On 2004-12-22 08:27:00, cleveland wrote:
"Stripe, although I think there may be something to that, I would think it's an oversimplification.
My thinking would be, that whenever a person is in a stressful, peer pressure, "group think" situation - whether work, family, friends, church, AA, whatever - they are working on a basic, emotional level. Think of gangs, charismatic churches, etc. And think of how powerful our emotions are in these situations - how we were when we were at the Seed, and how strong those memories are. But, I don't think we give up on the higher, critical functions -
if we think back, we remember doubt, we remember critical thoughts - but we chose to give in - "OK, I'll go along because (fill in the blank) I'm a fuckup, they are smarter, I want to graduate, they love me, let's get this over with" - whatever. And, of course, everyone's different. Don't you remember some scary 'super seedlings' who were mindless in their devotion? Note, none of those people ever were on staff. You had to retain your critical thinking to be effective, so you had to be able to make an internal compromise.
That's my thinking. Our analysis, or 'getting into our heads' about it. You and I are both over-educated fools - from a Seed standpoint!
"
Now, let me "relate" a later, post-Seed experience. After the Seed, Iwas still a junior in high school and very much segregated from high schoool life. I became involved in a "christian" evangelical church. I was, of course, seeking some answers to the emptiness and lonliness that the seed rules and constraints caused, trying to find some straight friends who met that criteria. I became involved in the youth group where it was incumbent upon the members there to keep each other "in the faith" Only one problem, the youth leader and christian peers determined that I did not have enough faith (??) and so I was asked to withdraw myself as I questioned too much. :scared:
I guess my point is, Wally, you shouldn't feel bad about saying anything that makes someone question their expereiences in the Seed- or any other thought/behavior control groups. How many years went by before I was able to reconcile the kind of rejection I experienced in both places by understanding that those places were were the fucked up individuals or groups, and not me. I'll tell you - about 30 years. That's too long.
I think the reason some of us have so much trouble from these programs is because we really are more highly developed or evolved on a conscious level than even we know. Therefore, there is inherently more internal conflict with the dogma. Contrary to those dogmatic teachings in the Seed or organized evangelical christian religion, knowledge, be it book learning or heart knowledge, is, to quote Martha, "a good thing."
I mean, why else would Seed-lifers need to ask someone else's PERMISSION to get a college education? :
: It's because, as my mother has always told me - a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Dangerous for the dogma pushers, that is.
I think we need to give ourselves permission to question and blessings for being brave enough and smart enough to investigate the exterior authority these dogma-pushers put on us. Bless all you stuggling angels out there.
