Polonius' speech in Shakespeare's Hamlet will always encourage and inspire us. But it has taken on special meaning in this second century of psychotherapy--which, at its best, is the study of, and the facilitation of individuality. Revealing what a huge piece of the educational pie, discovering the psychology of the learning person, will eventually become the core aspect of all levels of education beginning with birth.
Presently we know as much about individual humanity as we know about the deep blue sea, only 5% of which has ever been explored. Our understanding of ourselves is barely the tip of an iceberg of what's there to discover.
Though of course we operate as if we knew most of what there is to know. How else could we function? In spite of Einstein's announcement that everything's relative, we haven't yet mastered the skill of living in the confusion, fear and conflict of permanent uncertainty.
But finally we're gathering the special tools of self-exploration of which Shakespeare was entreating us to do. Those tools include the study of dreams, free association and behavioral and expressive performance--the facial and body meta-messages we are capable of observing in each other. Such study also includes exploring how prior social and educational influences have distorted individual nature, talent and preference, usually to such an extent that the learning person consciously agrees with these falsehoods.
We've tried for generations to learn about ourselves by using the perspective of science in "social" ways--what we call the "social sciences". But those efforts have not significantly added, "to thine own self be true". They have contributed enormously to perceiving and understanding the massive social abuses of our historical time. But any social description of humanity fails utterly in facilitating a revelation of individual truth.
Shakespeare's entreaty is honored highly in rhetoric--in principle--but seldom supported in fact. As psychotherapy has revealed eloquently in its short life, the emancipation of individuality from all social training, prejudice and group pressure--which includes family--is highly threatening and disruptive to those intimate with the successful learner. The changed person becomes someone not known to familiar people--who seek immediately to shun this new behavior and its perspectives.
Thus, to fulfill Shakespeare's goal, we must become capable of managing, under normal circumstances, a great deal more conflict, diversity, contradiction and consternation than we ever thought necessary or possible.
Presently we know as much about individual humanity as we know about the deep blue sea, only 5% of which has ever been explored. Our understanding of ourselves is barely the tip of an iceberg of what's there to discover.
Though of course we operate as if we knew most of what there is to know. How else could we function? In spite of Einstein's announcement that everything's relative, we haven't yet mastered the skill of living in the confusion, fear and conflict of permanent uncertainty.
But finally we're gathering the special tools of self-exploration of which Shakespeare was entreating us to do. Those tools include the study of dreams, free association and behavioral and expressive performance--the facial and body meta-messages we are capable of observing in each other. Such study also includes exploring how prior social and educational influences have distorted individual nature, talent and preference, usually to such an extent that the learning person consciously agrees with these falsehoods.
We've tried for generations to learn about ourselves by using the perspective of science in "social" ways--what we call the "social sciences". But those efforts have not significantly added, "to thine own self be true". They have contributed enormously to perceiving and understanding the massive social abuses of our historical time. But any social description of humanity fails utterly in facilitating a revelation of individual truth.
Shakespeare's entreaty is honored highly in rhetoric--in principle--but seldom supported in fact. As psychotherapy has revealed eloquently in its short life, the emancipation of individuality from all social training, prejudice and group pressure--which includes family--is highly threatening and disruptive to those intimate with the successful learner. The changed person becomes someone not known to familiar people--who seek immediately to shun this new behavior and its perspectives.
Thus, to fulfill Shakespeare's goal, we must become capable of managing, under normal circumstances, a great deal more conflict, diversity, contradiction and consternation than we ever thought necessary or possible.
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