Human beings do not need scholars to instruct their students. They need educators of character who, with their own life and the ethical experience set their students the example of the dignity of man, because the true meaning of education is to intensify consciousness and this an educator must have accomplished it in its deepest human values; only then can it serve as a guide and mentor to others, not so much for what it says or does, but above all for what that educator is.
The time when it was naively said: "To open a school is to close a jail" is long gone, and the experience of reality proves that the great evildoers of humanity were not illiterate, but men who did not educate their conscience. Many criminals today, displaying university degrees are ahead of governments in all political systems. Even the vast majority of politicians - also graduates - are in league with their parties, with their divisions, acting as criminal offenders who seek only to satisfy the greedy appetite of their minions who are in parliaments around the world, at the service of a system whose nature is of delinquency.
The real meaning of education is to raise conscience, but governments are not interested in this process. The greatest interest is in education.
For someone to be a true educator, it is not sufficient to study the peripheral and superficial psychology exposed in most books on education - it is necessary to descend into the deepest chasms of its own Self, coming into direct contact with the cosmic foundation of its human nature, of what it "is", and aware of its reality, otherwise, humanity will continue behind in the educational process and continually facing the dramas and dilemmas of a society ignorant of itself.
Kurt Gauger (1899-1959), German doctor, psychiatrist and philosopher wrote the book “Daemon-Stadt”, which we could translate as the Demonic State, a work in which the author, faced the abundant facts, the growth and the alarming problem of juvenile delinquency, and even infantile, in Germany and other countries, in the period that followed the two world wars.
In the book, he concluded that the present generation, as the product of previous generations and heir to disastrous ideologies have lost the notion of ethical responsibility because it has lost the notion of being an integral part of the great WHOLE of the Universe as such. Among other matters, he reports on the interview with a 12-year-old child who kills his father with a gunshot; interrogated for the motive of the crime, he replies cynically: “I killed because I wanted to”, saying that he has no remorse for his actions because everyone has the right to do what it finds interesting.
The man who loses the vision of a greater WHOLE of the Universe in which he is part and has to respect, necessarily loses the notion of ethics, of obligation, of moral duty, because the notion of ethics is based on the consciousness that I am part of the WHOLE, and that I have certain natural and unavoidable obligations to the WHOLE, which has real rights over me.
As can be seen, the problem of criminality at all times affects the problem of ethics, which has its roots in the problem of metaphysics, or the question of intimate human nature: “What is the man? Where does he come from? To where he goes? Why he is here?" Therefore, it is not possible to give a solid basis to ethics without satisfactorily answering these fundamental questions of life.
In that book, he reproduces the astounding letter from a young delinquent sentenced to 20 years in prison who writes a kind of examination of conscience for the "honest men" of the world.
Says the young offender:
"Because you are weak men in performing good deeds, you gave me the name of a strong man who does evil things - and thus condemn a generation against which you yourselves have sinned - because you are weak.
For my imprisonment, I have granted to myself two decades to make me strong - strong in love, strong in goodwill - you, however, made me strong as an evildoer, because you are weak in doing good.
You do not indicate to me any path that made sense, because you yourselves ignore this same path and neglected to search for it - because you are weak. Your wobbly "no" assume an uncertain attitude when facing forbidden things; as children, the result of our ignorance, we screamed - and you withdrew your "no" and said "yes" in order to save your weak nerves. And to this, you call "love".
Because you are weak, you bought from us your peace. When we were little, you gave us money to go to the movies or to buy an ice cream; with this, you provided a service, not to us, but the convenience of yourself - because you are weak. Weak in love, weak in patience, weak in hope, weak in faith.
According to you, we are strong evildoers - but our souls have only half your age.
We rebelled so we do not have to cry for all those things that you have failed to teach us. We know how to read and count; we know how many petals there are in a flower, we know how some animals live and we know the structure of a plant - we learn to have to shut up and sit still in school chairs - but you do not teach us how to face life.
We are even willing to believe in God, in a God infinitely powerful who everything comprehends and expected from us to be good - but you do not show to us a single man who was good because he believed in God. You have earned a lot of money with religious services and murmured prayers according to the old routine.
--- Police officer please, leave aside your weapons! Tell us instead what interests us to know: you indeed love the organization that you serve? Or do you love above all, the right you have to your salary and your future retirement?
--- Minister of Education! Show us if you are strong as a human being! How many good deeds do you practice, as a Christian, in secret?
Are we not the caricature of your entire existence made of lies?
We, the juvenile criminals, are public troublemakers and rebels - you, however, fight in secret, one against the other; commercially debating and organizing intrigues to win the most profitable positions.
Rather than threatening us with weapons, put us face to face with men of truth, to show us what is the right path, not with words but with their lives.
But you are weak in doing good! Those who are strong in doing good goes to the jungle to heal the wounds of the black people in Africa - because the strength in doing good despise the weak in doing good because you are weak in doing good - and we are strong evildoers. 1
Mom, let's pray! Because these weak men are armed with guns!"
_______________
1)- Reference made to Albert Schweitzer.
No comments:
Post a Comment