Wade, I appreciated your blog post. Again, I agree completely. It is one of the reasons that I teach contemplative approaches to lawyering at USF and am co-facilitating a course on interpersonal dynamics at CIIS. So again, I support these efforts. It is difficult but valuable, time-consuming but critical. Folks may be daunted by the notion of peer or lay counseling, or of group work that sounds like group counseling. But even if only five folks show, five folks who are committed can accomplish much.
I am reminded of a spiritual activist I met at Fetzer last year, who shared these views, but you are the only person I've seen actually take a step forward and try to get folks meeting together. Doing so is itself revolutionary.
Rhonda Magee
My reply: I very much appreciate your words of support.
Why do you think folks are daunted by the notion of “peer counseling,” or peer support with regard to self-improvement?
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This is excellent!
It adds a new and vital dimension to political organizing.
Hopefully the October 2011 Movement and other groups will make self-improvement/ mutual support a key element in their programs for change.
My reply: Good to hear. Yes, I thought this essay was a breakthrough for me personally, especially concerning being able to clarify why I believe an open-ended approach is valuable.
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I don’t really understand (or "get") the paragraph starting: “Perhaps one reason for the general reluctance to fostering self-development is the risk of oppressive authoritarianism.”
My reply: Yes, that paragraph was poorly worded. I was speculating about how “authorities” sometimes try to mold others to fit pre-determined notions. Many people understandably resist those efforts, or anything that smells like such an effort.
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In “One way to proceed constructively is to insist that each individual define his or her own self-improvement goal,” you say, "insist." Maybe "suggest" instead?
My reply: Yes, maybe so. I’m not sure. What I was trying to get at is that we can refuse to tell others what they should do. I need to think about that language more.
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Thanks, Wade. Well written, great points and with good new references.
My reply: Great to hear from you again. When you comment, I feel I’ve written a particularly good piece.
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How about the police riot in NYC and the killing of Troy Davis???
My reply: “It’s revolting.”+++++
Regarding " to my knowledge no progressive political organization in the United States intentionally helps their members support one another in open-ended, self-determined personal-growth efforts." See http://www.somaticsandtrauma.org/ and particularly http://www.somaticsandtrauma.org/social.html
My reply: Yes, they do very good work and do have a social-justice think tank. But they themselves are not a political organization that mobilizes its members to impact public policy in the name of the organization.
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I finally took the time to read your blog and recent emails.
Thanks for the resources books True North Groups and Join the Club. Would like to hear what u think bout them.
I have some thought re your posts and hope to comment, re the idea of support for "self improvement". I was just thinking about this idea not much in regard to political activism but re what I call our ability to make the world a better place thru involvement with people things etc in our community, could be the act of going to a nursing home with your pet to spread joy and comfort. The support we get from a group/ partners etc toward personal goals leads ultimately to this greater capacity to do good. Make sense?
My reply: I very much agree that peer support can aid with regard to service to humanity in the way that you talk about. My focus at the moment is encouraging political activists to explicitly commit to providing mutual support with regard to self-improvement efforts. I love those books and will report on them further in the near future.
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