66
Oct l7/88
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
and the Ancient Wisdom.
Like countless other citizens, I am hopeful that progress can
be made in correcting many man-made problems. Here are some
of my concerns.
1. The farm lands of California are being damaged. Possibly
much of it permanently. What is happening in other countries
is often more dreadful.
2. What especially disturbs me is hearing of runaway girls
in their teens who appeared to have learned almost no useful
skills while at school. It appears reasonable to me that
any young person of age Fifteen should have enough marketable
skills to earn enough to keep themselves. It puzzles me
that so many could learn so little at school.
This has concerned me for more than 40 years. I have asked
thousands of children how they spend their time at school.
I have asked countless adults the same question. I have
visited city schools and rural ones in different parts of the
country. I have visited other countries about it. I have
asked hundreds of immigrants and visitors about it. I have
spent an enormous amount of my time giving advice to people.
Occasionally they listened. Often the results were
wonderful. Sometimes they were like a miracle. I would
tell them that I had sown the seeds of the ancient wisdom in
their minds. If they had closed minds, nothing grew. This
sort of medical practice can give great satisfaction but is
tiring.
Today, around these parts,it is difficult to reach people.
Our minds are continually bombarded with countless sales
pitches. There is noise every where. Many people listen
to such loud band music that their hearing is damaged.
Their computers are overloaded. It is garbage in, garbage
out. With young people, if one types out the message in
about 6 lines, and they hang it on their mirror, it might
get to them some time. Possibly all of us have some brain
damage.
I have helped many girls to quit smoking. The government
may be encouraging smoking by continually talking about death
People know they are going to die and do not want to discuss
it. I talk about life. I say to a young girl."You have
beauty, if you continue smoking, you will lose it. Your rosy
cheeks will become sallow, your skin will not feel as warm.
To a young man who is a non smoker, you will not smell good.
You will need bifocals about 5 years sooner than the average.
I did research on this."
When Lady Bird Johnson was in the white house her life work
was to keep America Beautiful. I tell beautiful young
girls that if Lady Bird saw them smoking ,she would be very
upset because she would know that you would lose your beauty.
I still use this approach. I Admire Lady Bird.
I say to married women, "Don't smoke, for then the other
women will know that you are not happy with your love life".
If an older women who smokes, still looks good, I usually
find that they had only smoked a few years. If they had
started in their teens, it shows in their faces.
I have helped individuals over the years but what about the
problem? It appears worse. What about solutions?
No smart politician likes to offer solutions except to throw
money at it. I would like to suggest a solution.
I have a great deal of material about it. It would fill a
book.
One of the unique features of the human brain is the
potential for developing hand movements and speech movements,
and the younger the better.
Most schools could have satellite factories. Different
local firms could be related to different schools. The young
could observe skilled adults working. They could talk to
skilled persons. They could learn by earning as well as by
observation and example. Taking job training after high
school is often too late. Every young person should have an
opportunity to develop good verbalization and hand skills and
do it young.
All schools should do a lot of singing. A lot of
memorizing and reciting. Class plays and skits. Plenty of
prizes for good singing or good workmanship
.
I especially favor class or school visiting where the
students displayed the above skills. Less emphasis on
sports which may appear glamourous at school but only a tiny
percentage hit the big time as professionals
Instead of earning money working in a fast food restaurant or
similar job or just fooling around, they would be better
working in a skilled atmosphere at school. Earning some
money and steadily becoming a skilled person and a skilled
communicator. So many parents want their children to have
leadership training but various skills are essential to
leadership.
.
This could be a form of integration. Any student could
take part. even though they were not good at math, or a star
athlete or considered glamourous. They could have their
share of self esteem.
All students and their parents should sing a lot including
songs in other languages. Songs with words that are
understandable. This helps develop what I call a WORD
BRAIN. That is the ability to think in words. Thus they
do not have to spend time looking for words to express their
emotions
All schools could be delightful. They should mostly be
small neighborhood affairs. Many big schools are just
institutions.
Some students are good at math but they should not bypass the
hand and speech abilities. Rich children especially
should be able to acquire a pride in workmanship. Otherwise
they may get a sense of worthlessness. I have noticed for
years that young terrorists are often from rich families.
All children, rich and poor should have a sense of
usefulness. It should be included in their grade standing
This article is incomplete but one could write forever and
never say enough. However, I have thrown in some ideas
about which I feel deeply. I hope to publish a book
outlining my ideas and hopes at greater length. .
All of us are interested in who our next president will be.
Most of the world is interested. I am deeply interested for
it will affect my life and the lives of all of us. By the
commitments he makes and the Judges and others who he
appoints he can affect our lives for a long time.
Let me first discuss Vice President George Bush.
1. Genes and circumstances have made him a special person.
2. He was born into a successful family who had strong
principles.
3. He is an unusual hybrid. One of 4 children. Time magazine
August 22/88 says he is from a family of fiercely
competitive athletes. He attended Phillips Andover Academy
for 5 years where they stressed patriotism and a strong drive
but willingness to sacrifice for the success of the group.
Memorial Tower is dedicated to those fallen martyrs from
world war l. Time Magazine spoke of them as
Aristocrats. The tower dominates the campus.
Bush was a member of a vigorous family that was dominated
by strong cultural values that were imprinted on their young.
His family were successful athletes with a strong drive to
win.
4. Here was a bright young man imprinted by a culture that
was almost fierce.
5. George Bush was also dedicated to winning but he was
too intelligent to be just a fierce competitor. He has
insight. An awareness of the feelings of others.
He resembles Shakespeare's Hamlet who worshiped his big
warlike father but had a gentle nature and great insight.
The English people admire the character of Hamlet because he
was trying to be a gentleman in a violent world.
I am told that some Europeans look on Hamlet as a weak
character who kept avoiding violent revenge for his fathers
murder.
I favor the English attitude towards Hamlet. We Americans
are trying to be nice guys in a violent world. There are a
lot of crazies out there and some very mean ones. We can
cooperate with our friends and do our best.
6. I have seen many patients who resemble Hamlet. They have
the brains and the drive but they cannot be ruthless
They are loyal to their friends and family and are careful of
the feelings of others. I call them the KIND HEARTED
KILLERS.
7. George Bush was born into a learning situation. His
family were not intellectual people but he mixed with a
variety of successful people. He was a good listener. A
quick learner. His cooperative attitude was also a basis for
learning.
8. For president we need a man of deep intelligence and a
wide knowledge. George Bush has been successful in so many
areas. He has been particularly successful as a family man.
I have told dozens of young men, that when they get married,
try to keep your wife in love with you. If you succeed, she
will bring up your sons to believe that they have the
greatest father that ever lived.
The only thing that makes inequalities bearable within a
group or family, is love. This can happen when a group or
family are passing on a cultural plan from generation to
generation. If the group or family are successful, then
each member has a chance to share the glory. If a member
of the family suffers, the others can share the grief and
help sustain the one who suffers.
I made up some HAIKU verses about this. Haiku verses
are popular in Japan where they originated. Each verse has
seventeen syllables and 3 lines. The first line has five
syllables, the middle line seven and then five. Each of my
verses is based on a concept.
The Mother
Creator new life
Power to give life's greatest gift.
Unreflecting love.
Learning
Eager young minds.
Strangers cannot light the torch
No love. No learning.
Beauty.
Beauty queen so proud.
Surrounded by so many.
Who smile without love.
Memorizing songs, verses, proverbs etc. help sustain the
culture. Without culture, people may become just a mixture
of conditioned reflexes.
I have told young people for years that to be able to
communicate ones thoughts and feelings one needs more than a
vocabulary. We need countless word sequences and similes
imbedded in our memory banks. We should be aware of nature
around us and respect it and try to live in harmony with it.
We need to fill our memory banks with fine people, both
past and present. This helps to protect our minds and keep
out the garbage.
As an example let me talk about William Shakespeare.
In Stratford- on- Avon in England was an actors guild. The
guild had a school for their children. The guild made room
for retired actors. So Shakespeare grew up in an atmosphere
of good verbalization. The actors themselves may not have
always been smart but they played the role of people in
society. past and present including the smart and the
famous. Good verbalization was essential. They could learn
to think in words. This is spoken of as HAVING A WORD BRAIN.
I wrote an article some years ago entitled "Verbalization or
violence" I have told countless people, that if they
cannot express their emotions and feelings verbally they may
resort to some sort of violence.
There are many factors that make it difficult for people
to develop a word brain. One of them appears to be the
segregation of children by age group. This is very new in
society and appears unnatural.
Possibly the greatest benefit of being part of a
successful cultural group is having access to filtered
knowledge that has been filtered through the minds of
various respected members.
In life, the individual does not have time to develop
his own cultural plan from scratch. As Sir Isaac Newton used
to say," I stand on the shoulders of giants". We are all
indebted to people in the past who have made a good life
possible.
I tell school children that all successful people must
develop their own brain and also utilize the brains of other
people. The head of a big company must utilize the brains
of as many employees as possible and the minds of friends and
associates. This is especially vital for the president of
our country.
Some years go, I wrote an article entitled, "How to get the
most out your parents and other soft touches" Youth is a
time for learning. Don't demand just toys and fun.
Cooperate so that your brain is in harmony with your parents
and others around you. Your mind will get sharper and so
will theirs.
You can develop THE JOY OF LEARNING. Try to act in such a
way that your parents will feel that having you as their
child was the Brightest thing they ever did.
Bush has plenty of inhibitions for that is what
civilization is all about. A civilized person is someone
who tries to follow a set of rules rather than being governed
by his or her more primitive emotions. Without discipline,
there is no freedom.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson expressed the above in his poem
Oenone. Pallas, the Goddess of wisdom is addressing Paris,
who holds the GOLDEN APPLE.
"Self- reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone, lead life to sovereign power.
Yet not for power (power of herself
Would come uncalled for), but to live by law,
Acting the law we live by without fear;
And, because right is right, to follow right
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.'
It is reassuring that Vice President was pilot on an
aircraft carrier. He flew torpedo bombers. This requires
courage, intelligence and a fine nervous system. They need
intensity.
Some years ago, Martin Agronsky was interviewing the
famous golfer SAMMY SNEAD. He asked Snead, "How do get rid
of intensity" Slamming Sammy replied. "Without intensity
you are not a champion."
In the War in the Pacific, if a flyer shot down five
enemy planes, he was called an ACE FIGHTER PILOT.
these pilots were considered, by some, to be killers who
would not settle down to family life. A lady psychologist
studied them and found that they became fine family men. The
same instinct that motivated them to fiercely defend their
country was used to defend their home and family.
-
I am happy that Vice President Bush and Senator Quayle
are both men of principle and not dominated by what the
ancient Greeks called Hubris. Which can be translated as a
lust for power, just for the sake of power.
Whoever the people elect as president will have a
difficult time but also a glorious opportunity. Along with
him we are facing a violent world. Presently the world
appears very violent but the opportunities for peace are
greater because for the first time in history , the average
person can learn what it is all about.
Another danger is warring factions and groups that want
special privilege.
However, most of our troubles and that of the world are
due to human foolishness and should be solvable by humans.
The stakes are high but the knowledge is available to make
the World a much nicer place to live in. To me it is
cheerful that Bush and Qualye may reach the top of a pyramid
of power for good or evil.,
