A Cave of Living Treasures     Think, be aware, understand

***  A Cave of Living Treasures - by Bob Johnson, psychiatrist at Parkhurst prison, an excerpt from The Friend, 16 June 1995

'There is no place in a well supported adult for any type of unconsciousness. Eliminate its baleful influence and all human treasures are there, the spiritual Aladdin's cave'

The model is simple enough. Human children can be taught to fear human beings   -   something of a social handicap. This fear prevents them thinking straight, either about themselves or others. In a supportive and cooperative atmosphere, rare enough anywhere, let alone in prison, they can be taught to think differently and for the first time efficiently. The stranglehold that these childhood terrors have on the mind, pulling ever downwards, can be reversed and cut away. Unconscious emotions and thought patterns, being infantile in origin and grossly obsolete, can be entirely abolished.  The long standing mysteries of sin, evil, violence and destruction evaporate with them while the delight, enjoyment and values that emerge have to be seen to be believed.

I predict that when I get research funds to collate them, the 500 hours of videotape of these intriguing seminars will prove an invaluable human resource for a host of different analyses from ethics to politics, education to theology, sociology to civilisation.  The lamp in this Aladdin's cave is not so much magical, as plain, simple and miraculously human.

 Youth at Risk    At the right speed    A Cave of Living Treasures       Meeting Reality

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