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 %DESIRE DEFENSIVE SECURITY VULNERABLE INTIMACY JOY 900303

     Often  we desire defensive security in  the  mistaken
notion  that  through  it we can enjoy the  advantages  of
secure vulnerability.   Through defensive security we seek
to avoid all the costs of others'  mistakes,  and often we
try  to  dump  blame  for  our  mistakes  upon  others  in
dishonest   manipulations  of  the  truth  regarding   our
communal responsibilities.

     Often  our dominant paradigm and attitudes  leads  us
away  from accepting communal responsibility  and  towards
trying   to   concentrate   responsibility  upon   a   few
unfortunate    scape   goats   chosen    for    sacrifice.
Responsibility is often dumped upon people as blame, after
mistakes   have   been  made,   not  earlier  along   with
appropriate power and communal encouragement to facilitate
the avoidance  of  mistakes.    The concentration of blame
upon a few victims does not  serve integrative   purposes,
but tends  to  generate  an unwillingness  of observers to
accept responsibility and power to act in creative ways.

     The  concentration  of blame upon a  few  unfortunate
people  undermines the development of a communal sense  of
responsibility  to  serve  as a foundation upon  which  to
build individual creativity.  Concentrating attention upon
individual  responsibility  and  choosing  individuals  to
blame,    diverts  attention  from  the  need  to  develop
a   profound   sense   of  communal  responsibility    and
communal  acceptance  of blame for mistakes  made  by  the
community   as  a  whole.    Concentrating  the  costs  of
mistakes    leads   to  additional  mistakes.     Honestly
distributing  the costs  of mistakes leads   to   communal
integration  and to learning from the mistakes.

     Dumping  garbage  back and forth between  back  yards
does not get rid of the disorder,  the mess,  the entropy.
Passing  blame back and forth between guilty  people  does
not  resolve  conflicts  or help  anybody  cope  with  the
dilemmas  which  generate the senses of guilt,  shame  and
blame.

     To  cope with garbage,  to generate order where there
is  disorder and confusion,  requires creative work  which
makes  constructive  use  of concentrated energy  in  some
coherent  way;   and disposes of the waste heat  which  is
generated   in   the   process.    The   second   law   of
thermodynamics  regarding  entropy  describes  the  limits
within  which this may be done.   In a similar way we  may
describe  the  limits within which members of a  community
may  work  creatively to reduce personal  confusion,   and
increase  personal  and  communal  integrity  as  ordering
factors. Doing so requires creative work involving the use
of concentrated energy; and the disposal of blame,  guilt,
and shame in ways which removes them from the community as
a  whole.    This  entails processes  of  forgiveness  and
reconciliation;   not  processes of  concentrating  blame,
shame  and guilt upon a few victims.  It does not  involve
holding  onto  and assigning blame,  shame  and  guilt  to
specific people to keep as their own.

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