“Call to Arms for the Psychology of Liberation … “It is an invitation to join in a global community that supports those forces that will strengthen the bonds of the Human Condition-starting with justice, peace, and love. In the end, I believe that each of us has the ability “to make a difference” in improving the Human Condition – through daily acts of kindness, nourishing a generosity of spirit, and perfecting a vision that always seeks to make others feel special, worthwhile, understood, and embraced as our kin, especially so when they are not of our kind…” (Zimbardo, Speech @United Nations)
This terminology of ‘emotional sobriety’ is not spoken of often in the rooms of recovering addicts and alcoholics, according to the speaker I heard today. A condition or syndrome even Bill Wilson wrote about in the Grapevine 1958, ‘The New Frontier; Emotional Sobriety.’ How is it that we do not see the potential for unity outside the rooms? The world is seeking to separate from terrorists and good people, blaming ethnic groups for beliefs every human is guaranteed. Such remarkable oversights in our language bring about more disillusionment of the “them versus us” mentality. Though a person does not need to sit in an hour long meeting to see the prejudice that exists even today, simply listen to the people around you.
Standing at the bus stop on Southern Ave last Thursday my walkman’s batteries died. My usual buffer between young adult conversation and my ears left an opportunity to do just that. A woman at the stop light about 50 feet away, skateboarded across the street while talking on her cell phone. Midway between the sidewalks the skateboard stopped suddenly and she lurched forward. Thankfully she did not face plant, though the incident did not stop the cell phone conversation. I spoke out loud to no one in particular, “I have done that.” The two people behind me, a young man and a young woman, witnessed the scene. The woman spoke to her friend,
“Look at that, dumb bitch trying to skateboard. She is stupid.” The young woman had made it across the street and got back on her skateboard. The woman behind me spoke again, “Watch I bet she falls again, stupid bitch.”
The feelings expressed by the young woman behind me, created a negative cloud of energy. I felt the sense of disgust, jealously and self hatred she spoke. Though the woman on the skateboard was her object of ridicule, across the street the daggers of negativity did not audibly reach. Ghostbusters II staring Bill Murray and the Dan Ackroyd gave the public a great model for how energy travels. The sewers carried rivers of pink slime, and fed off of every bad word, crime, negative word spoken from the above New York City; feeding the spirit of Vigo Morgenson. The Ghost busting team discovered pink slime reacted to positive words and affection just as easily. The song was not enough power to kill of the spirit; the team found a symbol to unify the people, the statue of liberty. The power of love and fellowship destroyed Vigo’s spirit. The transference of intent behind the words spoken gave the slime power to vanquish evil.
The young woman’s words thrown out may not come from the evil intent like Vigo, but they do carry heavy repercussions for herself and the people standing around.
Daily acts of kindness, my friend Misha has a saying for dealing with people that hurt or angered her; “Kill ‘em with kindness.” The power of picking up trash at the bus stop, smiling at a complete stranger or offering to hold the door open for another may look inefficient. However, through our existence on this planet the small changes have set the standard for creation. The fish that crawled, the butterfly that created a hurricane and David who took down Goliath to name but a few, though perhaps one of the greatest examples of how kindness and generosity can change the world is the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
Dr Zimbardo delivered in a speech to the United Nations about this very topic, on a global scale fighting war, terrorism and defending the “few bad apples” line against the guards from Abu Ghraib. In his thesis there is a theme for heroism, creating thought process in the younger generation for “Heroic Imagination”; becoming of maximum service to others by being the best self. In 1935, Bill Wilson wrote something along these lines in the volume titled, “Alcoholics Anonymous.” The need for psychological rearrangement became paramount for any person afflicted with the disease, in order to obtain peace and serenity. In the very least, to feel sanity restored and a life renewed. This program is not something only an alcoholic can use, as the program outlined through twelve steps is pertinent to every individual searching for happiness and joy.
Bill Wilson’s program is adapted in over 150 programs from gambling, sex, food and drugs to spiritual, churches, and life application studies. Despite the overwhelming odds of reconciling belief systems people are coming together for mutual aid and becoming a community responsible for the welfare of the whole. A concept that is not languaged on a global scale but small acts of calling people, picking them up for gathering or offering a ear for listening ripple into a community of heroes. Relieved of the bondage of stale beliefs people are transformed by the simple act of thinking of another as they think of themselves.
Rochelle Foulk 