remove the myths and habits and prejudices and superstitions of
a person and what is left? apparently not much… what do we believe
that is not a myth or not a habit or not a prejudice or not a superstition?
remove any ism or ideology, capitalism, nationalism, religion,
and what is left?
for most people, they would be an empty shell…
is that a failure of education or a failure in people in general or
a failure in society?
remove that which is a ism inside of me and what is left for me to believe in?
so the question really becomes, what should I believe in?
stripped of our habits and myths and prejudices and superstitions,
what is left for us to believe in?
I offer up a couple of a different things… ONE, a trust in experience…
we have experiences and we understand the world in terms of and in light
of these experiences…experience has taught us that we are equal…
for to be unequal means to be treated differently… and everyone wants
to be treated the same or said a different way, equally treated…
and in in this being treated equally, we want, we expect to be treated equally
politically and judicially… so justice and equality are the same thing…
so remove myths and habits and prejudices and superstitions, we
would be treated equally because without those myths and prejudices
and habits, we wouldn’t treat those with wealthy and power and those of
importance any different than we treat anyone else…
we treat people differently like those in wealth and power because of
the myths and habits and prejudices and superstitions we follow…
and we treat those with disabilities different because of myths and habits…
remove those myths and habits… and we would treat everyone the same,
we would practice equality and we would also practice justice… for they
are the same thing…
for without myths or habits or prejudice to guide us, we would use experience and
experience tells us that some people lie and some cheat and some tell the truth and some
are honest…and experience tells us that by their conduct and people’s actions,
we treat them differently, not by myth or habit or prejudice, but by actions do we
treat people differently…
we allow experience to guide our judgments and actions…
not myths or habits or prejudices or superstitions…
but experience…we would no longer use those myths and habits
to guide us, but experience… no longer would we use ism’s and ideologies to
guide our actions or tell us who we are, we would use experience to guide us
and tell us who we are…
so what does this mean to education, for example? we would no longer use
education to promote myths or habits or prejudice, but to the understanding
of experience is the point of education… how would you explain this
experience becomes the standard line in education…knowledge or facts
becomes a means to understanding experience…
a total revision of the educational system is what is needed…
but what about the emptiness of the soul without myths and habits
and prejudices and superstitions to keep the soul company?
we now tell stories of the interconnection of everything…
we humans are connected to each other, we humans are connected
to earth, we humans are connected to every atom in space and time…
for that is the point of these myths and habits and prejudices and superstitions anyway…
a means to connect people to each other… we will do the same thing but without
those myths and habits…we will connect people with experiences and with
an understanding of how we are connected and interconnected to everyone and
everything…we replace the emptiness of our soul with a new connection to
each other and to everything… no longer do myths and prejudice inhabit
and guide who we are, but experience and a new connection to each other…
I am an American and I have this myth inside of me and it has been ingrained in me
for as long as I have lived…but what does being an American actually mean?
it is following certain values… and frankly having a piece of paper that says I
am an American… change an artificial line, like make Minnesota part of Canada
and I become Canadian…and that is all nationality is… an artificial line agreed
to by countries, which is an artificial concept also, we are bounded by so many
artificial concepts like country and nationality and race and creed and religion…
and such artificial concepts, ism’s and ideologies like capitalism and
Communism and Catholicism and Americanism and Materialism…
so many ism’s and ideologies that we follow and they are myths and
habits and prejudices and superstitions…instead of
using our minds/reason and experiences to explain and understand experiences…
for we explain and understand experience in terms of and in light of
other experiences…
man is born free and yet everywhere is in chains…
those chains are the myths and habits and prejudices and
superstitions of our education… an education which is lazy
because it depends upon arguments from authority and prior
myths and habits…the goal of education is no longer to train
workers or to create consumers… but to free us of our chains,
our myths and habits…a reevaluation of values…is what is needed…
the truth is not just out there, but inside of us and inside of every
experience we have…
so think about this, remove your myths and habits and try to understand your life
via experiences, what do you now believe in?
Kropotkin