“I’m Not Concerned About the Poor…”

That’s part of a statement that Mitt Romney “misspoke” last week.  The other candidates and the media had a field day with it.  I won’t elaborate on the multiple interpretations of Romney’s remarks; you can find them anywhere and everywhere. Conclusions about Romney’s ability to lead remain in the eye of the beholder.

One of the major projects of Changing Our Consciousness is Emotional Imprint, a K-12 curriculum in emotional literacy. The curriculum is an academic track that can be integrated with lesson plans in other subject areas and add a much-needed dimension to them.

I’ve been searching for a simple, blog-worthy way to illustrate the unique methodology and extraordinary potential of our program, so I was pleased when Romney’s remark brought to mind one of the thought experiments I envisioned for Emotional Imprint:

Thought Experiment #5: Class President
You’re running for class president, struggling hard to be true to yourself, the school, and all of your classmates who have different needs and desires.  One day someone asks you a question about changing the cafeteria menu.  Changing the cafeteria menu is not one of your priorities, but you find yourself responding, “I understand your feelings about the menu, but honestly, the people who think it’s unhealthy are free to bring their own lunch or go out, aren’t they?”  Your family lives comfortably, but a lot of students at your school are on the free breakfast and lunch program because they can’t afford even the regular cafeteria food, so the accusation of “Prejudice!” headlines the next day’s school paper.  Are you prejudiced?  How might you respond?  Write a response for the next edition of the paper, illustrating your ability to be true to yourself, true to your classmates, and win the election if possible.

If our children were given the opportunity to practice emotional problems like this one throughout their academic careers – adding information from literature and composition, psychology and philosophy, history and social sciences, religion and ethics, etc, as time goes on –they would be much better able to address statements like Romney’s appropriately and helpfully, leading to greater insight and forward movement for all.

Graduates of an EI program would be able to intuitively sense the threshold when a focus on content threatens to be lost as feelings rise to the surface and take over a discussion.  They would learn to put aside the “How dare he say that!” argument, gently pose the question for the speaker to think about and respond to at a later time, and move on, perhaps to a different thought experiment: What does it actually mean, “to be concerned about the poor? Is it possible to erect a social structure that will help people with low incomes bounce into the ranks of the employed middle class?  Is “the poor” a specific category of person, or does that phrase itself reflect a prejudice? Should we be speaking to “them” rather than at or about them?

“What Is Government if Words Have No Meaning?”

“What Is Government if Words Have No Meaning?” That’s the question Jared Loughner posed to Gabrielle Giffords in 2007, almost four years before he shot her.

I never interviewed him so I have no idea what he meant, but I know that when a person is developing schizophrenia words DO lose their meaning. In the world as I imagine it could be, if the people around Rep. Giffords had been able to make an educated guess about the meaning that lay beneath his odd and disturbing question, he might have gotten help, lives might have been saved, and government would have demonstrated a greater capacity to respond to people who are suffering.

I believe that society desperately needs a better understanding of mental illness. But I also believe… Continue reading

At Year-End, “Thank you” and “Please”

COC began as a simple idea that has evolved through the enthusiasm and generosity of many special people who have contributed their time, energy and expertise. Sheryll Franko and her talented colleagues shot – pro bono – hundreds of hours of footage for our mental health documentary. Actor John Turturro and Harvard professor Anne Harrington volunteered as narrator and screenwriter respectively.  Sean Campbell wrote the first complete draft of the treatment and two grant proposals. The indomitable Lois Oppenheim set up interviews with Nobel Prize winners, VIP authors and mental health professionals, and she continues to work tirelessly – writing, editing, arranging and coordinating – to bring the film to completion. Melissa Brand, Victoria Grinman, Suzanne Amro, Inna… Continue reading

Thanatos, perhaps?

I just saw A Dangerous Method, a film about Sigmund Freud’s relationship with
his protégé, Carl Jung, and Jung’s affair with his patient, Sabrina Spielrein. The
implication of the title is that the analytic method, where intimate feelings, fantasies
and memories are revealed in the confines of an individual consulting room, is
dangerous.

I agree. The power differential catalyzed by the classical analytic relationship is
dangerous for more complex reasons than the ones preferred by Hollywood. If you
set up a frame that invites a person to develop powerful feelings toward you, you
have another person’s heart and soul in your hands. The dangers of misreading,
misinterpretation, manipulation, and playing the roles the person unconsciously
assigns to you, are powerful. For understandable reasons, psychoanalysis… Continue reading

Thought Process Differences: The New Prejudice

“What’s alike between an apple and an orange?”

That’s a question frequently posed on a psychiatric mental status exam. Typical responses are “they’re both fruit,” “they’re both round,” “they both have seeds,” and “they’re not alike, they’re different; one is red and the other is orange.”

People who think more literally and people who think more abstractly tend to have difficulty understanding one another. Prejudice takes root in misunderstanding.

“You would prefer to be the ‘single parent’ for your new business, wouldn’t you?” 

I made that interpretation to a young divorced mother I sensed would easily understand the parenting-partnership metaphor. If I had been working with a different type of person I would have addressed the difficulties with her business partner more directly, focusing on… Continue reading

Jesus, Freud, and Changing Our Consciousness

I just saw the play Freud’s Last Session* about an imaginary meeting between atheist Sigmund Freud and Catholic C.S. Lewis.  The dialogue about the existence of God in the face of war and death got me thinking about how easily I reconcile Catholicism and Freudianism. Peggy and Tony Lombardo may have been my birth parents, but my “family romance” parents were Jesus Christ and Sigmund Freud.

Freud taught us that when you interpret something to patients that disturb their equilibrium, those interpretations are initially met with resistance. For good reason, it takes time before human beings can assimilate foreign bodies, including foreign ideas. Often that warding-off is expressed in the relationship between patient and analyst – a phenomenon we call… Continue reading

Introducing The Entitlement Project

People who are different are entitled to live and work hand in hand with the rest of us, and if given a chance many will rise to the challenge and no longer require government financial support. 

My son got married last weekend. It was wonderful.

It led me to consider this thought experiment: Rich young people plan a lavish wedding. Some insist, why not? After all, the bride and groom are entitled to a celebration that’s worthy of their or their parents’ lifestyle and bank accounts. And besides, the caterer, the florist, the musicians, the wait staff, Tiffany’s, and the airlines that fly the guests are earning a living and thus stimulating the economy. Others argue that, instead, the parents of that bride and groom ought… Continue reading

Changing Our Consciousness is officially a 501(c)3 non-profit!

Changing Our Consciousness is officially a 501(c)3 non-profit! What does this mean? I can now put my ideas into action.  COC can accept tax-deductible contributions to fund its unique, critically important projects.

What will I be asking for money for? What’s the change that I’m envisioning, and what are some concrete steps involved in getting there?  The three projects below have the long-term goal of replacing pre-judgment and criticism with greater tolerance of paradox and conflict, a shared search for meaning, a greater capacity for empathy, and an ability to respond to the emotional experience of the other:

EMOTIONAL IMPRINT™ Human understanding has a language all its own, as difficult as Shakespeare, Mozart and Rocket Science to master, and as exciting and potentially transformative. COC… Continue reading

Thought Experiment: “Your Worldview Is Crooked.”

In my last post I used the example of one child saying to another, “Your sand castle is crooked.” I suggested that it’s essential to help a child understand the many possible reasons why a classmate might say that, because that understanding would help him or her imagine multiple ways of responding — a capacity that would serve both children well as adults. Was your friend criticized by his father that morning? Does he want to reassure himself that his castle is better? IS it better? It’s common to think he’s envious, but maybe that’s not the problem; maybe he has obsessive- compulsive anxiety and crooked things make him anxious. Maybe he’s a person who is better at understanding structures than emotions and he simply wants to play with you… Continue reading | 6 Comments

Thought Experiment: “Your sandcastle is crooked.”

In my first post, I asked how it would be possible to initiate a change of this magnitude in a society that doesn’t understand the necessity for it; in a world that doesn’t even realize that “it” could exist. Well, imagine this:

Imagine you’ re in a playground, and your classmate walks by and says, “Your sandcastle is crooked.”

How might that make you feel? What if the classmate was your best friend? Someone you don’ t know? Someone you’ re competitive with? What if you thought your sand castle was beautiful? What if you were afraid it wasn’t? Have you said similar things to other people, or wanted to? There are many different ways to respond, but… Continue reading