprehension do not involve any element of doubt, while objective thinking (criticism) is never free from it."'
At this point in his argument, Fujita identifies the relationship between arugamama or "authentic" activity of mind and "contradictoriness in thinking" as "the difference between the universally controlling subject/object duality and the loss of that freedom."
He then goes on to consider 'in the light of freedom, the meanings of those key, though daily, words like hakarai . toraware (contrive . captive) mind and sunao . arinomama (compliant mind . the mental facts as they are) mind which come frequently into the field of psychotherapeutic communication:
'In Morita Therapy, "the field of psychotherapeutic communication" denotes both a place and situation, as mentioned already. Also, this refers to both langauge and life activity.
'According to Tokieda, we distinguish language into expression and an act of understanding, then divide each of them into "speaking, acting, showing" and "listening, seeing, receiving". Then we see how those daily words like sunao (compliance) influence patients in the actual therapeutic "situation" for each component of the language already referred to.'
Then he considers "what sunao (compliance) means in the field of psychotherapeutic communication":
'In Japanese, the word sunao (compliance) means a state of indistinguishing naturalness or essence. it denotes that the object is free from contriving thinking or conduct and remains as a natural self. Moreover, the word is used to define disposition, character, behavior, understanding, expression and so forth, regardless of whether it refers to a man, a plant, an animal or inanimate matter. in translating this word into English, however, we must use different words according to the object to which it refers. For instance, in the case of someone's disposition, we need to say "pliable, gentle or yielding", but when we mean some kind of behavior, it is necessary to use words like "submissive, compliant or docile", while it becomes "mind, frank or obedient" in terms of character'
Fujita then contrasts how in Japanese, sunao expresses all of these adjectives, while in English, many different adjectives are needed depending on the context. He explains that 'in Japanese, semantic importance or stress is not in the subject matter but in the "situation" which defines the meaning.' For 'predicate takes precedence in Japanese,' especially in Morita Therapy.
Essentially, 'the word sunao, in the field of psychotherapeutic communication in Morita Therapy, can be a predicate of the psychological environment. Although the word does not express the direct mental experience of the patient, it still serves to denote his potential state of mind.'
He asks the reader to call it 'consolidation of a given situation', giving the explanation that "because the patient's mind becomes conscious of the meaning of being sunao (compliant) as if it is induced by the atmosphere of the situation. In the relation with the therapist, the patient tries to project himself on his behavior concept, and this is on the basis of his understanding the activities of "listening, seeing and receiving" and his expressive activities of "speaking, acting and showing", and the therapist can observe synthetically how this process takes place in the field of psychotherapeutic communication. This is because the noun sunao (compliance), or the mono (object) it signifies is not important compared to the koto (the fact) that the mind is sunao, since the koto (the fact) is the very expression of mind.'
To paraphrase the previous paragraph, the mind becomes conscious of what it means to be compliant as though induced by the atmosphere of the situation (i.e. in therapy with a psychotherapist). Relative to the therapist, the patient tries to project himself on his behavior concept based on his understanding of "listening, seeing and receiving" and his expression of "speaking, acting and showing", and the therapist observes synthetically how that process happens in the field of psychotherapeutic communication. Since compliance, or the object it signifies, is unimportant when compared to the fact that the mind is compliant, since the fact (compliance) is the very expression of mind.
Then Fujita rephrases what he said in a logical manner: ...if one wants to be compliant, he is no longer compliant, because his self is intending to be compliant. 'To a therapist, the word sunao may sometimes be related to resistance of the patient against the therapist or the therapy itself. To the therapist, that his patient is sunao - docile and complaint - is convenient because it means that the patient is willing to listen to the therapist's persuasion.'
Yet this is not always the case.
At this point, Fujita uses Morita's example contrasting ga (self-will) and the willingness to give oneself the chance to accept the therapist's suggestion to take an examination. 'When someone is clearly conscious of his ga (self-will) and the act of "having a try at", both at the same time, and goes forward with it, then we can say he is sunao. If he continues to be possessed by his "self-will" alone, he is gôjô (stubborn). On the other hand, if he has no sense of his ga (self-will), then he is just môjû (following blindly) what he is told to do.'
As an example, Fujita quotes Morita, "If you are told to look at flowers, then all you need to do is comply and focus your attention on the flowers." He then adds:
'If he does not hakarau (expect) things and just looks at the flowers sunaoni (obediently), he shall not fail to see his ga (self-will) coming into action. He starts to think that the flowers are not impressive, or they are really beautiful, for instance. This feeling or association of idea is his ga (self-will), and when the ga (self-will) and his toraware (captive mind) are fully established as antagonizing elements, then he starts to observe, distinguish, and understand things. His mind is activated and gains strength.
'This tells us that, to the therapist, the word sunao should not mean môjû (blind obedience). Rather, the conflict between "being sunao" and toraware (being captive) makes it possible for the patient to transcend himself and to achieve a sort of harmony of mind which responds to various stimuli in a positive way. There is a natural rhythm of heart and a ceaseless flow of consciousness.
'In a word, the mind regains freedom, and the mind is free because the self now has made a choice to kokoromiru (try - see with the heart) and makeseru (to let it be) of its own will. The patient has exercised his free will to decide on his own that he will respond to the call from the therapist.'
Fujita then describes the important meaning of sunao as used in the field of psychotherapeutic communication under Morita Therapy: 'The word implies that even though the patient feels insecure, which is natural enough, and even if he wants to repel, question, and resist the therapist, he finds himself in a situation in which he accepts and opts for a "solitary existence" under the influence of explanation, disregard and persuasion of the therapist.'
From the view of "contradictoriness in thinking", the conscious mind, 'which has lost ties to the "authentic self"' to the point of experiencing the vicious circle of neuroses, 'recovers the lost ties in the "field of psychotherapeutic communication" and embraces the authentic self.'
Fujita goes on to explain once again that 'the therapeutic process of Morita Therapy' is "a shift from the state of hakarai . toraware (contrive . captive) to that of sunao . arugamama (compliance . the facts of the mind as they are). To be sunao is the absence of hakarai (contriving) and vice versa. These two are opposites, and the same is true of toraware and arugamama.'
Then he cautions us not to consider these opposing terms to be simply so. While these terms are antonyms with many different meanings i.e. sunao means a number of different states according to the situation. Then too the complementary relationship between hakarai . toraware and sunao . arugamama also refer to different meanings of each word in relationship to each other as opposed to their complement.
Summary: 'the mind is sometimes captive and sometimes open and compliant, and this is what unrestrictedness or naturalness is all about.'
In the conclusion, he sums up his explanation of the field of psychotherapeutic communication in Morita Therapy and 'the meaning of daily words relating to the "situation " of any such field by placing the word sunao in the context of predicates in the Japanese language.' In that field, 'patients' complaints ... become an object, and are unintentionally transformed from koto (suffering facts) into mono (suffering objects).
By adding sense and direction to life, Morita Therapy strengthens the recovery from such deflection by the therapist's explanation, disregard and persuasion within the field of psychotherapeutic communication.
Things I learned from the study of the article "On the meaning of toraware (being mentally captive) and sunao (compliance) in Morita therapy" in the Journal of Morita Therapy Vol. 1 No. 1. pp 183-187:
To the Japanese, language is a factor of the human mind, and always conditioned by a given situation.
Obedience requires compliance of an open mind.
Self-will may lead to compliance depending on how the therapist explains what needs to be done, his quiet disregard for any of the patient's objections, and gentle persuasion.
The two complementary terms used are: hakarai . toraware (contrive . captive) - the state of mind where self-will contrives to suffer by becoming captivated by contradictoriness in thinking (shisô no mujun) - and sunao . arugamama (compliance . the facts of the mind as they are) - the state of mind where one willingly complies with the situation at hand and thus progresses from captivity, losing ties with the authentic self, towards a proper and sincere life, taking the facts of the mind as they are.
Contradictoriness in thinking - the contradiction between "what one should be" or "what one should not be" and "what one actually is" i.e. between desire and reality - results from being totally unaware that my desire can never be satisfied, leading me to develop various psychological symptoms which drive me into the vicious circle of neuroses from which I cannot escape. In this way do I lose ties to my authentic self with the child-like ability to forgive others, to be free and fluid in mental activity.
Through therapy, it is possible to become aware of one's place in life. This leads to the holistic view that, although the human mind is nothing other than a physical phenomenon of my acting body, the mind itself is an expression of life.
Therefore, the human mind and conscience are aspects of mi (that which is seen outside of oneself i.e. objectively observing one's life) — in which the mind-body duality is transcended — as the expression of man's total self.
Through therapy, it is possible to find the ties to my authentic self once again so that I am once again able to transcend the mind-body duality and thus express myself authentically.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helps to gain control over my mind, to come to grips with cognitive distortions. Yet the concept of Morita Therapy will encourage me to experience being authentic and real.
The part of the article which fascinates me currently regards the theory of M. Tokieda that its author, Fujita Chihiro, calls "interesting":
'According to Tokieda, the Japanese language is characterized by its dependence on predicate logic rather than on subject. The language is at all times a product on man's act of expression and comprehension. Furthermore, while European linguists tend to regard a language as "a thing", i.e. as a tool, Japanese linguists consider it more as a factor of human mind and always conditioned by a given "situation".
'As to the "situation", Tokieda expressed it as follows: 'The word "situation" is close to the concept of place, but "situation" includes not only things and sights in it, but also the mental attitude, feeling and thought of the person who is looking at it. Therefore, a situation is not a purely objective world, although it is not a purely subjective representation of mental activity either. A situation is the world in which subject and object are fused together.'
At this point, the author then states that Tokieda's concept regarding "situation" is consistent with the "field of psychotherapeutic communication" of Morita Therapy.
Since the therapeutic process of Morita Therapy is "a process of mental change from hakarai . toraware (contrive . be captive) to sunao . arinomama (compliant mind . the mental facts as they are), using words in daily usage, the field of psychotherapeutic communication could be conceived as an implicit situation which provides the patient's mind with an opportunity to regain universal control of the separation-fusion of the subject/object duality."
Next, the "authentic self" that is prepared for universal control through the field of psychotherapeutic communication is defined:
'All of us have a source of direction which makes it possible for us to ride freely on our own desire to live, and this natural mentality is the expression of our "authentic" self and of our arinomama (proper and sincere) life. On this occasion, our conscience is entirely subjective and there is no subject/object duality.
'If this free flow of mental activity is blocked for some reason, then the relation between subject and object become disparate and leads to "contradictoriness in thinking". Speaking of this, Morita made the following comment: "our mental activity is natural ...it is intuitive, not critical, or we may say that it is a pure conscience .... If we watch ourselves and decide that we are healthy or sick, we are already taking ourselves as an object or as a third party projected on the outside world .... We can say that subjective mind and experiential comprehension do not involve any element of doubt, while objective thinking (criticism) is never free from it."'
At this point in his argument, Fujita identifies the relationship between arugamama or "authentic" activity of mind and "contradictoriness in thinking" as "the difference between the universally controlling subject/object duality and the loss of that freedom."
He then goes on to consider 'in the light of freedom, the meanings of those key, though daily, words like hakarai . toraware (contrive . captive) mind and sunao . arinomama (compliant mind . the mental facts as they are) mind which come frequently into the field of psychotherapeutic communication:
'In Morita Therapy, "the field of psychotherapeutic communication" denotes both a place and situation, as mentioned already. Also, this refers to both langauge and life activity.
'According to Tokieda, we distinguish language into expression and an act of understanding, then divide each of them into "speaking, acting, showing" and "listening, seeing, receiving". Then we see how those daily words like sunao (compliance) influence patients in the actual therapeutic "situation" for each component of the language already referred to.'
Then he considers "what sunao (compliance) means in the field of psychotherapeutic communication":
'In Japanese, the word sunao (compliance) means a state of indistinguishing naturalness or essence. it denotes that the object is free from contriving thinking or conduct and remains as a natural self. Moreover, the word is used to define disposition, character, behavior, understanding, expression and so forth, regardless of whether it refers to a man, a plant, an animal or inanimate matter. in translating this word into English, however, we must use different words according to the object to which it refers. For instance, in the case of someone's disposition, we need to say "pliable, gentle or yielding", but when we mean some kind of behavior, it is necessary to use words like "submissive, compliant or docile", while it becomes "mind, frank or obedient" in terms of character'
Fujita then contrasts how in Japanese, sunao expresses all of these adjectives, while in English, many different adjectives are needed depending on the context. He explains that 'in Japanese, semantic importance or stress is not in the subject matter but in the "situation" which defines the meaning.' For 'predicate takes precedence in Japanese,' especially in Morita Therapy.
Essentially, 'the word sunao, in the field of psychotherapeutic communication in Morita Therapy, can be a predicate of the psychological environment. Although the word does not express the direct mental experience of the patient, it still serves to denote his potential state of mind.'
He asks the reader to call it 'consolidation of a given situation', giving the explanation that "because the patient's mind becomes conscious of the meaning of being sunao (compliant) as if it is induced by the atmosphere of the situation. In the relation with the therapist, the patient tries to project himself on his behavior concept, and this is on the basis of his understanding the activities of "listening, seeing and receiving" and his expressive activities of "speaking, acting and showing", and the therapist can observe synthetically how this process takes place in the field of psychotherapeutic communication. This is because the noun sunao (compliance), or the mono (object) it signifies is not important compared to the koto (the fact) that the mind is sunao, since the koto (the fact) is the very expression of mind.'
To paraphrase the previous paragraph, the mind becomes conscious of what it means to be compliant as though induced by the atmosphere of the situation (i.e. in therapy with a psychotherapist). Relative to the therapist, the patient tries to project himself on his behavior concept based on his understanding of "listening, seeing and receiving" and his expression of "speaking, acting and showing", and the therapist observes synthetically how that process happens in the field of psychotherapeutic communication. Since compliance, or the object it signifies, is unimportant when compared to the fact that the mind is compliant, since the fact (compliance) is the very expression of mind.
Then Fujita rephrases what he said in a logical manner: ...if one wants to be compliant, he is no longer compliant, because his self is intending to be compliant. 'To a therapist, the word sunao may sometimes be related to resistance of the patient against the therapist or the therapy itself. To the therapist, that his patient is sunao - docile and complaint - is convenient because it means that the patient is willing to listen to the therapist's persuasion.'
Yet this is not always the case.
At this point, Fujita uses Morita's example contrasting ga (self-will) and the willingness to give oneself the chance to accept the therapist's suggestion to take an examination. 'When someone is clearly conscious of his ga (self-will) and the act of "having a try at", both at the same time, and goes forward with it, then we can say he is sunao. If he continues to be possessed by his "self-will" alone, he is gôjô (stubborn). On the other hand, if he has no sense of his ga (self-will), then he is just môjû (following blindly) what he is told to do.'
As an example, Fujita quotes Morita, "If you are told to look at flowers, then all you need to do is comply and focus your attention on the flowers." He then adds:
'If he does not hakarau (expect) things and just looks at the flowers sunaoni (obediently), he shall not fail to see his ga (self-will) coming into action. He starts to think that the flowers are not impressive, or they are really beautiful, for instance. This feeling or association of idea is his ga (self-will), and when the ga (self-will) and his toraware (captive mind) are fully established as antagonizing elements, then he starts to observe, distinguish, and understand things. His mind is activated and gains strength.
'This tells us that, to the therapist, the word sunao should not mean môjû (blind obedience). Rather, the conflict between "being sunao" and toraware (being captive) makes it possible for the patient to transcend himself and to achieve a sort of harmony of mind which responds to various stimuli in a positive way. There is a natural rhythm of heart and a ceaseless flow of consciousness.
'In a word, the mind regains freedom, and the mind is free because the self now has made a choice to kokoromiru (try - see with the heart) and makeseru (to let it be) of its own will. The patient has exercised his free will to decide on his own that he will respond to the call from the therapist.'
Fujita then describes the important meaning of sunao as used in the field of psychotherapeutic communication under Morita Therapy: 'The word implies that even though the patient feels insecure, which is natural enough, and even if he wants to repel, question, and resist the therapist, he finds himself in a situation in which he accepts and opts for a "solitary existence" under the influence of explanation, disregard and persuasion of the therapist.'
From the view of "contradictoriness in thinking", the conscious mind, 'which has lost ties to the "authentic self"' to the point of experiencing the vicious circle of neuroses, 'recovers the lost ties in the "field of psychotherapeutic communication" and embraces the authentic self.'
Fujita goes on to explain once again that 'the therapeutic process of Morita Therapy' is "a shift from the state of hakarai . toraware (contrive . captive) to that of sunao . arugamama (compliance . the facts of the mind as they are). To be sunao is the absence of hakarai (contriving) and vice versa. These two are opposites, and the same is true of toraware and arugamama.'
Then he cautions us not to consider these opposing terms to be simply so. While these terms are antonyms with many different meanings i.e. sunao means a number of different states according to the situation. Then too the complementary relationship between hakarai . toraware and sunao . arugamama also refer to different meanings of each word in relationship to each other as opposed to their complement.
Summary: 'the mind is sometimes captive and sometimes open and compliant, and this is what unrestrictedness or naturalness is all about.'
In the conclusion, he sums up his explanation of the field of psychotherapeutic communication in Morita Therapy and 'the meaning of daily words relating to the "situation " of any such field by placing the word sunao in the context of predicates in the Japanese language.' In that field, 'patients' complaints ... become an object, and are unintentionally transformed from koto (suffering facts) into mono (suffering objects).
By adding sense and direction to life, Morita Therapy strengthens the recovery from such deflection by the therapist's explanation, disregard and persuasion within the field of psychotherapeutic communication.
Things I learned from the study of the article "On the meaning of toraware (being mentally captive) and sunao (compliance) in Morita therapy" in the Journal of Morita Therapy Vol. 1 No. 1. pp 183-187:
To the Japanese, language is a factor of the human mind, and always conditioned by a given situation.
Through therapy, it is possible to find the ties to my authentic self once again so that I am once again able to transcend the mind-body duality and thus express myself authentically.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helps to gain control over my mind, to come to grips with cognitive distortions. Yet the concept of Morita Therapy will encourage me to experience being authentic and real.
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