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%TRANSCEND TWO CULTURES DICHOTOMY DOMINATION SYSTEM 781215
This was the 4th of a series of closely related and
significant essays which are available at the following 4
locations: a7604061.htm and a7607261.htm and a7702172.htm
and a7812151.htm.
The following paper was written with considerable
assistance from an anonymous student, upon an invitation
from Bernard Feld, Editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists, when he read a copy of the essay "FIVE
CULTURES DICHOTOMY" and urged that an expanded version of
that essay be written for possible publication. He chose
not to publish the expanded essay, perhaps because it hit
too close to home for him as one of the inner circle of
Atomic Scientists in the Manhattan Project which built the
first few atomic bombs.
Look at the end of this essay for more notes on how
this essay came to be written and how it was received.
==========================================================
In the paper a "*" indicates that there is a footnote
at the end of the paper, keyed to the word just before the
"*".
Transcending the Two Cultures Dichotomy
C.P. Snow pointed to two tips of an iceberg in his
now famous lecture on the "Two Cultures" dichotomy. He
sought to call attention to the implications of the
dichotomy as it affects relationships between the rich
and poor nations. The lecture is more commonly remembered
for the attention it focused upon the lack of dialogue
between the scientific/engineering culture and the liter-
ary/artistic culture. Snow's analysis emphasized the
subject matter specialization within the various discip-
lines. The two tips of the iceberg correspond to the
subject matter of professional scientists/engineers
on the one hand and writers/artists on the other. The dic-
hotomy runs much deeper than distinctions in subject
matter, however, and it will take something quite
different than competency with a comprehensive range of
subject matter to promote the healing of the dichotomy.
The structure and extent of the dichotomy is
still hidden below the troubled waters of the world's
cultures. The practical implications are greater in
today's world of balanced terror and resource starvation
than when Snow gave his lecture. On the personal
level profound subjective implications of the dichotomy
affect the quality of human lives and intimate
relationships. There is work to be done in two areas.
We need to encourage our governments at all levels to
fund study of the dichotomy and of the conflicts which
the dichotomy occasions--funding which is commensurate
with our funding of the poles of the dichotomy. At the
same time we need to facilitate personal growth in ways
which transcend the dichotomy. Doing both will help us
trace and begin to eliminate the origins of the violence
which is so characteristic of our modern world.
The essence of the two-cultures dichotomy originates
in the perspective from which we view it and the
language in terms of which we describe it. Our
perspective and language depend upon which pole of the
dichotomy dominates us. Thus, to each of us the
dichotomy depends upon the ways in which it has
affected us.* We who seek to understand the
dichotomy are trying to understand the process by which
the dichotomy has led us to understand
everything---including the dichotomy. We
cannot transcend the dichotomy until we understand
it; and we cannot understand it until we
transcend it. We are tied in knots.*
We need to recognize the central role which
our exclusivity plays in creating and maintaining the
collusions which occasion our double-bind.* We cannot
understand and transcend the two cultures dichotomy
because of the exclusivity in our ways of understanding
and relating. The dichotomy is a manifestation of our
differing exclusive ways of understanding and relating
to each other and to our environment. Differences in
our intellectual and affective subcultures block our
mutual awareness and mutual understanding.* Yet, we
cannot understand what blocks our understanding---because
the same blocks our understanding of that very blockage
process. We need the help of people whose
understanding is not similarly blocked---even though they
may not be able to perceive or understand what is
blocking our understanding, and may not be aware that
our understanding is blocked as it is. Given this
state of affairs, we are obliged to clutch at glimmers
of insights which transcend the blockage---by disavowing
exclusivity to the best of our present ability.
A central feature of the dichotomy is the lack
of dialogue between ourselves and others who are
essentially different with respect to the dichotomy.
Snow illustrated this in many ways in his lecture. It
seems natural to expect that the transcendence of the
dichotomy will involve our taking steps which
facilitate the restoration of dialogue; i.e.
reconciliation.* Reconciliation is not likely to occur
until the restoration of dialogue is valued more highly
than anything else which might undermine dialogue
between different people. That is to say, the
facilitation of dialogue will be the ultimate concern
of those who meaningfully help us to transcend the
dichotomy.*
It is not enough that there be communication between
us in the sense of transmission of information back and
forth. There must be meaningful personal dialogue which
involves mutuality with regards to respect,
vulnerability, and political power.* The dichotomy
cannot be transcended by efforts which are dominated by
either pole of the dichotomy.
Because of the limitations imposed upon us
by conventional meanings assigned to words, it is
difficult to point to the structure of the dichotomy.
For this reason we turn to an allegory. We wish to
emphasize that what follows is an allegory, not a
fairy tale. There are correspondences between each
element of the allegory and situations of everyday life.
Many readers may be reluctant to perceive those
correspondences and so find it difficult to understand
the allegory. We regret the pain which the images in
our allegory may cause for some, but believe that facing
those images will be better in the long run than
continued participation in comfortable collusions.
Our allegory is just one perspective of the dichotomy
stated in a particular language. We hope that this
statement will encourage those who have a different
perspective/language to share their view of the dichotomy
in their own language.
Upon looking south, down a fertile valley, we see
steep overhanging cliffs in the East and West. The
people who choose to live on the high plateaus above the
cliffs suffer an arid climate compared to the climate
enjoyed by those who are willing to live in the shadows of
the cliffs.
The plateau-people are, however, dominated by
their exclusive principles and convictions. Exclusivity
is what most clearly distinguishes the plateau-people
from the valley-people. Plateau-people are exclusive
with respect to concepts, emotions, values, and people
they are willing to affirm. The plateau-people collect
into elite groups. In contrast the valley-people would
unconditionally welcome plateau-people as visitors and/or
settlers. Yet, the valley is sparsely populated because
the plateau-people cannot tolerate inclusivity--and so
exclude themselves from the valley, limiting themselves
to elitist activities upon the dry plateaus.
Next to exclusivity a preoccupation with
manipulative understanding, techniques, and
technologies tends to distinguish the plateau-people
from the valley-people. The plateau-people are so
preoccupied with techniques that their preoccupation
inhibits love's power to humanely direct their use of
techniques; their techniques rule them. The valley-
people are competent in the use of techniques when and
where techniques are appropriate means of manifesting
love. Thus, the plateau-people's lives are emotionally
dry---barren of many fruits of love's affections.
Here we find the roots of the violence
that characterizes plateau-people's lives. The plateau-
people's inhibition of affection occasions frustrations
which are expressed in violence of many forms.*
Violence is the violation of an integrity. The form of
the violence depends upon the kind of integrity being
violated: physical, biological, ecological, sexual,
emotional, psychological, psychic, intellectual,
philosophical, religious, spiritual; individual,
familial, neighborhood, school, organizational,
professional, corporate, cultural; county, state,
federal, national, global; etc. The plateau-people's
exclusivity creates many long-term problems by
occasioning violence in its many forms.
Some of the plateau-people try to solve the
problems occasioned by their exclusivity, but they
seek only technical solutions---in keeping with
their exclusive orientation. The plateau-people
expect that intensive scientific research and
technological developments on the part of specialists
will resolve the problems created by over-
specialization. They do not understand that some
problems have no technical solutions.* The consequences
of violence cannot be healed by technical solutions,
even though some temporary repairs and rebuilding
may be accomplished. Technical solutions do not free
people to be in meaningful dialogue nor do they
motivate dialogue. Exclusively technical solutions
perpetuate the alienation which is the root of the
problems.
The concerned plateau-people tend to try to cope
with the dichotomy in terms of the exclusive point of
view of their plateaus. Some of them try to build a
bridge anchored only on their own plateau---and
reaching across to the opposite plateau without
support from the valley below or from the opposite
plateau. Others try to build suspension bridges
anchored only on the two plateaus, but without
support from the valley below. Bridge building
satisfies their technical instincts and provides a way to
get from one technical plateau to the other without
traveling in the valley---but such bridge building
presumes that the problem of the dichotomy, and
consequently the resolution of the dichotomy, is
essentially technical in nature. Bridges between the
two plateaus are of little use because they do not help
heal the dichotomy. Bridge travelers reduce their
opportunities for the valley dialogues which are
essential to transcending the dichotomy.
The plateau-people's persistent problems originate
in their undervaluing of unconditionally open
channels of dialogue. They are so oriented to
manipulating objects, ideas, relationships, and
equations that they carry their manipulative
inclinations into human relationships---and so have
developed sophisticated techniques for human
manipulation. In a perverse way the plateau-
people recognize how essential continued dialogue is to
humanity, perceiving the silent terror occasioned by just
the vague threat of excommunication. The plateau-
people use many techniques of excommunication to ensure
what they regard as proper behavior. The techniques,
both formal and informal, are of many kinds: religious
excommunication, academic flunking, cliques,
blacklisting, accusations of immorality, gossip,
commitment to mental institutions, imprisonment; and
exclusive clubs, churches, schools, businesses,
and neighborhoods. Such manipulation usually focuses
upon behavioral standards which inhibit dialogue
between conformists and non-conformists.
The plateau-people as excommunicators are rarely
aware that their excommunications are mutual in effect.
Cutting off dialogue cuts off communication both ways,
for the excommunicated cannot accept the risk of being
candid in the presence of their excommunicators.
In addition, excommunicators' activities have a
"chilling effect" upon their own communications, because
to be fully open with each other will make them
vulnerable to implicit accusations of failing to
support the group's collusions. The
excommunicators are usually unaware of the double-
bind aspect of their situation and so the
technique of excommunication conceals its own
futility; the plateau-people continue to use
excommunication---thinking it to be an effective
technique for promoting good behavior. Thus everyone
keeps secrets from each other because there is little
trust.
The plateau-people often feel that the problems
they see originate in the lack of values and/or
inadequate dedication to high values on the part of
themselves and others. The plateau-people highly
value many idealistic principles and convictions. They
seek to make their world be a realization of a world of
ideal forms.* In reality, the plateau-people's problems
originate in the way in which their ultimate
concerns operate to undermine personal integrity.
They have fabricated idealistic idols, and have
sacrificed to those idols their ability to be in
dialogue. They have sacrificed the most precious offering
which they could make to their gods. Their resultant
inability to be in dialogue has undermined their
integrity and occasioned their many persistent problems--
problems which at heart are personal relationship
problems.
The plateau-people's problems can be resolved
only through holistic perceptions and coping behavior.
The plateau-people need the courage to be their unique
selves with integrity, even if with fear.* They,
however, pride themselves upon their specialized
language, knowledge, techniques, and procedures.
Conformity in perception, thought, and action is
often an implicit requirement for acceptance in their
specialties. As specialists they do not value the
ability to be in dialogue with people who are
essentially different---who have not specialized
exclusively or have specialized in a different mode of
perception or subject matter. The specialists tend to
disdain those who have not specialized exclusively, or
who do not value their own particular techniques and
manipulative abilities ultimately. Thus the plateau-
people do not value holistic people with integrity.
The people upon the two plateaus differ from each
other more in their modes of approach to various subject
matter, than in subject matter itself. It is not the
case that persons with a scientific/engineering
orientation are on the Western plateau-of-objectivity
and that persons with a literary/artistic orientation
are on the Eastern plateau-of-subjectivity. On each
plateau you can find specialists in virtually all areas
of human affairs - - - although not in like numbers on
each plateau. There are some surprises in where
particular specialists are found.
The people on the Western plateau-of-objectivity
tend to specialize in coping objectively with objects,
people, perceptions, and thoughts; usually being
insensitive to feelings. They tend toward being:
analytic/ synthetic, objective, systematic,
manipulative, quantitative, calculative,
theoretical/utilitarian, skeptical, disciplined,
impersonal, serious, authoritarian. Their coping
mechanisms, life-styles, and moods are often
objective in essence and are means to objective ends,
such as objective technologies. Such people tend to be
at home in and dominate certain professions. Even
so, it is sometimes misleading to associate too
closely those professions with the Western
plateau-of-objectivity. There is not a simple one-to-one
correspondence which will hold up under close
examination.
The people on the Eastern plateau-of-subjectivity
tend to specialize in coping subjectively with objects,
people, perceptions, and thoughts while being sensitive to
feelings. They tend toward being: spontaneous,
sympathetic, qualitative., trusting, experiential,
hopeful, personal, humorous, intuitive, intimate,
emotive, affectionate, sensuous, sexual, instinctive,
and vulnerable. They tend to specialize their being in
ways which exclude acceptance of objective techniques
and technologies.* The nature of subjective
techniques and/or technologies is such that they are
rarely regarded as being technological; however, we here
use the terms to point to coping mechanisms, life-style,
and moods which have a subjective essence, and are
seen as exclusive ends which become idolatrous. Such
subjective technologies are often not apparent to
exclusively objectively-oriented people, just as
idolatrous objective technologies are not attractive to
exclusively subjectively-oriented people.
The people on the two plateaus are alike in
being exclusive and oriented toward techniques for
coping, but disdain each other because of the
contrasting foci of their technologies. The plateau-
people also disdain the valley-people because the
valley-people are not exclusive--they do not compulsively
maintain high standards of technical excellence.
The plateau-people thus excommunicate themselves
from people on the complementary plateau, and from the
people of integrity on the valley floor.
The plateau-people value their respective
specialties so highly and so exclusively that they
excommunicate even their closest associates if they
dare to question the idolatrous worship of
their specialty. Such excommunications maintain
the specialists' collusions.* The few plateau-people who
do dare to question the idolatrous worship are
excommunicated and find themselves in a bind: they are
aliens in their homeland and fear descent into the
shadows of the valley--because tradition teaches that
the valley is a place of meaningless death.* The valley
is the place of the meaningful death of exclusivity. It
is a place of acceptance of ultimate mystery which the
plateau-people can never banish, regardless of how much
they repress it. The plateau-cultures do not provide
exemplary role-models of how to descend into the
valley---to be in sympathetic dialogue with the valley-
people and possibly to cross over to the opposite side
to be in dialogue with the people on the
complementary plateau. Thus, excommunicants on each
plateau stare across the unknown and feared valley, and
try to copy in their own way the behavior of those whom
they see, without ever intimately sharing in their
lives.
Exclusivity maintains alienation between
differing people. It is tragic that the valley, which is
the natural meeting place, continues to separate the
people on the complementary plateaus. It is not the
valley which is the agent of separation, however; it
is exclusivity which maintains the five different
cultures: 1) The dominant exclusive objective culture
on the Western plateau, 2) The dominant
exclusive/subjective culture on the Eastern plateau,
3) The excommunicant subculture living on the Western
plateau, but as a counter-culture trying to copy the
subjective behavior on the other plateau, yet doing so in
an objective way, 4) The excommunicant subculture
living on the Eastern plateau, but as a counter-
culture trying to copy the objective behavior on the
other plateau, yet doing so in a subjective way, and 5)
The non-dominant inclusive subjective objective valley-
culture which with integrity incarnates both
objectivity and subjectivity in the service of love.*
Each of the four plateau-cultures perceives only two
cultures---because the valley-culture and the dominant
culture on the complementary plateau appear to all
plateau-people like the excommunicants on the two
plateaus. Only the members of the valley culture can
clearly perceive the full range of cultural
differences---and the misunderstandings originating
therein.
The valley-people understand the five cultures
because they value subjectivity and objectivity
situationally, granting neither a dominant role.* The
valley-people are not compulsively or ultimately
concerned with techniques or technology. They most
highly value their dedication to openness, with
the resultant free-flow of objective subjective
perceptions and visions of how to manifest love.
Valley-people visit the plateaus as suffering
servants, and appear there as excommunicants.* Most of
the people on a plateau do not distinguish between the
valley-people who appear on their plateau and the
excommunicants trapped on their plateau. The
plateau-people's ability to be in dialogue is so blocked
by their exclusivity that they cannot be intimate enough
with others to perceive such differences.
The valley-people are free to travel the gentle
slopes of ambiguity and vulnerability, slopes which
indirectly connect the valley floor to the plateaus---
providing an alternative way by which to avoid the
catastrophic over-hang between the valley and the
plateau.* The direct routes are far too steep and risky
for any but the most experienced travelers. The gentle
slopes of ambiguity and vulnerability are taboo to the
exclusive plateau-people who exclude themselves from
the garden on the valley floor.
In the valley-garden the ability to be in dialogue
and the freedom to be in dialogue with essentially
different people are the ultimate values, and thus
the focus of ultimate concern. Inclusivity is the
rule, rather than exclusivity. Most important are the
laws and instincts of Love which promote dialogue in
the I-Thou mode.* The valley-people with
generosity and receptivity share their perceptions,
vision, and desires in dialogues which deepen their
mutual awareness and mutual understanding of each
other and their environment. Their love abounds,
uniting unlike people with love, power, and
justice.* Their relationships transcend the
possibility of logical analysis.*
The objective plateau-people are uninformed
about and/or indifferent to the valley-people, whom they
dismiss as unsophisticated. They regard themselves
as having progressed beyond the concerns of the
valley-people---through accelerating progress in
science, objective technology, and resource
consumption. Objective plateau-people devise many
technological means of transmitting information, but
they do not distinguish between transmitting
information on the one hand, and personally meaningful
dialogue on the other. Such plateau-people are imprisoned
in their exclusive orientation toward analysis---always
seeing the whole as the sum of its interacting parts.
Their exclusively analytic orientation blinds them to how
parts are often the creatures of the whole which
transcends the interacting parts. Perceptive people
residing on the subjective plateau may be able to
articulate similar statements of concern about the
contrast between-their associates and the valley-people.
The exclusivity of all plateau-people inhibits their
understanding by preventing them from making use of
categories which transcend the central presuppositions
of their specialty---they cannot be in dialogue with
valley-people who incarnate such categories.*
The state of alienation which is thus maintained
by exclusivity is in religious terms called "sin" and
occasions what religious people call "sins".* The
plateau-people maintain the alienation of the five
cultures by eating of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.* Their knowledge of good and
evil promotes a dedication to exclusivity and
techniques which excommunicate those who threaten this
dedication. Ambiguity and vulnerability are repressed
by those who practice exclusivity. One of the greatest
of human tragedies (in the Greek sense) is that most
institutional religious leaders tend to live on one of
the two plateaus, and have exclusive inclinations,
rather than inclusive ones. They forget that Love is
the Power that facilitates dialogue; God = Love. They
pay lip service to Love, and practice exclusivity. In
their eyes only the most highly qualified can be "saved".
Only the "good" will be admitted to an exclusive heaven
which is the ultimate reward for a life of
conformity on earth. Too often institutional
religious leaders have feasted upon the fruit of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, and with Adam and Eve
they have exiled themselves to one of the dry
plateaus where they try to solve problems via
exclusive techniques.* According to the insights of
their own most ancient stories their efforts are futile.
The alienation within the five cultures will
continue until there is a shaking of the foundations of
the plateau-people and they disavow both their exclusive
values and the excommunication techniques for serving the
demands of those values.* Reconciliation of plateau-
people with each other and with those who are different
will involve disavowing the specific kind of
excommunication which the plateau-people have
traditionally practiced in trying to manipulate others
into conformity with high standards of achievement. As
the plateau-people begin to recognize and learn from the
valley-people in their midst, a new age can dawn, an age
in which the dichotomy will heal---and technology will
serve Love, rather than inhibit love.*
Such an age of self-renewal and new beings will
not dawn until the plateau-people start to feel
secure in letting go of their definitions of good and
evil, and of other methods of classifying people into
excommunicated and yet-to-be-excommunicated groups.
Only as they learn to let go of exclusivity and to embrace
love will they become free to perceive their situation
clearly. Their exclusivity imprisons them in a can't
win double-bind. Plateau-people can't learn about the
perceptions, visions, understandings, and feelings of
essentially different people without abandoning their
exclusivity; they can't abandon their exclusivity
without dethroning their gods. Their gods are their
specialties which presume to demand ultimate concern.
Plateau-people have no transcendent criteria in terms
of which to evaluate their situation without bias. The
final judgment will be seen in how well what they
represent survives in a revolutionary environment which
they helped to create. Will their exclusivity make them
adaptable? Will they survive in competition with
inclusive others---who through intimate dialogue form
strong close-kit communities of essentially different
unique individuals?
The two cultures dichotomy will not be transcended
by exclusive specialists engaged in sophisticated
objective or subjective research. It is being
transcended by children of all ages who will continue
to value dialogue with all kinds of people more than
they will value any creation of men or women.* An
important contribution which we can make to transcending
the two cultures dichotomy is to encourage people in
their developmental stages and in their passages between
them to value the ability to be in dialogue with
essentially different people--not permitting such
dialogue to be undermined by any other value.* If love
must have a reason, let the reason be love.*
================================================
References are keyed sequentially to the final word
of the sentence which ends with an asterisk. The
material referred to relates in a broad way to the
realities dealt with by the asterisked sentence and
perhaps sentences immediately adjacent. The references
are not offered as authoritative support for what has
been said herein, but rather as suggestions for
consideration by the reader.
dichotomy* C.P. Snow, The Two Cultures: and a
Second Look (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1964).
us.* Edward T. Hall, Beyond Culture (Garden City,
New York: Anchor Press, 1976>. See also Otto A. Bird,
Cultures in Conflict, An Essay in the Philosophy of the
Humanities (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press,
1976).
knots.* R.D. Laing, Knots (New York: Random
House, 1972).
double-bind.* R.D. Laing, Self and Others,(New
York: Pantheon Books, 1969). See chapter 8 on
collusions---games played by two or more people
whereby they deceive themselves.
understanding.* Hall, Beyond Culture.
reconciliation.* A number of organized groups
are active in reconciliation efforts; e.g., The
Fellowship of Reconciliation and the American Friends
Service Committee. The insights of people in such
groups will probably be relevant to transcending the
dichotomy.
dichotomy* Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology,
3 vol. (Chicago; University of Chicago Press, 1951-
63). Consult the index under "ultimate concern".
power.* Paul Tillich, Love, Power and Justice
(New York: Oxford University Press: 1954).
forms.* James W. Prescott, "Body Pleasure and
the Origins of Violence," Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists vol. 31, no. 9 (November-1975), pp 10-20.
solutions.* Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of
the Commons," Science 162 (December 13, 1968) 1242-1248.
forms.* The origins of this may be traced back
to Plato's valuing of the world of ideal forms.
fear.* Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and
Trembling (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University
Press, 199l). See also Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be
(New Haven, CO.: Yale University Press, 1952).
technologies.* Theodore Roszak, Making of a
Counter Culture (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1969).
collusions.* See above under double-bind.
death.* Consider the image of "the valley of the
shadow of death" in Psalm 23.
it.* Tillich, Systematic Theology. Consult the
index under "mystery.
love.* In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13.
therein.* Hall, Beyond Culture. It is only in
the world of our allegory that people are so clearly
separated from each other. In the geographic world
we are all intermingled and often do not recognize
which allegorical plateau we and others are living on,
or who are the valley people.
role.* Joseph Fletcher, Situation Ethics: The
New Morality (Philadelphia: Westminister Press, 1966).--
See also Harvey Cox., The Situation Ethics Debate
(Philadelphia: Westminister Press, 1968
excommunicants.* In the Bible, Isaiah 53.
Plateau.* E.C. Zeeman, "Catastrophe Theory,"
Scientific American vol. 234, no. 30 (April 1976), pp. 65-
83. See also cover story by John H. Douglas, "The
Two Cultures, Twenty Years Later," Science News 111
(February 19, 1977): 122-124. (One of the authors first
developed the image of the two plateaus and valley in a
short essay written April 6, 1976 and distributeded
informally in an expanded version in late 1976.)
mode.* Martin Buber, I and Thou (New York:
Scribner, 1958).
justice.* Tillich, Love, Power and Justice
analysis.* Joseph C. Pearce, Crack in the Cosmic
Egg, Challenging Constructs of Mind and Reality (New York:
Pocket Books, 1973) and Exploring the the Crack in the
Cosmic Egg: Split Minds and Meta-Realities (New York:
Pocket Books, 1975). Some interesting analyses of human
transactions may be found in the following trilogy of
books: Eric Berne, Games People Play (New York: Grove
Press, 1964), What Do You Say After You've Said Hello?
(New York: Grove Press, 1972), and Thomas Harris' I'm
OK---You're OK (New York: Harper & Row 1969).
categories.* The interplay of nature and nurture may
be relevant to the dichotomy. Our nurture through
the passages of our lives may at each passage be congruent
with or non-congruent with our hereditary nature.
Incongruities between our heredity nature and our
environmental nurture may obscure just which plateau is
"home".
evil.* Early Hebrew myth recorded in the Bible in
Genesis, Chapter 3. Note that it was the knowledge of
good and evil which occasioned alienation and was
forbidden in anticipation of that alienation. Often
the myth is interpreted in a contradictory manner---
as calling for unquestioned obedience of some
authority that forbids certain behavior as being evil,
and approves other behavior as being good; i.e.,
providing the knowledge of good and evil.
techniques.* Excommunication is self-imposed and
the natural consequence of the adoption of the
exclusive implications of the knowledge of good
and evil. Excommunication is not imposed as a punishment
by a superior power.
values.* Paul Tillich, Shaking of the Foundations
(New York Scribner 1948). See also George S. Hammond,
"The Value System in the Scientific Subculture, Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists 701. 32, no. 10 (December 1976)
pp 36-40.
love.* Paul Tillich, The New Being (New
York: Scribner 1955). See also John W. Gardner, Self-
Renewal; The Individual and the Innovative Society (New
York: Harper & Row, 1963).
women.* "Then children were brought to him that
he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples
rebuked the people; but Jesus said, "Let the children
come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs
the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them
and went away." Matthew 19: 13-15 (RSV).
value.* Gail Sheehy, Passages (New York Dutton,
1976).
love.* J. Bristol, W. Brown, Jr., and D. Jones,
Jr., "Love Me for a Reason," as sung by the Osmonds on
a 1974 MGM Records, Inc. release.
==========================================================
==========================================================
The Context of Writing the Above Paper
The above paper was written over a period of many
weeks with much encouragement and assistance from an
autonomous student colleague upon the encouragement of Dr.
Bernard Feld, one of the "Atomic Scientists" who visited
Coe College to give an invited lecture about the threats
of Nuclear War.
At a meal shared with Dr. Feld by another physicist
faculty member, the student colleague and the author ---
an initial version of the above essay was shared with Dr.
Feld. As the Editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists he encouraged the writing of a more extended
version of the short-essay. You may see at a7604061.htm
the initial brief Version of the FIVE CULTURES essay.
Other related essays are at a7607261.htm and a7702172.htm.
There was an explicit suggestion that an extended
version of the initial essay might be published in the
Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists. However, the above
version was returned to the authors with a brief note that
it did not seem appropriate. Dr. Feld had published a
much more controversial article in The Bulletin of Atomic
Scientists (against other's advice) about the correlation
between the repression of human sexuality and the level of
violence in human cultures. The later rejection was
puzzling! See the article: "Body Pleasure and the Origins
of Violence" by James W. Prescott in the Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists, vol. 31, no. 9 (November-1975), pp 10-
20. You may find a reference to it in the Bibliography
Prescott reported a significant correlation between high
levels of cultural violence and the repression of body
pleasures.
After the above extended essay was rejected by Dr.
Feld, the authors consulted a perceptive Paraprofessional
Assistant within the Coe College Physics Department.
After having read the above essay and the note from Dr.
Feld; and having reflected upon them for some days, her
comment to the authors was: "You did not leave him any
place to hide." That was probably a tacit reference to
the book "No Place to Hide" by Hershy, regarding the
victims of the American Atomic Bomb which Dr. Feld had
played very significant roles in creating, and which was
exploded over Heroshima in an attempt to end the War
between Japan and the USA by killing a major fraction of
all the civilians in that large city, contrary to the
the conception of the nature of "Just-Wars" in traditional
Christian Ethics.
On a separate occasion in a private conversaion Dr.
Feld confessed that they, the Atomic Scientists, had not
talked about the human suffering which the actual use of
an atomic bomb would cause; they talked about how an
atomic bomb would level buildings. In retrospect they
were agast at the suffering which they had helped to make
be within the reach of military and political leaders.
On yet another occasion Dr. Feld, when at Coe,
asked for the use of a phone in a private setting. An
unused faculty office near by was opened and the phone
made available. He explained that he was going to call in
an editorial to accompany his instructions to staff to set
"The Atomic Clock" on the cover of the forthcoming issues
of "The Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists" closer toward
"Mindnight" --- to signify how close to Nuclear War the
world had come, because of the recent failure of the "Salt
Talks" on nuclear disarmament. For more information on
"The Atomic Clock" examine the top of the web page of
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
(c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in
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