[Ailist] Re: RE: What You Think upon Grows

[Howard Ditkoff]

>To change the behavior, you have to change the way people see themselves.
> Nothing really ever changes unless someone changes.

Not to be the devil's advocate all the time, but this again is one of those 
dangerously simple cliches that sounds true, but is again sort of 
narcissistic. It's a very anthropocentric statement (assuming someone refers 
to a person). As if the only thing that creates changes in the world is 
humans. Many of the biggest changes in history were caused by weather 
patterns. Species were coming along and going extinct long before humans 
arrived on the planet. And to this day, Hurricane Katrina comes out of 
nowhere and has a massive impact on people's lives without any person 
changing how they saw themselves to make it happen.

The bottom line is that there are a multitude of forces on many levels that 
are involved in change. We can do our part to create the changes we wish to 
see, but we are not alone on this planet. We share it with many other 
forces, including other people, other living beings, and impersonal patterns 
that have their own impacts.

It is within this context that we do what we can to create change.

If we're going to be bluntly honest and truthful, which I think is important 
for credibility, we have to call into question simplified aphorisms, 
especially when they embody some actually quite narcissistic ideas wrapped 
in the cloak of idealism.

Of course, sometimes these statements are just poorly worded and don't 
convey the intended meaning. But in those cases, I think it's still 
worthwhile to challenge these things so the language can be better honed.

Howard