HI Ernie:
But if we are talking about adults here, and inter-familial connection then
we should look at voluntary association rather than codependency or
coercian.
In family therapy we promote psychological differentiation - the capacity to
be both seperate and connected simultaneously. Development is fusion -
individuation - differentiation. That process starts at birth. So, I'd
argue that individuality is a requisite capacity that enables true communion
with others. That is why many community/religious traditions believe
baptism into the fold can only occur after one reaches the age of consent -
in most traditions that occurs in late adolescence or early adulthood.
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
On Nov 5, 2011, at 5:53 AM, Kevin Kervick wrote:
One is not capable of love unless he is free. One cannot volunteer unless
he is free to make that choice.
You don't have kids, do you? :-) Love precedes freedom. Community precedes
individuality. That's just the way it works.
Sure, a certain level of mature love requires freedom of choice. But one of
the great fallacies of Western philosophy is that it starts with the
*individual*, rather than the *family*. Historically, sociologically,
evolutionarily, psychologically, and I would argue even ontologically
society is derived from the _family_. And family is in many ways the
antithesis of freedom -- although it is the essence of empowerment.
Neighborliness is nice to have, but family is life and death. Surely you
know that as a psychologist. We need a political philosophy that takes the
idea of family seriously. Not in an oppressive paternalistic way, but in
the empowering sort of way the best families function. Otherwise you're
missing at least two-thirds of the truth.
-- Ernie P.
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
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Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
