The Flexible Human in the Rigid Society

When I was in fundamentals (in 1979), one of the things I first loved about RC was that Harvey addressed the irrationalities of our society early on in teaching the fundamentals of Co-Counseling. I like how in this article he addressed the question: "How can a rational human function in this society of today?" (Human Situation, p. 91)

His answer is as relevant today as it was then: "The requirement for good survival in this rigid society is precisely rational thinking as we define rational thinking, that is, the calculation of brand new, exactly accurate responses to all new situations." (p. 98) Backing each other to think fresh thoughts about the most challenging issues is a central part of Co-Counseling practice. At the recent women's conference in England, where we worked on revising the women's draft policy statement, I was reminded how much we all want to be expected to think about difficult issues and to have a role in societal change.

This article (and RC) came at an important time in my life . . . I was a young adult who'd come through years of scornful rebellion against many institutions, and was grappling my way to finding a more powerful and effective role in organizing politically. The following was particularly useful:

"We need to face the reality of irrational society. We need to avoid accepting either surrender to its enforcement or irrational rebellion against it. We also need to adopt as our own long-range goal the conversion of society to intelligent behavior, i.e., taming it to be subservient to the intelligence of the individual humans who comprise it.

"Society cannot require conformity. It can only require the appearance of conformity." (p. 100)

Many of us have wrestled over and over through discharge, re-evaluation, trial and error with what it means to work for the conversion of society (and not just its reform) and to figure out strategically what it means to adopt enough of the appearance of conformity to be heard and have impact, without allowing our timidities to use the appearance of conformity as a patterned excuse to limit our actions.

How have the ideas in this pamphlet been important in your life? How do you answer these questions for yourself?

Diane Shisk
Seattle, Washington, USA
August 26, 2003

***

This is a terrific idea. It's probably 20 years since I read "The Flexible Human in the Rigid Society." All I remembered was the idea that the rigid society cannot require conformity of us, only the appearance of conformity. It was very interesting to revisit it and see the context that Harvey put that idea in — that it's about how to have survival, success and enjoyment in the present period, while at the same time taking on the possibility of having society and social change become subject to human intelligence. It's very interesting to read the basic RC theory about society as it was worked out before we started thinking in terms of oppression (the article was written about 10 years before the Liberation I & II workshops).

I read the article with a Co-Counsellor, which I recommend, because the style is impersonal and slightly heavy-going. (Someone in my class said they found the writing "turgid" and difficult; I found the difficulty of the style very interesting.)

Jonathan Shaw
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
August 26, 2003

***

Here are my responses to reading "The Flexible Human in the Rigid Society".

I remember the first time I read this chapter in The Human Situation. It was in 1983, and I was sitting in a little bricked-in garden reserve in a very busy street. I had only recently discovered RC, and I was struggling for survival. I was very frail and ill and was publicly housed in an environment that was worsening my condition (heavy pollution and traffic noise and vibrations so strong they split a neighbour's table). My efforts to gain suitable housing, effective health care and rehabilitation were blocked at every turn. Reading this chapter in The Human Situation enabled me to have sessions where I could discharge rage, frustration and despair. This together with the chapter "Is Death Necessary?", gave me hope that allowed a degree of recovery and rehabilitation to happen, and in the long term good housing. (I do realise that I am very fortunate to live in a country where there is public health care and public housing).

When I read the chapter recently I became aware that in spite of all the sessions I spent raging over a period of some years, I still have rage, frustration and despair that seem unspeakable, let alone dischargeable in other ways.

These strong impounded feelings make it hard for me to really take in what I am reading or to think flexibly about it.

My thoughts are that society is largely the product of patterns, but intelligence has been able to break through the rigidities at certain times. I believe these breakthroughs come, perhaps as Harvey says when society is at a stage of being ready to change, sometimes triggered by of the inspiration and passion of someone who has a large degree of free intelligence and integrity, for example Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Harvey Jackins and those who use his insights.

Joan Mobey
Glebe, New South Wales, Australia

***

Here's a report on "Pamphlet of the Month" in Tel Aviv, Israel:

I've decided to lead at least the first two meetings, both towards overcoming my own difficulty, and, as ARP, to back the project.

Since I don't see the project as first and foremost about conquering difficulties in reading English, the first article was translated into Hebrew (although maybe we will address reading in English at future meetings). Because of time restraints, my assistant for the gather-ins made a draft translation, which was collected at the end of the meeting and will now be sent to our national translation coordinator for final editing.

Before the gather-in, I read people's thoughts on the RC web site, had a session with my assistant, and we each read the article. I noticed 2 things: it gave me a chance to see my assistant's clarity in this area, and for myself it was almost a physical sensation of my brain becoming unglued.

Nine people showed for the August meeting. I assumed (correctly) that people didn't read the article ahead of time, so there were long minis to read. I reminded them that reading ahead of time wasn't a requirement, that there was no homework, and there were no grades (folks liked that).

We divided the rest of the time between RC discussion groups (which turned into separate ones for men and women) and a think and listen. People struggled with putting attention on thinking while discharging, and that was good.

I told people I thought the gains would be in unexpected areas. I saw, for example, that a leader of disabled persons, who's not been able to yawn much, got to do just that. The meeting allowed us to see people's strengths and struggles in new and different areas.

We set the next gather in for late October.

Lisa Blum
Tel Aviv, Israel

***

I don't remember what I thought when I first read this 10 years ago. The distinction between individual behaviour and cumulative behaviour of individuals was a useful and hopeful one. Allowing change to occur via individual initiative.

Reading it again now, with more experience of RC, I find it more interesting. Yes, the typical social solution to the problem of individual irrationality is not a useful one: suppression of behaviours and 'outlawing' of discharge.

I work in a large bureaucracy, a prison, and have been finding lately the rigidity and systemic requirements to be suffocating. Much of my time is spent in meeting the system's requirements regarding record-keeping, and accountability, whilst my particular contribution to other people has been given little scope.

It seems to me that to discharge such frustration is simply to leave me 'domesticated' and less outraged, which is surely not the same as freeing up my intelligence. Likewise I am troubled by what feels like hypocrisy in appearing to conform or be a good worker, whilst underneath wanting to go against what is required.

All the best,

Kit Shepherd
Bronte, New South Wales, Australia