Divided No More

 Greetings to all my readers. I hope, with a decline in the number of COVID 19 cases around us, you might be feeling considerably less distressed and anxious, though should not be negligent in following the much necessary COVID appropriate behavior. With governments planning gradual unlock processes throughout the country, situation definitely seems to have improved, but what mustn’t be forgotten is staying cautious. We have all contributed by staying indoors and taking care of ourselves and our loved ones and being careless now will simply mean throwing away all that effort.

 I would thus urge all of you to stay safe.

The current article is the third and final one based on the book, ‘The Courage to Teach’ by Parker J Palmer. In the last two we had been introduced to concepts of selfhood, identity, integrity, community of truth and knowing, teaching and learning in community. In this one, I will cover the concluding chapter – ‘Divided no More, teaching from a Heart of Hope’ where Parker shifts the focus from ‘Teaching Practices’ to a much wider concept of reforming and revitalizing education by living a life that is divided no more.

Personally for me, this last chapter is like a cherry on the cake. Palmer here talks about a way of life – listing it in steps, which I feel if understood deeply and followed correctly would not only make us better teachers or professionals in general, but help us grow closer to our inner selves, the first step to a more balanced and content life. He addresses an issue that all of us have and probably still face, the issue that he calls ‘living a divided life’. So, what exactly is this divided (or undivided) life? I here attempt to explain it from a teacher’s perspective.      

We all, whether as teachers, parents or concerned citizens of the society, will agree that our educational system needs changes, serious refurbishment. Enthusiasts amongst us will be flooded with ideas about where and what is going wrong and why it needs immediate fixing. But more often than not these ideas remain away from actual implementation and we end up blaming the rigidity and flaws of the system for it. To put it simply, we often face the dilemma of whether to listen to our inner voice or to abide by organizational norms. And every time that we give into the norms over our inner voice, we blame the system for our helplessness. What we do not realize is by doing so, we inadvertently choose for ourselves a life that is divided. And for those of us who choose otherwise, we lay grounds for a reform.

Such is the case, not just with individual organizational level policies but also with our government formulated New Education Policy 2020. Much has been discussed and spoken about its pros and cons and one aspect that has been discussed at length is the feasibility (or rather non feasibility) of its implementation. Most experts are of the opinion that NEP is a wonderful document, with suggestions of long overdue and much needed amendments; but the possibility of its successful implementation due to unavailability of monetary and human resources, bureaucratic factors and political aspects seem more pessimistic than hopeful. So, should we simply discard the NEP or any other such idea involving changes? For how long will we stare at an impasse, not doing anything about it and living a life where what we claim as our thoughts and convictions do not match our actions? For how long will we blame the system for our own inability to stand up for our beliefs? Institutions cannot change themselves; had they had the capacity for constant evolution, there would never have been a crisis demanding transformation. And all we do is indulge in activities that defy our personal value structure and blame the ‘this’ and ‘that’ of the system for it, hereby choosing to succumb to the external forces and taking a step away from that transformation, choosing a life that is divided - a life that fragments us, breaks us, devoid us of harmony; where our inner truth is not congruent with our outer self. And to hope that any sort of social progress could blossom in such a divided life is so to say, futile.

The starting point of any social movement will happen only when we care to act; when we stand strong for our beliefs and challenge the institutional resistance to change. When, as Palmer puts it “an isolated individual who suffers from a situation that needs changing decide to live divided no more. When people come to a juncture where they must choose between allowing selfhood to die and claiming their identity and integrity from which good living and good teaching arises. The starting point of a social movement happens when the dividedness becomes so extreme that it is intolerable and one can no longer live without bringing one’s actions in sync with one’s inner life.”

To substantiate, Parker introduces us to Rosa Parks, the American activist of colour, who decided she could no longer act as if she were less than a full human being, as how the institutional racism had defined her. On Dec 1, 1995 in Montgomery, Alabama, she sat down toward the front of a segregated bus (which was against the law back then) and refused to yield her seat to a white man. Though she was later jailed and fined, for her it was that moment – the starting point of a social movement. Her act led to a public transportation boycott led by Martin Luther King Jr, resulting in a federal court decision against the bus segregation laws; eventually giving rise to the civil rights movement.

Another example closer to home that I would like to quote would be of the Father of our Nation. Gandhi Ji’s first act of Civil Disobedience goes back to when he was a young lawyer working in South Africa. It was in 1893 that he first refused to comply with racial segregation rules there by travelling in a first class railway compartment, from which he was later forcibly ejected. It was in that moment he decided to dedicate his life to fighting injustice and defending his rights as a human being.  

What is common in both these campaigns is their non – violent nature and the intention of community wide wellbeing as against any individualistic political gains. What is also true is these incidents were not the first of their kinds. Other people would have committed similar acts with no results except punishments. But had Rosa Parks or Gandhi Ji sat their waiting for some kind of guarantee or calculating their odds of success, history would not have been written the way it is now.

So is Palmer encouraging us all to become revolutionaries? May be or maybe not. But what he is definitely proposing is we start living a life that prepares us to bring about small productive alterations or incremental adjustments to the existing system as and when needed – a life that is divided no more, which is also first of the four stages any successful movement follows. To list, the four stages are as follows. The stages mentioned are ideal types. In real life scenarios, they might overlap, circle back and not even occur in the same order. But by bifurcating, we can understand the essential dynamics and importance of each stage.

1.    Isolated individuals make a conscious decision to live ‘divided no more’

2.    Individuals begin discovering one another and form communities of congruence

3.    The communities start going public, learning to convert their private concerns into public issues.

4.    A system of alternative rewards to sustain the movement’s vision and to put pressure for change emerges.  

Elaborating the first stage, how do we begin living a life that is undivided? Palmer suggests we start by going beyond criticizing institutions and becoming self - critical. Thus our focus needs to move away from labeling ‘those people’ or ‘that place’ as our problems, to accepting our own shortcomings for complying with the system and letting it rule our lives. We are to explore and awaken our inner identity and integrity, overcome our apprehensions and inhibitions and refuse to move along or give the institution power over us. It happens when, as Rosa Park puts it, ‘You get tired, not physically but tired in your heart, tired in your soul, tired of giving in’. In the words of Palmer, to choose an undivided life is to put flesh on the Pogo principle – “We has met the enemy, and it is us.” The moment we decide to stop being our own enemy, we free ourselves from institutional constraints and gain power to confront the institution. It is when we no longer collaborate in something that violates our own integrity and are ready to face the punishment that may follow, simply because no punishment anyone else lays could possibly be worse than the punishment, we lay ourselves by conspiring in our own diminishment.  

The decision of an undivided life, however powerfully motivated needs continual reinforcement for its survival. We live in a society that often tells us a divided life is sane but an undivided life is foolish and even irresponsible. Thus, in the second stage of a successful movement, various people who have chosen to life an undivided life but are still in self - doubt come together to form ‘communities of congruence’ whose primary purpose is mutual reassurance. A major hindrance that these people face, is finding like - minded people closer to home. And the only way to plant a seed from which community of congruence would grow is making visible one’s decision and beliefs. These communities when formed are able to offer a safe conceptual space where the substance of movement is developed and sustained. It is here that a face or rather a language is given to the movement’s vision, a streamlined language of strength that will help it survive and thrive through the rough and tumble of public realm. In short, these communities of congruence act like platforms – provide a structure for like - minded people to come together, for their movements to take root, strengthen and work through imperfections before going public.

How any lacuna or discrepancy in the vision and ultimate intentions of participants can lead to the falling apart of a movement can be clearly seen in case of Anna Hazare and his allies. Anna Hazare had been a popular name in the field of Indian Social Activism specifically in the state of Maharashtra. From transformation of Ralegan Siddhi to Watershed Development Programs to anti - corruption and farmer protests he was involved in multiple successful movements in the state. His first national level movement which came into light in 2011 was introduced to the public as aimed towards alleviating corruption in our government and bureaucratic setups through the introduction of Jan Lokpal Bill. He was joined by a few noted citizens of our nation. But the movement lost momentum when the splits in ideologies between various members came to light with the formation of a currently existing political party. The anti - corruption movement which was listed as one of the ‘Top Ten News Stories of 2011’ by Time Magazine failed to make much impact and is now nowhere to be seen. Our country has not seen any movement of potential ever since - a clear indication that for a movement to be socially uplifting, its roots cannot be anywhere other than the welfare of its masses. Secondly, it should not just list problems and flaws, but offer feasible alternatives, a goal to be achieved. A movement based on people’s selfish interests and no clear goal will only lead to disturbance and anarchy.         

Moving on to the third stage - ‘Going Public’. In this stage, the movement now in a well - shaped structural form is opened for the public realm; it moves from amongst like - minded cause supporting people to the scrutiny of a larger audience. This is the stage where not only does it have a chance to influence others but also meet challenges that compel it to check and correct its own values. It is in this stage that a movement undergoes reality check – where it either emerges as reasonable or falls into delusion. And the leaders of any authentic movement will not shy away from going public, from engaging in give and take and understanding very well that public dialogue is the only way to truly reach their desired goals.

In the words of Palmer, ‘As a movement goes public, the identity and integrity of its participants are tested against the great diversity of values and visions at work in the public arena. We must stay close to our own integrity in this complex field of forces, where we can easily lose our way. But we must also risk opening ourselves to conflicting influences, for in that way both the movement and our integrity can grow.’        

The fourth and final stage, that Palmer calls ‘The Heart’s Reward’ depicts the full trajectory of the efforts put in. In stage 1 where movement energies were generated, an isolated individual abandoned the logic of organizations and decided to live an undivided life. Those energies became communal in stage 2 and went public in stage 3. In stage 4 they come back, multiplied many folds, to the point of their origin – with the intention of altering the organizational logics. In stage 1, people had seen no punishment worse than their own diminishment; in stage 4, they see no reward greater than living their own truth. One does not need to aim for a complete makeover or overturning of the prevailing order. Small but effective steps of incremental adjustments will gradually be enough to make the difference. As Thomas Merton suggested, “We do not need to adjust to the world; we can adjust the world.” Movements are more likely to fine tune reality than to give rise to a brave new world.

To conclude I would say, we often think of movements as hateful and damaging towards an institution. What we do not often realize is people who start movements do not do so because they hate an institution but because they love it too much to let it descend to its lowest form. A constructive social movement might be against an institution’s norms, it certainly will not be against the institute itself. What it will do is better the institution, help it evolve. Organizations and social movements are in fact not polarities but share a paradoxical relation, wherein affirmation of both and their symbiosis is what a healthy society requires. Talking specifically about the field of educational institutions, the number of teachers with revolutionary emotions and behavior might not be a majority but are enough to give us hope for a better future.   

In the words of Palmer, Organizations and movements both play creative roles, but to quite different ends. Organizations represent the principal of order and conservation: they are the vessels in which a society holds hard – won treasures from the past. Movements represent the principal of flux and change; they are the processes through which a society will encourage interplay between the two. From a teacher’s perspective, we will discover that there is no essential conflict between loving to teach and working to reform education. In an authentic movement, the world becomes our classroom and the potential to teach and learn is found everywhere.”

With the end of the book, we have come a full circle from discovering nuances of the inner terrain of our selfhood to channelizing our powers beyond ourselves, in the co – creation a better world. As poet Rumi puts it, when we are unfaithful to our inner teacher and to the community of truth, we do lamentable damage not only to ourselves or our students but to great things of the world, thus we should choose to live a life that is divided no more.