Developing Unused Capacities
Liberal America in the mid-70's is so obsessed with playing out its role as the outraged idealistastonished, anguished and all but mortally wounded over the failures of faith, that it is coming dangerously close t o convincing itself (and more importantly, perhaps, much of its most promising youth) that outrage and distrust are what men live by. I t would he unfortunate indeed if science teachers allowed themselves to become trapped in this purgative of hope. Three points need t o he considered: The first is that nothing is easier than exposing the paradoxical distance between the goals and the results of any human activity. Being human, we always fall short. But man and civilization have not let this destroy or stultify them in the past, and there are compelling reasons for believing that human potential is best expressed and developed under the influence of energizing visions of a better world than by a nihilizing preoccupation with man's failures and unworthiness. The second point is that our own unused capacities may be the most plentiful and also the most powerful resource on the planet. This resource is close at hand, readily available, and well within our ability to tap and to cultivate. The third point is that we need more effective ways of tapping this resource. A model for human behavior that explains why and how we select our goals, or how to stimulate flowering of the human will couG be a great help. For much of the lifetime of Western civilization, man has found meaning and purpose in his life, and an anchor against adversity, through religion or ideology. These have provided him with a perception of nature, a hierarchy of human values, and a conception of reality that have guided his lifestyle and channeled his passions. Encouraged by this enlightenment, he has created a world in which individual freedom and occasion to contribute are available to increasingly vast numbers of individuals. With this has come greater complexity and greater opportunity for the expression of human genius and human frailty. With this also have come periods in which genius seems to prevail, and other periods in which frailty seems to dominate. At present, the latter would appear to be in ascendency. During such times, cynics would have us accept the thesis that religion and ideology have failed, and that we must adopt an anchorless ethics-one based on the kind of pragmatism that advocates concentrating our efforts on solving local or short-fall problems without ever defining where we are going, and why. This approach inevitably leads to drift, diminishing confidence and decline. Against the cynics' solution is the time-tested response of summoning up higher orders of ideological or religious faith, and marshalling this to create a higher civilizationone less unworthy of our dreams. In these especially difficult times, the energizing visions needed to ignite higher ordws of faith well might center on the prospects for developing our own unuked capacities and on the challenge of trying to discover what makes us what we are. No time has been more ripe than the present for developing unused human capacities. At every turn we see un-
editorially speaking fulfilled, unchallenged and uncommitted individuals. More and more are drifting into this situation, some through personal inadequacy, &any others through perceived paucity of opportunity. Many among us are so ravaged by their anxieties. fears and inhibitions. and hv their self-inflicted. unflattering self-images that their chances of saving themselves or of makine a solid contribution are fadine" even more rapidly than their dreams. All too often we see our hest and briehtest o .e o.~ l eattracted to cold insensitive manipulation, to trivial quasi-artistic fads, or to grubbing and erasoine for meanineless accumulation of material wealth. ~ve&Lere we witness the failure of human beings and of nations t o eet along. Our Dress. our arts. our entertainment seem obsessed wit; the peddling of despair and cynicism. Surelv this is not reoresentative of man's better nature or of his-hopes. We desperately need a change in outlook, perhaps even a psychological renaissance. The motivating influences for such a renaissance are with us; only the means of bringing out the best in ourselves remains to he discovered. We know, for example, that personal fulfillment comes from living in harmony with others and with nature. We know also that living in harmony has a component of helping and forgiving others, and a component of helping and forgiving ourselves. Helping and forgiving others is something we understand much better than we frequently let on. Helping and forgiving ourselves involves discovering and using our talents, recognizing our limitations, and curbing our appetites and greed. Perhaos more than anvthine else. i t means findine satisfaction in personal effort and excellence, whether or not this is recognized and rewarded. Now, more than ever, it requires that most of us narrow the sphere we wish to dominate without narrowing our vision of the horizons or diminishing the intensity of o;r efforts. I t not only means more qualit; and less quantity, hut more self-sufficiency and less selfaggrandizement. Knowing or accepting all this is a good deal easier than acting on it. Acting on it requires a faith in ourselves and in our abilities far hevond anything that most of us in this protective, affluentm~ciet~ ha\.e leen called upon m muster. A areat deal depends on our finding this faith, and with it thecourage to make a start in deviloping those unused capacities that can make us more.effective and more viable individuals. Discovering and acting on such a faith would appear to he even more vital for our students and for the younger generations. How to find this faith while so many of our ideological structures crumhle around us must remain a matter of individual character and personal choice, but for many it will be found in the realization that each of us is a treasure of potentialities, that life is the exciting process of discovering and usine these ootentialities. and that the ultimate freedom a n ~ o p p o r ~ u n i tlie y in &eating a self that is a t the same time at personal peace and in contributing harmony with others and wiAh nature. WTL
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Volume 52, Number 6,June 1975 / 349
