Before I wanted to be a spiritual teacher I wanted to be a psychiatrist. I spend hours reading and taking any class I could about psychology. I thought it was fascinating at first, but as time went on I realized that it could be seen as the study of the way to control someone else mind. Psychiatrists rely on investigating ones mind and then changing it to something they believe is healthier for the individual. For example in the 1960's it was common for homosexuals to be treated with aversion techniques to turn them into strait people. They did this by giving them drugs that make them throw up and then force them to look at picture of those of the same sex. They would also force these people to masturbate to the opposite sex regularly in hopes it would re-wire the brain and make them straight. In reality that's all psychology is, thus my interested in the subject lead to evaluate punishment within out society.
An eye for an eye is one of the strongest human instincts. When we feel wronged we want the person who did it to feel the same way. We like to think this is something that no longer occurs because we are 'civilized' but in reality we just made it acceptable by creating a judicial system. As a spiritual teacher I can tell you nothing is more damaging to a persons mental state than being placed into one our jails or psychiatric hospitals. Recent studied suggest 52%of the people that go to prison go back, and this is no surprise to me, in fact I personally believe that number is way higher than what most studies suggest. Despite this we still believe that we can punish someone enough to heal them.
To me this is one of the biggest issues in our society. First reason being right and wrong are not set in stone as I have mentioned countless times before. In the 1900 women having rights was wrong and now its considered a wrong to not allow a women her rights. Society is constantly changing its idea of wrong and right because source is constantly changing whats wrong and right based upon the desires of the life it created. Therefor its silly to assume that something you are punishing someone for now will always be a behavior that is considered wrong.
Second reason is because, like so many other things we try to fix, we are not getting to the root of the problem. You can through a murder in prison and try to punish him into not being a murder but you are ignoring the fact that there must be a reason these people murder in the first place. If you can change that root the whole tree grows differently than before. Very few prisons have programs for people who have taken others lives that aim to help them fix the cause of their behavior.
Third reason is because many of your basic human needs are not met inside a prison. In psychological terms, these are called Maslow's 5 Basic Needs.
An eye for an eye is one of the strongest human instincts. When we feel wronged we want the person who did it to feel the same way. We like to think this is something that no longer occurs because we are 'civilized' but in reality we just made it acceptable by creating a judicial system. As a spiritual teacher I can tell you nothing is more damaging to a persons mental state than being placed into one our jails or psychiatric hospitals. Recent studied suggest 52%of the people that go to prison go back, and this is no surprise to me, in fact I personally believe that number is way higher than what most studies suggest. Despite this we still believe that we can punish someone enough to heal them.
To me this is one of the biggest issues in our society. First reason being right and wrong are not set in stone as I have mentioned countless times before. In the 1900 women having rights was wrong and now its considered a wrong to not allow a women her rights. Society is constantly changing its idea of wrong and right because source is constantly changing whats wrong and right based upon the desires of the life it created. Therefor its silly to assume that something you are punishing someone for now will always be a behavior that is considered wrong.
Second reason is because, like so many other things we try to fix, we are not getting to the root of the problem. You can through a murder in prison and try to punish him into not being a murder but you are ignoring the fact that there must be a reason these people murder in the first place. If you can change that root the whole tree grows differently than before. Very few prisons have programs for people who have taken others lives that aim to help them fix the cause of their behavior.
Third reason is because many of your basic human needs are not met inside a prison. In psychological terms, these are called Maslow's 5 Basic Needs.
In most prisons you are given only the basic needs like food, water, and sleep which literally puts your body into survival mode. The small amount of social interaction you are allowed to have is shallow to what it feels like to be surrounded by family and friends. When people do leave prison they often have a hard time adjusting to normal life. They forget how to communicate and how to be independent. Many will eventually go back to prison if only to fell conformable again, like in the movie Shawshank Redemption when the old man gets released after spending most his life in prison. He actually ends up taking his own life, because the outside world felt so foreign to him. This is unfortunately a very true fate for many that spend long periods of time in prison.
I also find it very interesting how even the most loving and selfless people will find punishment an effective way to deal with many issues. The argument on whether or not spanking as a form of punishment is acceptable or even an effective method to teach child right or wrong has been up for debate for years now. From my own experience it can work to divert a child from acting a certain way, simply because no one wants to be and pain and its human nature to avoid it, but you are not allowing the child to understand why a behavior is unwanted. By doing this not only are you missing out on a chance for the child to use its own brain but you are creating a child that lacks its own independence.
Punishment may seem like a necessary part of teaching someone right and wrong and hot to behave, but its not the only way we can learn and teach others. In fact its the least effective approach and has lead to much of the pain and suffering that occurs on this planet. Personally, I hope to see the reform of not just prisons, but parenting as well.
The best way to do this is to encourage more people to learn the difference between punishment and reinforcement.
Punishment works like this:
A child picks his nose during class (behavior) and the teacher reprimands him (negative stimulus) in front of his classmates.
or
For a child that really enjoys a specific class, such as gym or music classes at school, negative punishment can happen if they are removed from that class (desired stimulus) and sent to the principal’s office because they were acting out/misbehaving (behavior).
Reinforcement looks like this:
The little boy receives $5.00 (positive stimulus) for every A he earns on his report card (behavior).
or
Natalie can get up from the dinner table (negative stimulus) when she eats 2 bites of her broccoli (behavior).
When thinking about reinforcement, always remember that the end result is to try to increase the behavior, whereas punishment procedures are used to decrease behavior. For positive reinforcement, think of it as adding something positive in order to increase a response. For negative reinforcement, think of it as taking something negative away in order to increase a response.
Have a happy Holiday!!!
I also find it very interesting how even the most loving and selfless people will find punishment an effective way to deal with many issues. The argument on whether or not spanking as a form of punishment is acceptable or even an effective method to teach child right or wrong has been up for debate for years now. From my own experience it can work to divert a child from acting a certain way, simply because no one wants to be and pain and its human nature to avoid it, but you are not allowing the child to understand why a behavior is unwanted. By doing this not only are you missing out on a chance for the child to use its own brain but you are creating a child that lacks its own independence.
Punishment may seem like a necessary part of teaching someone right and wrong and hot to behave, but its not the only way we can learn and teach others. In fact its the least effective approach and has lead to much of the pain and suffering that occurs on this planet. Personally, I hope to see the reform of not just prisons, but parenting as well.
The best way to do this is to encourage more people to learn the difference between punishment and reinforcement.
Punishment works like this:
A child picks his nose during class (behavior) and the teacher reprimands him (negative stimulus) in front of his classmates.
or
For a child that really enjoys a specific class, such as gym or music classes at school, negative punishment can happen if they are removed from that class (desired stimulus) and sent to the principal’s office because they were acting out/misbehaving (behavior).
Reinforcement looks like this:
The little boy receives $5.00 (positive stimulus) for every A he earns on his report card (behavior).
or
Natalie can get up from the dinner table (negative stimulus) when she eats 2 bites of her broccoli (behavior).
When thinking about reinforcement, always remember that the end result is to try to increase the behavior, whereas punishment procedures are used to decrease behavior. For positive reinforcement, think of it as adding something positive in order to increase a response. For negative reinforcement, think of it as taking something negative away in order to increase a response.
Have a happy Holiday!!!