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   %REFLEXIVE INTEGRITY WISDOM CHANGE MISTAKE VALUE 900807

     A community and its members cannot enjoy personal and
communal integrity in the absence of reflexive integrity.

     For there to be reflexive integrity the community and
its   members   must  reflect  honestly  upon  their   own
experiences   and  make  use  of  what  they  know   about
themselves and their recent experiences to arrive at  wise
decisions  regarding what to do next.  In the  absence  of
honest  self  knowledge  it  is impossible  to  make  wise
decisions.

     By  its  very  nature  reflexive  knowledge  is   not
objective  knowledge,  and cannot be wisely replaced  with
objective  knowledge.  People who try to replace reflexive
knowledge  with objective knowledge,  thereby threaten the
integrity of their community and its members.  The process
of  replacement  begins  with  simply  ignoring  reflexive
knowledge,   due  to  being  preoccupied  with   objective
knowledge.  Thus a compulsive preoccupation with objective
knowledge  constitutes  a  danger to the  integrity  of  a
community and its members.

     The reflexive knowledge and integrity of a  community
depends  critically  upon  the patterns of  reflection  on
personal  and communal experiences which are  passed  from
generation  to  generation through  family,   educational,
business,   political,   religious,   and  other  intimate
relationships.   How people regard themselves  reflexively
reflects  upon  how  other  people  have  regarded   them.
Children  learn to view themselves with self confidence or
low  self esteem in large part in response to  how  others
have  regarded  them.  Children who learn from  others  to
regard  themselves  with a sense of insecurity,   tend  to
become  defensive  adults  who threaten the  integrity  of
themselves and others. Such adults may be technically very
competent and powerful, but they are not wise in their use
of  their  technologies  and powers,   because  they  lack
reflexive integrity.

     People who make mistakes and lack reflexive integrity
cannot reflect honestly upon their mistakes and learn from
their mistakes; and so repeat mistakes over and over.

     People   who   make  mistakes  and  enjoy   reflexive
integrity  can  reflect honestly upon their  mistakes  and
learn  from their mistakes,  and so do not repeat mistakes
over and over.

     A community and its members cannot enjoy personal and
communal  integrity in the absence of reflexive integrity.
It is thus essential that each community,  and each member
of each community,  seek to promote reflexive integrity in
daily living.

     A community and its members cannot enjoy personal and
communal  integrity  in  the absence of  integrity  within
active and extensive reflexive communications.

     Any  preoccupations which lead to the neglect of open
and honest reflexive communications,  are a threat to  the
integrity of a community and its members.  Any educational
program  which  leads  members of a  community  to  become
compulsively  preoccupied  with any set of  interests  and
concerns  to  the exclusion of open and  honest  reflexive
communications, constitutes a threat to the integrity of a
community  and its members.  Examples of such a threat  to
communal integrity may be found in all university graduate
schools  which  train doctoral students to be  preoccupied
with   objective  and  quantitative  pure   research   and
publication,   while neglecting to encourage  and  promote
open    and    honest   reflexive    considerations    and
communications within those doctoral programs.

     Reflexive  communications are the means by which  the
integrity  of a community and its members  is  maintained.
Objective  communications are inadequate in the absence of
open  and  honest  reflexive  communications.    Objective
communications   are   essential,   but  not   sufficient.
Reflexive   communications   are   essential,    but   not
sufficient.   For  a community and its  members  to  enjoy
integrity,  there must be open and honest communication of
both  the reflexive and objective kinds.  Neither kind  is
sufficient. Specialists who believe that their own special
kind  of communication is sufficient,  are a threat to the
integrity of the community and its members.

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