Comenius on How Prejudice Works
By John Taylor; 2009 June 08, Nur 04, 166 BE
In our collective childhood, an illiterate majority was forced to act for limited ends. Slavery was prevalent, and prejudice was not a prominent concern, unless it served the interests of the elite. Now that freedom and education are approaching universality, however, the few have learned to use persuasion, artificial prejudice as it were, in the mass media to cajole and manipulate the majority into compliance with similarly limited purposes. Comenius wrote Universal Reform (Panorthosia) as an exploration of how we might go about affecting change for universal ends, reform in the interest of all.
As we have seen, Comenius devotes the entire sixth chapter of Universal Reform to how to remove "hindrance to reform." He starts off saying that our most serious obstacles are mental blocks, the stupidity, "careless prejudice" and obstinacy at the "true root of all corruption." These "bind us from within" and "render us incapable of undertaking any reform whatsoever." (Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 1, p. 99) This inertia confronting us affects everything, from social cohesion, to thought, to our very goodness.
"For we have indeed gone astray I. from unity, through countless opportunities leading to countless confusions, II. from Truth, through countless opinions leading to countless errors, III. from Goodness, through countless temptations leading to countless particular deadly desires and pursuits."(Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 11, p. 102)
The key to removing prejudice is, as we have seen earlier in this series, the principle of purification. Just as our bodies need clean air and water in order to be healthy, mind and soul require pure sustenance too. Various kinds of pollution cause the bad attitudes, obstinacy, apathy and passive resistance that block change for the better.
"The first solid beginning of reform would be like the removal of all the mud of indifference, prejudice and wicked obstinacy from the springs of the senses, the fountain of understanding, and the outflow of the will, so that the rivulets of attention, judgment and ready inclination towards every improvement begin to flow forth in greater purity for the benefit of all."(Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 16, p. 103)
Comenius understood that three faculties, sense, understanding, and volition must be fully involved in order for willed, conscious action to take place. We need to pay conscious attention, have the right attitude and judge aright what to do; in the words of Baha'u'llah, "Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements." (Proclamation, 116) Our concern and resolve to act are systematically dissipated by bad habits, which we can only counteract with systematic countermeasures.
"Three factors contribute to this habit of inwardly accepting the evils into which we have fallen, namely: I. carelessness and stupidity; II. prejudice concerning the true and the good already possessed; thence producing indifference; III. lastly, the most pernicious jealousy for one's own affairs and hatred for those of others. These three hindrances must be completely removed and replaced by their direct opposites, namely I. urgent attention to all current affairs; II anxious concern for truer knowledge of affairs; III. readiness and enthusiasm to adopt improvements." (Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 3, pp. 99-100)
In spite of our increased sophistication in this age of education, we still, each and all, need to fulfill these three conditions, attention, concern and readiness, if we are to push aside the prejudices that block an active response to the "needs of the age." As mentioned at the beginning, these three faculties, which should be the foundation of freedom, are instead being systematically suppressed and redirected by commercialism and ideology. However, there is nothing stopping us from purifying self by removing prejudice in our own thought, and in the public forum by placing the elimination of prejudice at the top of the public agenda.
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