Monday, July 9, 2012

Packer: psychological requirement of a free society

"The essential psychological requirement of a free society is the willingness on the part of the individual to accept responsibility for his life."
- Edith Packer, clinical psychologist

1 comment:

  1. In expansion -

    A society of self-responsible individuals voluntarily interacting for the maximization of the lifetime happiness of each, all at the same time is not "utopia" - an impossibility based on facts of reality. Instead it is a very real possibility once fully understood and embraced by even a relatively small number but used as the basis of their interactions with *all* others, who will gradually come to appreciate, understand and reciprocate - or be shunned.
    "Social Meta-Needs: A New Basis for Optimal Interaction" - http://selfsip.org/fundamentals/socialmetaneeds.html

    This treatise above with its many links is not a breezy read - a warning for those looking for and used to soundbites on which to walk away with thinking that such bromides are really foundational and meaningful as a solution to serious social problems.
    Instead, the twin-framework implementations of the Social Meta-Needs theory - The Natural Social Contract and Social Preferencing - are envisioned as replacements for existing governments, all of which are described and regulated (in the US alone) via thousands of volumes and many millions (?billions?) of words enabling tens of thousands of lawyers to charge handsomely to serve as "gatekeepers" for the common folk.

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