The Power and Promise of Humane Education
Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times
Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs
So, You Love Animals: An Action-Packed, Fun-Filled Book to Help Kids Help Animals
Artist and changemaker Chris Jordan asks several questions in his fascinating presentation at the TED conference. Through his powerful photographs of human behavior and mass consumption, Jordan attempts to make our unconscious societal choices conscious so that we can change destructive and unhealthy behaviors and systems. Jordan’s captivating wall-sized photographs depict, in a compelling and often visually stunning manner, such mundane realities as the number of plastic cups we use on airplane flights in the U.S. each day or the number of people who die from smoking cigarettes every year. By making our societal choices accessible in this way, he invites viewers to reflect upon their own individual contributions (presumably both positive and negative) to the world. I consider Jordan’s work to be a spectacular example of humane education through art.
But what I found most compelling about this particular presentation was his question to the audience. How do we change?
It’s an old question with a long pedigree of distinguished and not-so-distinguished answers. Psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, preachers, and advertisers alike have all sought to understand the forces that mold us, and then to mold us toward their own aims.
This is true for humane educators as well. The primary goal of humane education is to provide people with the knowledge, tools, and motivation to create a peaceful and humane world. Note that humane education seeks to do more than provide relevant information and skills; it must also instill desire to create a good world and motivate its recipients to be engaged changemakers. We humane educators are in the influence business, attempting to answer the question “How do we change?” so that we can help our students change themselves and the world for the better.
From my perspective as a humane educator, I believe that we change:
- By emulating those who inspire us most (so humane educators must model a positive message as fully as possible)
- Through daily practice and a commitment to live with integrity (so humane educators must provide maps for such a practice)
- When the choices before us include convenient, healthy, and positive options (so humane educators must offer these and work toward their development)
- When we are part of healthy systems and live in healthy situations (so humane educators must help create such systems and situations for our students)
- With support from others who also strive to change for the better (so humane educators must provide such support)
- By pursuing lifelong learning and wisdom (so humane educators must inspire others so that they are passionate about learning)
- When we have hope (so humane educators must offer painful truths about current realities in ways that do not create despair but rather engender enthusiasm for new possibilities)
Our task as humane educators is to create change, and so we must seek to answer Jordan’s question so that our work has the greatest impact. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas for answering this perennial question.
~ Zoe
Filed under: humane education, positive choices Tagged: | change, changemakers, Chris Jordan, humane education, photography, positive choices
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What attracted me to the works of Zoe Weil, and other Humane Educators, and led me to look into Character, Peace and Values Education, is that you each, in your own way, from your own angle, with your own expertise, offer constructive and precise advice. You offer very concrete steps which can be taken to teach children, and adults, how to live in a harmonious balance with all of humanity, the animal kingdom, the environment and government.
In short, you offer hope by CHOOSING TO BE THE HOPE, by presenting very concrete steps which can be taken to shape individuals who will in turn know how to shape their world in a concrete, productive, positive fashion, instead of continuing in a downwards spiral.
Your philosophy is one which tells the individual that they have the power to create positive change by choosing to be the positive change.
You have the power to create the positive change by choosing to be the positive change.
There is hope, and the hope exists because you are choosing to be the hope.
How do we change?
“Be the change that you want to see in the world.” – Gandhi
I create the change by choosing to be the change.
I change myself from the outside in (so that I can change the world from the inside out) by removing myself from stress inducing influences, and exposing myself to peace inducing influences.
Peace is that simple, on every level: political, environmental, social, physical, mental, and spiritual. On every single level, in every single facet of the world, I choose to change myself into a more positive entity by intentionally removing myself from those things which poison me, and intentionally exposing myself to the stimuli which turn me into a peaceful and peaceable being.
I change by copying different kinds of people. We change by exposing ourselves to different influences, and removing ourselves from the old ones. We change by exposing ourselves to different kinds of music, people, TV, magazines, newspapers, radio, and activities.
We do not just participate in activities. We are shaped by the activities we participate in. My mood, my behavior, my choices, my desires, and my actions (which influence the entire world) are shaped by the music I listen to, the people I associate with, the books and newspapers I read, the TV I watch, and the activities I participate in.
There are activities and philosophies which foster a mindset of ruthless competition for meaningless material resources (like football and Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory), and if I expose myself to the activities and philosophies which create a mindset of ruthless competition for meaningless material objects, I will begin competing ruthlessly for meaningless material objects, which is why so many people (many of whom are not fundamentalist Christians, Jews or Muslims) have protested the inclusion of Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory in public schools. Whether or not Darwin’s theory is true, is totally insignificant. There are atheists who strongly believe that Darwin’s words are true, but they protest the inclusion of his theories in the school system, because his theories encourage a mindset of ruthless competition for material objects, and there are people who want all theories and activities which encourage a mindset of ruthless, compassionless competition to be removed from the school system.
But there are other kinds of activates. There are activities and philosophies which foster a deep, egoless, non-material mentality, such as meditation and Zen. And if I expose myself to the activities which foster an egoless, peaceable mentality (while removing myself from the activities which foster an egocentric and aggressive mentality) then I myself will become peaceable and egoless.
Our egos are stroked by certain activities, like those infamous political rallies run prior to and during every upheaval. Rallies in which people are presented with very, very provocative images, music, and “information.” The speaker’s goal is to mold the thoughts of the listener, so that the speaker can use the listener as a commodity. But if I remove myself from the charismatic speaker, whose may have very perverse ulterior motives, and expose myself to books and magazines published by people who genuinely want peace and attempt to compile information to that end, then I will glean constructive peacemaking information from those books and magazines. Some of the magazines which are designed to teach us how to live in a balanced, harmonious, and constructive manner are ODE, E Magazine, Yoga Journal, VegNews. Some of the books publishers and audio producers who are primarily concerned with printing books which teach people how to live in a peaceable and constructive manner are Lantern Books, Wisdom Publications, New Society Publishers, New World Library, Shambala, Sounds True …
Some of the companies which aim to distribute peacemaking audios, videos, books and equipment are DharmaCrafts, Isabella Catalog, Gaiam …
Any other suggestions would be welcome …