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          %COMMUNAL LEARNING FROM MISTAKEN COERCION 871202

     A  community cannot  learn what the  consequences  of
individual  decisions  will  be,  if individual  decisions
are   for  the  most  part  the  consequence  of  communal
coercion.

     Communal   coercion   biases   any   study   of   the
consequences  of  individual  decisions  my  turning   the
process into a reflexive communal process which inevitably
confuses facts with opinions.   Communities as communities
cannot  think clearly;   they can only come to a consensus
about  clarity of creative thought on the part of  leading
members of the community.   A  community which coerces its
members   to  think  and  feel  in  proper  ways   thereby
undermines  the  possibility  of having  creative  leaders
around which a creative new consensus might form.

     Communal  coercion  fulfills  its  dire  expectations
regarding  the  consequences of  forbidden  decisions  and
actions  of  creative members of the community.    When  a
community through collusion,  taboo,  rejection,  shunning
and  excommunication tries  to control  the  decisions and
actions  of  its  most creative members;  it inhibits  its
own  growth and gags its wisest members.   It confuses the
consequences  of   its  collective  collusion   with   the
consequences  of individual decisions and actions.    Such
confusion cannot  be the basis for communal integrity.

     For a  community to learn from the mistakes which are
made  by  its members,  its members must be free  to  make
their own decisions  and   it become freely  apparent what
the  consequences  of those individual decisions  may  be.
The role of the community is   to promote  dialogue  about
the thoughts and feelings  which  lead up to decisions and
actions,      and   dialogue  about   the   free   flowing
consequences which  flow from those decisions and actions.
It is not integrative for a  community  to try to rig  the
consequences   to  fit preconceptions  regarding  what  is
proper and what is improper.   A    community cannot  gain
wisdom from rigged experiments.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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