The New Paradigm
vol. IV, Number 2

Dear Friends,

The previous edition commenced an exploration into a very broad domain of interest, by suggesting explicitly that we do indeed create our own respective "realities" with our thoughts, emotions, feelings, intentions, and habitual... ah, how you say in English, eh... "climate of personal being?" This was also the thrust of an earlier essay on "voting," and of others as well. There are numerous reasons to give this notion serious consideration, with which I will not labor you here. If, however, one concludes that, yes indeed, I AM the Author of the "reality" I experience; and if as I cast my eyes about me I conclude that, yes, my "reality" could stand a bit of "improvement," what next? What's the next step?

I leave it to you; there are any number of possible different approaches to this. One that appeals to me is to focus a good deal of careful attention on what it is I want to experience in my "reality," which is what I commenced doing in Part I; the theory being, if I have a fairly clear idea what it is I want, I will have at least improved my chances of achieving it. Or as I believe Yogi Berra once remarked, "If you don't know where you're going, you might not get there."

[Editorial Note: The following essay is the second of what has developed (so far) into a five-part series. The "Table of Contents" for the entire series follows.]

• "New Beginnings, Part I," vol. IV #1, 12/8/00: an introductory "thumbnail sketch" of one man's idea of a "new paradigm" world;

• "New Beginnings, Part II," vol. IV #2, which follows directly: a discussion of possible approaches to "new paradigm" learning, as opposed to "old paradigm" education;

• "New Beginnings, Part III," vol. IV #4, 1/1/01: speculations about technological developments in a "new paradigm" civilization;

• "New Beginnings, Part IV," vol. IV #6, 2/14/01: a consideration of human relationships in a "new paradigm" civilization;

• "New Beginnings, Part V," vol. IV #10, 4/15/01: a penetrating look at the Hierarchy, in the context of disclosures discussed in the "WingMakers, Revisited" series.

[Continued from "New Beginnings, Part I"]

There's nothing particularly "special" about my vision for a "new paradigm" world. Each of us ultimately must invent our own anyway - or else acquiesce in someone else's vision, which in my view may risk abdication at once of one's Sovereignty, and one's responsibility. The value of this exercise, if any, is not the "infallibility" of my vision, but the stimulation I hope it affords others who, like myself, may also have been grappling with the issue of "what I want," possibly for many years.

What I want is predicated upon the perception that All are One, that Each is Sovereign, and that the best interest of each Sovereign Individual is most highly served by guiding every action and decision, large and small, by the deliberate objective of being in harmony with the "highest good" for "All That Is." That is, if All are One, clearly what is "good" for All is likewise "good" for me; and any "damage" I do to "others," or any part of All, I likewise inflict upon myself. With these ideals as a foundation, success in the "new paradigm" world emerges as being Self-governed (in my view) by two "laws" which are not by nature "legal" (in an "old paradigm" coercive sense), although I submit they are preeminently lawful:

1. Do whatever you wish.

2. Do nothing to interfere with another's liberty to do likewise.

I submit that in a world in which these are the common understandings among Sovereigns, the need for further "legislation" is virtually nil; which liberates enormous blocks of time, attention, and "expense" of various kinds for a rich spectrum of creative, cooperative endeavors within and among human communities.

We touched lightly in Part I upon a number of different aspects of what a "new paradigm" world might be like, and promised to return in particular to the topic of education. It is appropriate that we do so, for the "education" of the young generation of every culture has always been of almost universal concern among humans in all times and places, and is consequently of foundational importance to every aspect of human culture. It is the means by which the essence of a culture is transferred from one generation to the next, and cultural continuity is maintained over the course of time.

Although many of our contemporaries speak of "education" as "life-long learning," the reality of the "educational system" in virtually universal use throughout the so-called "civilized world" today is structured along entirely different lines; almost all of them (in my opinion) "wrong-headed" and catastrophically counterproductive. Counterproductive, that is, if their objective is the expansion and improvement of human awareness and creativity from one generation to the next. If, on the other hand, the objective of "education" is to turn out successive generations of emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually crippled slaves, then the "educational system" meets its objective admirably, and can hardly be "improved."

As you may have guessed by now, that is basically what I think contemporary "education" is all about, backed by deliberate, malevolent intent; which is why I wrote that "'School's out' for 'new paradigm' children, who will never again be incarcerated in prison-like institutions to have their stupidity and resentment honed to a high gloss." Sorry, all you conscientious teachers, professors, and "educators" out there; I respect and admire your (presumed) sincere and dedicated intent, individually, for elevating the capabilities and awareness of the young generation. However, the tools you have been furnished to work with are not suited to the task, and were fashioned (in my opinion) intentionally for an entirely different purpose: i.e. the perpetuation of generation after generation of somnambulant slaves.

The "new paradigm" counterpart to "education" may not even be called "education" at all, and will borrow nothing from the contemporary "educational system" - excepting possibly some "resonant" and knowledgeable pedagogues who are skilled and sincerely dedicated to sharing their understanding with others interested in learning from them. I suspect some such may be found within contemporary academia. Many of their peers, however, may not "resonate" with what emerges in "new paradigm" communities to replace "old paradigm education." Which is just fine, because humans with an interest in furthering the learning process, for themselves as well as for their children and peers, are to be found in all walks and stations in life, and are probably not "localized" at all among the explicitly "educational" professions.

Whatever it is eventually called, "new paradigm learning" (as I imagine it) is vastly more fluid and unstructured than "old paradigm education." This is based upon the observation that humans, including "children" of all ages, are by nature "information sponges." We're naturally curious, inquisitive, imaginative, and infinitely resourceful when it comes to pursuing anything of genuine interest. No one who is truly interested in something - anything at all - requires additional motivation to learn more about it. Consequently, the very world in which we live, unvarnished and unadorned, functions as a non-stop "learning environment" of incalculable variety and richness, which cannot be exhausted "in a thousand lifetimes."

We are not cast naked and alone, however, into the midst of "unvarnished and unadorned nature," but have our birth and nurturance within the contexts of family and community. These form the foundation, and furnish much of the content, of "new paradigm learning," "cradle to grave."

A number of stimulating ideas about how various aspects of "new paradigm learning" might be practically implemented within the contexts of family and community are to be found, perhaps surprisingly, in an innovative text on architecture by Christopher Alexander and others, titled A Pattern Language.² Over the past several years I have browsed through this book many times, and every time I do, I am renewed in the conviction that here is a "mother lode" of practical and profoundly well thought-out ideas for implementing the "new paradigm" substantially within the social fabric of regions, towns, communities, and homes.

A Pattern Language, schematically, consists of an orderly sequence of 253 architectural "patterns," each with a rich spectrum of potential applicability, arranged like a fractal shape, or the organic branch pattern of a large tree, from the very general, to the minutely specific. The first pattern, for instance, 1 INDEPENDENT REGIONS, commences with the following comprehensive statement of the recurring "problem" the pattern addresses:

"Metropolitan regions will not come to balance until each one is small and autonomous enough to be an independent sphere of culture."

The stated "problem" is then developed in considerable depth, which in this instance includes the following quote by biologist J.B.S. Haldane from a paper titled, "On Being the Right Size":³

"...just as there is a best size for every animal, so the same is true for every human institution. In the Greek type of democracy all the citizens could listen to a series of orators and vote directly on questions of legislation. Hence their philosophers held that a small city was the largest possible democratic state...."

Readers of The New Paradigm will recognize this as a recurring theme, and it may be that ideas given expression in A Pattern Language have had a subliminal influence upon my perception of what "the new paradigm" is. I mention this in passing as a cautionary note, because I do not feel that any book, or doctrine, or body of thought can lay legitimate claim to being "the revealed truth" about anything, and my perceptions are as prone to error and illusion as anyone's. That said, I can nevertheless give an unqualified recommendation to A Pattern Language as a brilliant source of stimulating ideas of aid in visualizing some of the details of a "new paradigm" world.

There are numerous patterns in A Pattern Language with significant applicability to "new paradigm learning," some explicitly so, others more intuitive, and surprising. Of the former kind, 18 NETWORK OF LEARNING is an example. The "problem" is stated as follows:

"In a society which emphasizes teaching, children and students - and adults - become passive and unable to think or act for themselves. Creative, active individuals can only grow up in a society which emphasizes learning instead of teaching."

The "problem" is developed further, in part through an extensive quote from Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich.⁴ The recommended "solution" is then expressed as follows:

"Instead of the lock-step of compulsory schooling in a fixed place, work in piecemeal ways to decentralize the process of learning and enrich it through contact with many places and people all over the city: workshops, teachers at home or walking through the city, professionals willing to take on the young as helpers, older children teaching younger children, museums, youth groups travelling, scholarly seminars, industrial workshops, old people, and so on. Conceive of all these situations as forming the backbone of the learning process; survey all these situations, describe them, and publish them as the city's 'curriculum'; then let students, children, their families and neighborhoods weave together for themselves the situations that comprise their 'school' paying as they go with standard vouchers, raised by community tax. Build new educational facilities in a way which extends and enriches this network."

Aside from misgivings about the part on "community tax," which may be no more than an adverse "conditioned reflex" peculiar to myself, I'd say this is an excellent overview of how learning, as opposed to teaching, might function in a "new paradigm" community. As for my misgivings, who am I to say that in a community of mutually acknowledged Sovereigns, something like "taxes," or "dues," or a "Community Chest" shouldn't work quite well? The learning theme is developed further in pattern 43 UNIVERSITY AS A MARKETPLACE:

"Concentrated, cloistered universities, with closed admission policies and rigid procedures which dictate who may teach a course, kill opportunities for learning."

This problem is so well articulated that its further elaboration bears quoting at length:

"The original universities in the middle ages were simply collections of teachers who attracted students because they had something to offer. They were marketplaces of ideas, located all over the town, where people could shop around for the kinds of ideas and learning which made sense to them. By contrast, the isolated and over administered university of today kills the variety and intensity of the different ideas at the university and also limits the student's opportunity to shop for ideas.

"To re-create this kind of academic freedom and the opportunity for exchange and growth of ideas two things are needed.

"First, the social and physical environment must provide a setting which encourages rather than discourages individuality and freedom of thought. Second, the environment must provide a setting which encourages the student to see for himself which ideas make sense - a setting which gives him the maximum opportunity and exposure to a great variety of ideas, so that he can make up his mind for himself.

"The image which most clearly describes this kind of setting is the image of the traditional marketplace, where hundreds of tiny stalls, each one developing some specialty and unique flavor which can attract people by its genuine quality, are so arranged that a potential buyer can circulate freely, and examine the wares before he buys.

"What would it mean to fashion the university after this model?

"1. Anyone can take a course. To begin with, in a university marketplace there are no admission procedures. Anyone, at any age, may come forward and seek to take a class. In effect, the 'course catalog' of the university is published and circulated at large, in the newspapers and on radio, and posted in public places throughout the region.

"2. Anyone can give a course. Similarly, in a university marketplace, anyone can come forward and offer a course. There is no hard and fast distinction between teachers and the rest of the citizenry. If people come forward to take a course, then it is established. There will certainly be groups of teachers banding together and offering interrelated classes; and teachers may set prerequisites and regulate enrollment however they see fit. But, like a true marketplace, the students create the demand. If over a period of time no one comes forward to take a professor's course, then he must change his offering or find another way to make a living.

"Many courses, once they are organized, can meet in homes and meeting rooms all across the town. But some will need more space or special equipment, and all the classes will need access to libraries and various other communal facilities. The university marketplace, then, needs a physical structure to support its social structure.

[. . .]

"Therefore:

"Establish the university as a marketplace of higher education. As a social conception this means that the university is open to people of all ages, on a full-time, part-time, or course by course basis. Anyone can offer a class. Anyone can take a class. Physically, the university marketplace has a central crossroads where its main buildings and offices are, and the meeting rooms and labs ripple out from this crossroads - at first concentrated in small buildings along pedestrian streets and then gradually becoming more dispersed and mixed with the town."⁵

Another pattern that directly addresses "new paradigm learning," although there is nothing particularly "new" about it, is pattern 83 MASTER AND APPRENTICES:

"The fundamental learning situation is one in which a person learns by helping someone who really knows what he is doing."

This seems to me so glaringly self-evident as to require practically no further elaboration. (And its conspicuous absence from the existing "educational system" reinforces my conviction that "old paradigm education" is not intended to facilitate learning at all, but to facilitate surreptitious control.) The recommended "solution" is as follows:

"Arrange the work in every workgroup, industry, and office, in such a way that work and learning go forward hand in hand. Treat every piece of work as an opportunity for learning. To this end, organize work around a tradition of masters and apprentices: and support this form of social organization with a division of the workspace into spatial clusters - one for each master and his apprentices - where they can work and meet together."

A pattern of patterns is beginning to emerge, is it not? in which learning and the community are an integrated whole, not separate spheres of unrelated interest and activity. This is fleshing out in some detail what I was groping toward a year ago with my proposal for "something 'almost, but not quite, entirely unlike' a 'school,' or an 'academy,' or a 'temple of learning'."⁶

Those so far mentioned are not the only explicitly learning-oriented patterns in A Pattern Language. However, many patterns with broader, or tangential relation to learning expand the concept of a community as a potentially rich learning environment in many, sometimes surprising ways: such as HOUSEHOLD MIX (35), OLD PEOPLE EVERYWHERE (40), CHILDREN IN THE CITY (57), CONNECTED PLAY (68), ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND (73), THE FAMILY (75). Another of these, entirely unanticipated from the contemporary "old paradigm" perspective, is 86 CHILDREN'S HOME:

"The task of looking after little children is a much deeper and more fundamental social issue than the phrases 'baby-sitting' and 'child care' suggest."

The issues this pattern addresses were once, not so long ago, dealt with quite effectively by the "extended family" of brothers and sisters and cousins of various ages and genders, aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents, in-laws and related families, living in close proximity with one another in a loosely-knit local community. Rich and varied relationships were possible among all members of such communities, with no single relationship bearing an inordinate burden.

Such spontaneously occurring organic social units have been almost completely dissolved in contemporary "society," and have been replaced by the "nuclear family," consisting exclusively of a father, a mother, and one or more children; which "family" is now in the process of further dissolution with the rising proportion of "single-parent families." Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, are now "scattered to the winds" by economic and other circumstances, which could not have more effectively disintegrated the social fabric had they been deliberately engineered to do so. [Significant pause.]

In a "new paradigm" world of Sovereigns, pattern 86 CHILDREN'S HOME might fulfill a vital role in facilitating the reintegration of healthy communities, from the perspective of both the parents' and the children's social needs.

"The children's home we propose is a place which 'de-intensifies the parent-child relationship' by bringing the child into authentic social relationships with several other adults and many other children.

"1. Physically, it is a very large, rambling home, with a good-sized yard.

"2. The house is within walking distance of the children's own homes. Terence Lee was [sic] found that young children who walk or bike to school learn more than those who go by bus or car. The mechanism is simple and startling. The children who walk or bike, remain in contact with the ground, and are therefore able to create a cognitive map which includes both home and school. The children who are taken by car, are whisked, as if by magic carpet, from one place to the other, and cannot maintain any cognitive map which includes both home and school. To all intents and purposes they feel lost when they are at school; they are perhaps even afraid that they have lost their mothers.⁷

"3. There is a core staff of two or three adults who manage the home; and at least one of them, preferably more, actually lives there. In effect, it is the real home of some people; it does not close down at night.

"4. Parents and their children join a particular home. And then the children may come and stay there at any time, for an hour, an afternoon, sometimes for long overnight stays.

"5. Payment might be made by the hour to begin with. If we assume $1 per hour as a base fee, and assume that a child might spend 20 hours a week there, the house needs about 30 member children to generate a monthly income of about $2500.

"6. The home focuses on raising children in a big extended family setting. For example, the home might be the center of a local coffee klatch, where a few people meet every day and mix with the children.

"7. In line with this atmosphere, the home itself should be relatively open, with a public path passing across the site. Silverstein has indicated that the child's sense of his first school being 'separate' from society can be reduced if the play areas of the children's home are open to all passing adults and to all passing children.⁸

"8. To keep the young children safe, and to make it possible to give them this great freedom without losing track of them altogether, the play areas may be sunk slightly, and surrounded by a low wall. If the wall is at seat height, it will encourage people to sit on it - giving them a place from which to watch the children playing, and the children a chance to talk to passers-by.

[. . .]

"Therefore:

"In every neighborhood, build a children's home - a second home for children - a large rambling house or workplace - a place where children can stay for an hour or two, or for a week. At least one of the people who run it must live on the premises; it must be open 24 hours a day; open to children of all ages; and it must be clear, from the way that it is run, that it is a second family for the children - not just a place where baby-sitting is available."⁹

In reviewing these and other innovative, practical, often well-tested suggestions on implementing an organic, functional learning environment within the existing fabric of a healthy community, I am struck by the strangeness of their absence from contemporary "education." Their absence seems to point up the glaring deficiencies of "old paradigm education" in even bolder relief than had already been evident. Then I think, "Have I not slandered an entire profession, in speaking so passionately about the deficiencies of 'education'?" If you think so, you may wish to have a look at an earlier "Education"¹⁰ essay, available on-line now for the first time in HTML format.

I have no doubt there are many gifted, talented, and capable "educators" "out there," who have inspired at least some of their students and set them possibly upon life-long quests for learning, or mastery of various arts and skills. I have encountered at rare intervals such teachers myself during my "school days," and appreciate with gratitude the contribution each of them has made to my youthful development. However, notwithstanding "it's an ill wind that doesn't blow someone some good," I cannot evade the sincere conviction that, taken as a whole, "old paradigm education" is indeed "an ill wind;" and urge all who value their and their children's Sovereignty and independence of thought, emotion, and spirit, to seek diligently for alternatives. No "education" at all is preferable to "old paradigm education" as established in "public schools" practically everywhere. (This is just an opinion, remember; you're welcome to it, or to ignore it, as you like.)

Well, the purpose of this exercise is not primarily to bash "old paradigm education," but rather to illuminate "new paradigm" alternatives that actually work. Also, "getting from 'here' to 'there'" does not involve opposition to "old paradigm education," for opposition is by nature an ineffective "old paradigm" response to perceived "problems." Fortunately, an effective remedy to the many deficiencies of "old paradigm education" lies within each individual, of any age, race, or condition: for we are all "programmed to learn," throughout our lives, "from cradle to grave." The basic formula for a successful "learning curriculum" is, "nurture with love, and sought assistance, and keep out of the way!"

Everyone, from infancy onward, is innately qualified to chart one's own learning curriculum. Those in any way interested in facilitating the process can do so simply by making information available to those who seek it. This an entire culture, embodied in a local community, is eminently qualified to do. The process is automatic within a healthy community - which I am visualizing (i.e. what I want, and what I am creating, with my thoughts and intent, and bringing into substantial manifestation) as a community of Sovereigns, mutually dedicated to the "highest good" for "All That Is." That seems to about do it, for me. How about you? Would you like to add a "golden thought" or two, and maybe shift the paradigm?

Love & Light,
Harmon

[To be continued in "New Beginnings, Part III"]

_____________________________________

1. [Footnote deleted.]

2. Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, with Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, Shlomo Angel, A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, Oxford University Press, New York, 1977. All quotes from A Pattern Language included with permission. Supplementary information may be found on-line at the www.patternlanguage.com sitemap.

3. J.B.S. Haldane, "On Being the Right Size," The World of Mathematics, Vol. II, J.R. Newman, ed. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1956, pp. 962-7, quoted by Alexander, et al., 1977.

4. Vol. 44 in World Perspectives Series, edited by Ruth Nanda Snshen, New York, Harper & Row, 1971, quoted by Alexander, et al., 1977.

5. Alexander, et al., 1977, pp. 232-4.

6. The New Paradigm, Vol. III #3, "The Year Zero," 1/3/00.

7. T.R. Lee, "On the relation between the school journey and social and emotional adjustment in rural infant children,"British Journal of Educational Psychology, 27:101, 1957, cited by Alexander, et al., 1977.

8. Murray Silverstein, "The Child's Urban Environment," Proceedings of the seventy-First National Convention of the Congress of Parents and Teachers, Chicago, Illinois, 1967, pp. 39-45, cited by Alexander, et al., 1977.

9. Alexander, et al., 1977, pp. 428-30.

10. The New Paradigm, Vol. II #13, "Education," 5/21/99.

"New Beginnings, Part II"
copyright 2000 by J. Harmon Grahn.
Verbatim copying and redistribution are permitted
in any medium provided this notice is preserved.