Examples of Our Roots Meeting Our Past and Present & Foreshadowing Our Future: Existentialism
Love and hope are recurring themes in literature and many writers emphasize that love and hope are for the most marginalized—those who we tend to give up helping, the very violent, the horribly sick, prostitutes, gang members, and the list goes on of those “fallen most low.” This central human need swirls around our relationships with others and this includes our abiding love for our most wasteful children, our bitterest
These teachings are universal. The are quite similar to many others including what we call our tools in Gentle Teaching—our presence to bring a sense of feeling safe and loved, our words to uplift, our eyes to show warmth, and our hands to offer an embrace. These admonitions could be a person-centered plan for those whom we serve and support. The world has given life to many belief systems. Many
The way of love is repeated over and over again and is an obvious universal principal that guides us in our life-experiences. Gentle Teaching has embraced this value as a transcendental belief that is at the heart of the human condition and is the foundation for belief systems. As we are involved in the on-going definition of this value, we are in the moment-to-moment process of definition of its meaning.
The Jewish tradition, like other belief systems, contributes much to our cultural understanding of ourselves, others, and our role in the world. Gentle Teaching points out the on-going need for kindness and doing good to others. Buber emphasized and analyzed the key role of human connectedness and the basic need to see and be with “the other”. The early interpretation of the Torah points out this need in its repeated
These mandates are quite similar to ones that we have already mentioned in other faith traditions. The Islamic faith is a major belief system that espouses unconditional love and kindness to even enemies like other major faiths. Today, many would scream that Islam or any other faith system is based on unconditional love because their leaders often espouse war and other forms of violence. Yet, all great books are a
“I was hungry and you gave me food” does not stop to ask whether the person deserves food; the mandate is to give it. Today, for us in our world, it might be seeing someone lonely, scared, or even terrified in a house and spending time with the person. Gentle Teaching asks us to give and give unconditionally. It asks us to become engaged with those who are most marginalized
My own personal experiences in the last four decades have been extremely insightful—entering hellish places and spaces in my country and others, rich and poor, and watching in amazement people being shocked with cattle prods, tied to beds, dumped into seclusion rooms, water squirted in the face, locked in filth, putrid jail-like cells, and wrestled to the ground by three, four, five guard-like caretakers. Yet, I have also been amazed
The woman squatted in the hallway of a psychiatric ward with her head covered, her hands securing her masked aloneness, makes us wonder what we are about. The young man with his hands strapped to his waist will likely never embrace. The tiny man beneath the white sheet has surrendered hope. Those who are caged are likely confined forever. Gentle Teaching’s intention is to serve and support individuals with such
It might be helpful to know some of the factors that have influenced me in these years and what has propelled me to keep defining and re-defining Gentle Teaching. The roots of Gentle Teaching were shaped by coming from a large family, going to Brazil when I was a late adolescent and young adult, living with and among the poorest of the poor, working with prostitutes, drug addicts, and street
Rather than a behavioral approach, Gentle Teaching has evolved into a process of seeing others and ourselves as morally connected and when we or others are suffering it is our role to heal the person’s connectedness, promoting the welfare of others as a means of preventing harm, and maintaining these healthy relationships grounded in interdependence. Gentle Teaching has evolved into a philosophical psychology with a pragmatic set of teaching techniques.
