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         %INTEGRATIVE RULES LAWS VS DICHOTOMIZATION 871213

     In fear people avoid  discussion of those experiences
which   most   embarrass  them.    Through  avoidance   of
discussion  of  experiences  which  most  embarrass  them,
people  block  creative communal cooperation  which  might
help  them  learn how  to promote  personal  and  communal
integrity with respect   to/for  those  experiences.   The
avoidance   of discussion  aggravates  the   circumstances
of   alienation  which  motivate the  avoidance.     Rules
which   lead   to    such  avoidance  tend  to   lead   to
dichotomization  and   alienation,   not to  personal  and
communal integration.

     Rules may be judged in terms  of whether they tend to
lead to dichotomization and disintegration; or to personal
and  communal  integrity.   Rules should not be judged  in
terms  of  their  intended  effects in the  minds  of  the
people  who support the rules.   Rules should be judged in
terms  of the  effects  which follow from the behavior  of
the people who affirm and support the rules.

     Rules   are   not   abstract  realities   which   are
integrative  or disintegrative apart from the behaviors of
the  people who affirm and support them.    Rules with the
people  who  affirm/support them are whole realities which
need  to  be considered coherently.   It is futile to  say
that  a  certain set of rules are integrative,  if  it  is
clear   that   the   people  who  are  most   likely    to
affirm/support  the rules will use them in  disintegrative
ways  which undermine personal and/or communal  integrity.
Rules are tools which are  used  by  members  of  society,
and  which  empower  some members  of  society:      other
members  of society  may  be victimized  by  the   members
who  are  empowered.     It  is essential  to  judge   the
probable   effect   of  the most likely use to  which  the
supporters of proposed rules will  put   the rules.  Rules
which will most  likely  be  put to disintegrative  effect
should   not  be accorded  respect.   Attention should  be
focused   upon alternatives which are not as likely to  be
disintegrative.

     Informal  rules  which  are  disintegrative  tend  to
promote dichotomization. People who informally adopt a set
of   judgmental  rules,   are  likely  to  use   them   to
set  themselves   up  in their own eyes  as  better   than
other people  who do not show  respect  for the judgmental
rules  invoked  by the self  righteous.     The  alienated
peoples  may  each  be  self righteous in their own  eyes,
and   view   each other as unworthy of  respect.     Their
rules do not promote creative  cooperation in dealing with
the  experiences which embarrass  them.     Those creative
people who find  ways  to transcend the  embarrassment are
unable   to share  their  findings  with those who  affirm
rules  which lead to disintegration.

                         (c) 1997 by Paul A. Smith in
                      "Search for Integrity and Honesty"
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)

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