[Buddha-l] sam harris at the aspen institute

[Joy Vriens]

Joanna wrote:

>The reason experiments like Summerhill were abandoned because they didn't 
>work is because they were not based on a structure of power and authority 
>that exists to maintain itself at the expense of everybody else, regardless. 

Yes, that is also one of the main messages of Regis Debray's book I mentioned in another message: a structure of power and authority is necessary for the survival of a group. It is difficult to row against the stream, especially if one doesn't have a boat. But ideas can hibernate and be revived without a heavy structure. Perhaps we ought to separate the notions of "working" and "lasting". Something that works doesn't necessarily last and the other way round. How can we teach and learn freedom in the largest possible sense in systems that lack freedom? That seems to be somehow contradictory to me. I am abhorred by what the (French) school system does with my children and can only look at it helplessly since schools go with the society they prepare the children for. The republic eats its children.

Joy