These days, we are not prepared for life by the kind of culture which has any sort of psychological orientation. Even my upbringing in right wing Rhodesia was kinder to the proletarian --- which is to say, my education had more of an emphasis on psychological knowledge and psychological affirmation of others, compared to what is generally given in the educational systems today.
Why should we even care about psychology? What does it mean to us anyway?
Worker – it is your life and bread, your living or your death that is at stake.
The way I came to be a revolutionary was not through the ideological muttering or rhetorical flourishes of those of the left, who would attempt to persuade others with their words. I did not one day conclude that I would embrace a certain ideology over all others, until death do us part. My need to engage in revolutionary activity has to do with pure psychology. I have learned what makes me function effectively in this world. I have learned what kinds of factors and influences make me feel ineffective. I do what I can to reinforce my feelings of effectiveness. I avoid the situations that destroy my self confidence and undermine my ability to act. I embrace the reality of myself as a psychological creature.
When I speak about psychology, I am talking about your right to make decisions for yourself on the basis of self-knowledge. What kind of work is right for you? What kind of work is simply soul destroying, and must be refused at all costs?
We have been taught by our system of education to be humble, all too humble, when approaching this matter. We have been taught to ask for very little – only not to be kicked too often, at least not more often than the next dog … er, human being. All in all we lack character. Perhaps I have forgotten to mention it? Psychology is the basis for self-knowledge. Without self-knowledge, we cannot have character. Or, as those of the Australian Army like to put it: We are without “moral fibre.”
So, now we see how all these things I have been talking about are interlinked. Without moral fibre, we are unable to choose which situations we want to work with. Without moral fibre, we lack character. Having character is the same as moral fibre. Without psychological self-knowledge, we can have no character. Without self-knowledge, we can have no moral fibre.
As I've said since I encountered apes disguised as humans, condemned as it was, the educational system of Rhodesia nonetheless gave me the power of control over my self, because I was instructed in the art of thinking of myself as a psychological being, living alongside others who acted towards themselves and others on the basis of their moral fibre. Bells of alarm would ring in my head when, later in life and long out of school, I came upon people acting out of a feeling of necessity, rather than choice. Such people had been put in a very bad situation with regard to life and their acquiescence to the impossible nature of their situation meant something even worse. People who accepted the dehumanising situations imposed on them had been given no ways of thinking by the mentors in their school systems that they could have turned into moral fibre. They were lacking in the fundamental quality of self-knowledge, which would have forced them to speak up for themselves.
Think about how the rules and regulations of bourgeois tutelage – as system of complying with the bosses – undermine your character. You are told not to see many things that you do, in fact, see. You are warned not to consider what kinds of workplace situations would be damaging to your health and well-being, as compared to which would be supportive of those things. You are taught, in fact, to act without discrimination concerning the kinds of situations you put yourself in, and even what the outcomes mean to you. “Don’t think about that,” you are told. Instead, “Concentrate on proving your compliance with the system through a lack of adequate psychological discrimination and self-knowledge. Accept any sort of job. Don’t consider what it means to you. Only consider that there can’t be any questionable gaps within your resume.” The psychologically adept person immediately asks “why not?” The psychologically knowledgeable boss replies at once: “A gap means non-compliance with the will of bosses.”
Only the boss does not reply like that of course. It is not in the interest of a boss to school you in the meaning of the system that has been imposed on you. A psychological perspective isn’t meant for you, but for others.
You are not meant to have the kind of moral fibre that would enable you to resist a situation that is not in accordance with your will, for that would make you independent. If you don’t know why you are complying with the bosses, except for out of fear, if you don’t know what a human being is, and how it differs from a dog, if you accept what the educational system tells you, without deeper psychological reflection, then you have been deprived of your fundamental human essence. The one aspect to your existence that should have been of the utmost importance has been taken from you. Without psychology, you can have no humanity.
Why should we even care about psychology? What does it mean to us anyway?
Worker – it is your life and bread, your living or your death that is at stake.
The way I came to be a revolutionary was not through the ideological muttering or rhetorical flourishes of those of the left, who would attempt to persuade others with their words. I did not one day conclude that I would embrace a certain ideology over all others, until death do us part. My need to engage in revolutionary activity has to do with pure psychology. I have learned what makes me function effectively in this world. I have learned what kinds of factors and influences make me feel ineffective. I do what I can to reinforce my feelings of effectiveness. I avoid the situations that destroy my self confidence and undermine my ability to act. I embrace the reality of myself as a psychological creature.
When I speak about psychology, I am talking about your right to make decisions for yourself on the basis of self-knowledge. What kind of work is right for you? What kind of work is simply soul destroying, and must be refused at all costs?
We have been taught by our system of education to be humble, all too humble, when approaching this matter. We have been taught to ask for very little – only not to be kicked too often, at least not more often than the next dog … er, human being. All in all we lack character. Perhaps I have forgotten to mention it? Psychology is the basis for self-knowledge. Without self-knowledge, we cannot have character. Or, as those of the Australian Army like to put it: We are without “moral fibre.”
So, now we see how all these things I have been talking about are interlinked. Without moral fibre, we are unable to choose which situations we want to work with. Without moral fibre, we lack character. Having character is the same as moral fibre. Without psychological self-knowledge, we can have no character. Without self-knowledge, we can have no moral fibre.
As I've said since I encountered apes disguised as humans, condemned as it was, the educational system of Rhodesia nonetheless gave me the power of control over my self, because I was instructed in the art of thinking of myself as a psychological being, living alongside others who acted towards themselves and others on the basis of their moral fibre. Bells of alarm would ring in my head when, later in life and long out of school, I came upon people acting out of a feeling of necessity, rather than choice. Such people had been put in a very bad situation with regard to life and their acquiescence to the impossible nature of their situation meant something even worse. People who accepted the dehumanising situations imposed on them had been given no ways of thinking by the mentors in their school systems that they could have turned into moral fibre. They were lacking in the fundamental quality of self-knowledge, which would have forced them to speak up for themselves.
Think about how the rules and regulations of bourgeois tutelage – as system of complying with the bosses – undermine your character. You are told not to see many things that you do, in fact, see. You are warned not to consider what kinds of workplace situations would be damaging to your health and well-being, as compared to which would be supportive of those things. You are taught, in fact, to act without discrimination concerning the kinds of situations you put yourself in, and even what the outcomes mean to you. “Don’t think about that,” you are told. Instead, “Concentrate on proving your compliance with the system through a lack of adequate psychological discrimination and self-knowledge. Accept any sort of job. Don’t consider what it means to you. Only consider that there can’t be any questionable gaps within your resume.” The psychologically adept person immediately asks “why not?” The psychologically knowledgeable boss replies at once: “A gap means non-compliance with the will of bosses.”
Only the boss does not reply like that of course. It is not in the interest of a boss to school you in the meaning of the system that has been imposed on you. A psychological perspective isn’t meant for you, but for others.
You are not meant to have the kind of moral fibre that would enable you to resist a situation that is not in accordance with your will, for that would make you independent. If you don’t know why you are complying with the bosses, except for out of fear, if you don’t know what a human being is, and how it differs from a dog, if you accept what the educational system tells you, without deeper psychological reflection, then you have been deprived of your fundamental human essence. The one aspect to your existence that should have been of the utmost importance has been taken from you. Without psychology, you can have no humanity.
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