Souljourner's Christian Maturity and Morality

This weekend's Souljourner's was good, but a bit disorienting. The books we had to read in preparation were about stages of faith, shame, postmodern spirituality and the process of change in romantic love. But none of those things were what we talked about!

We talked a little bit about phases of transition when we go through any kind of significant physical, mental, emotional or spiritual change or life disruption, which was part of the book we read:
1) Ending - including disengagement from the old way of thinking, disidentification with a loss of a part of self-definition, disenchantment with the person I thought I was, and disorientation which includes attendant feelings of confusion, etc.
2) Neutral zone -- the "dark night of the soul", the feeling of dislocation and desolution, often accompanied by the apparent absence of God
3) New Beginnings - reentry, reintegration, reorientation to a new stage or place and protecting the fragile new beginnings against the power of old patterns.


A big part of what we talked about what Morality and Change, which was not in any of the materials we prepared for. In brief:

The Psychology of Evil : how moral disengagement happens
1) Diffusion of responsibility -- it's somebody else's fault, everybody was doing it, someone else started it, group-think
2) Obedience without question -- blind acceptance of socialization, propaganda and education, I was ordered to do it, I did what was expected of me
3) Deindividuation -- soldiers wear uniforms, victims like at Abu Ghraib are hooded, Jews are forced to wear a yellow star of david
4) Dehumanization -- human beings are unrecognizably human, referred to and treated as animals, very common to be forced to be naked.

Criteria for Moral Exemplars:
1) A sustained commitment to moral principles
2) a consistent tendency to act in according with these principlese
3) a willingness to affirm rather than deny or misrepresent one's own acts
4) a willingness to risk personal well-being for the sake of one's moral principles
5) a talent for inspiring others to moral action
6) a sense of humility rather than grandiosity or egotism
7) a dedication and reseponsiveness to the needs of others

10-steps for resisting unwanted influences
1. I admit when I make a mistake
2. I am mindful
3. I am responsible
4. I am me, the best I can be
5. I expect just authority, but rebel against unjust authority
6. I want group acceptance, but value my independence.
7. I will be more frame-vigilant (i.e. aware of how ads, movies, interviews, sound bites, "debates" are framed to lead toward a particular view/behavior)
8. I will balance my time perspective
9. I will not sacrifice personal or civic freedoms for the illusion of security
10. I can oppose unjust systems