Reverence and Appraisal

We are discussing the questions of the upbringing of youth. We have already spoken about virtual connection and about such a notion as narcissism, which manifests in teenagers. Today we will discuss the topic of reverence: what teenagers value and how to develop the right models of reverence in them. Let us talk a little about reverence, appraisal, and respect. We see that at a certain stage of development, teenagers want to choose for themselves what to be filled with. They also have to form their inner world. For this they look for images they want to resemble. And then, at the age of 12 to 14, they suddenly begin to revere all sorts of personalities popular in the media. Great attention is paid to these personalities in the world — it is not always clear why — and young people turn them into role models. Although this is part of natural development, today it is becoming a painful problem: how do we fill this emptiness? What do we offer young people?

First of all, we have to agree that a person develops thanks to taking someone as an example. He has no inner model that would grow within him on its own. A person does not grow by himself — he is led by various impulses, urges, thoughts inherent to him, desires, and traits of character. But he does not know how to put in order everything received from Nature, how to organize this seed. Therefore, he must take an example from the outside. This is what the science of the higher laws of Nature says, and psychology confirms the very same thing.

Today it is even said that during this period of development a person, as it were, "invents" himself, and this is an excellent opportunity…

…to take the right example. Therefore, we must monitor this process and not miss the moment when the child needs to be surrounded with true examples, according to which he will form himself out of the components at his disposal. We should also correct him if he does this not entirely correctly. One must be sensitive in this matter, but it may even be necessary to act harshly.

During this period they usually do not obey.

That depends on our skill. We can act in a kind way, so that the teenager does not even feel that he is being subtly guided, by showing him positive examples worthy of imitation. But if we see that the environment is so undesirable that the child, receiving a bad example from there, is being formed negatively, then we must apply pressure and sanctions. Sometimes there is no choice, for he may be drawn into crime.

I too feel that at times a child must be torn out of one environment and moved to another.

That is quite possible to do. I know this from my own experience with some children whom I literally pulled out of the police and social welfare services. I had to use force, but then everything worked out. Of course, it is desirable to surround children with such worthy examples from the environment that following negative examples would be unpleasant and difficult for them. I repeat once more: example, example, and again example — this is, in the end, the only means of upbringing. And I know that our educators use this. In any upbringing, not only of youth, there is nothing but example. It is simply that teenagers are more sensitive, because they crave it.

They want something different?

They want to know who they will be — not in the sense of a profession, but as a personality — and this really is a problem. But in other periods of life as well, we unconsciously absorb various examples and attach them to ourselves, because we change only through examples. If a person does something in life, it is because he saw an example. Without an example we are not capable of taking a single step: we simply hang in the air, because the inner information existing within us is not clothed in a form. Therefore we must always know how to move, sit, speak, what to buy, what to do. We constantly search among the multitude of photographic images accumulated in the brain for a model to imitate.

Can we say that within us there is potential information that needs to be realized, and we look for various forms of its embodiment?

Always! Without extracting from memory a certain picture and realizing it, I do not act. There are even illnesses in which people lose such an ability and do not know what to do. This happens because a person either cannot extract the information from memory, or it has been erased, or he has no connection with the images existing in memory.

This is evident during trips abroad: we immediately feel ourselves strangers in a different environment! And not only because of the language — we may speak another language. But we see around us a different culture and different relationships among people, and we immediately adapt, begin to imitate them, and behave the way it is accepted in that environment, otherwise we feel discomfort. This affects us very strongly. At the same time, although the new generation ought to be more developed, the models it receives are much lower and more primitive. Why does this happen? It would seem that inner information should lead them forward and develop them, yet it turns out that they are shallower and lower compared to the previous generation?

I think they are smarter. They understand that the former fulfillment does not satisfy them. In the days of my youth, if a person had not read two or three thousand books of classical literature, had not become acquainted with several hundred works of art of various genres, had not visited museums in different countries — that is, had not absorbed human culture — then he was not considered a cultured person. Today this means nothing, it attracts no one! Even if someone were to be enthusiastic about it, they would only laugh at him. Values have changed, but we should not consider that this is for the worse. You say that the young generation has descended relative to the previous state. It has descended because, in the process of development, we have come to the stage of the recognition of evil, of analysis. Therefore, yesterday's values are no longer values today. And I, who grew up on classical examples, understand today's youth well.

So what is worth valuing? Football? Money?

It does not matter. We simply have to agree that this is how the world advances.

Despite the fact that these values are superficial and shallow?

They appear so to us, but we do not know what lies around the bend, beyond the hill of history that we are now climbing. Egoism grows, desires intensify, the connection between us becomes tighter — and everything is being emptied. It is being emptied in order to fill itself, perhaps, with a far higher value that we do not yet see. But in order to attain it, one must make oneself empty of everything that was before. This is called the recognition of evil: we have begun to realize that in everything we had before there is no benefit whatsoever. What does it matter that I know various philosophies, literature, music? If egoism develops in such a way that I do not naturally fill myself with the previous "achievements," it means that it is ready for a certain new fulfillment.

But today the fulfillments are very shallow and superficial.

This is an intermediate stage.

However, even the developed and intelligent teenagers with whom I spoke are captives of things devoid of depth. On the one hand, they see their emptiness; on the other hand, they cannot overcome their dependence on them. Let us watch an excerpt from a conversation about respect.

"Host: Let's say a famous football player comes to you. Wouldn't you show him respect?

I would.

Host: And whom do you respect?

The one we value.

Host: And who is valued in the world today?

The one you want to resemble — someone strong. Someone who has achieved something.

Host: Achieved what exactly?

Football, basketball. Those with whom we identify ourselves: important people who possess the power of authority.

Host: And singers, musicians?

That depends on the kind of music.

Host: But there are singers in genres you don't like, and everyone values them.

They value them, but I don't.

Host: Do you agree with what is valued in the world today? Is it worth valuing?

I don't think so. If you value someone, and he doesn't value you, then what's the point? Respect should be mutual.

Host: Let's think together about why it is so important to us to be respected and valued.

Respect forms us. We have an ego: we want to be valued and accepted in society. So if someone doesn't respect me, it hurts my 'I' and gets in my way."

The conversation was very interesting. From their answers it is evident that they have certain models of respect: the one who respects me has achieved things, and so on. The question is this: must they come to a total recognition of evil and become completely disillusioned with these models, or can they already now be given alternative values in place of the existing ones?

Upbringing is a global problem. If we managed to raise a single generation, there would be no problems with all the subsequent ones that would grow out of it. This is clear. The question is: where are we heading? You cannot now forcibly impose the values of the previous generation — that no longer works and will not work, because Nature demands its own. Therefore, the values coming from sports and entertainment genres are closer and more understandable to teenagers. But if we want to give them true development, then we must work with them.

First of all, one should build an environment that will arouse them toward this. A person does not hear that for which he has no need. The need must be primary, and it comes from the environment. If everyone begins to talk about some player, comedian, or even scientist — it does not matter about whom — if he becomes important for the environment that is important to me, then he becomes important to me as well. And that is not because of his merits, but because he is valued by people whom I respect.

If my friends, with whom I am connected, begin to value someone, I must not criticize this, for then I distance myself from them. I too ought to respect him, because by doing so I unite with them. The more I value him, the better my friends will treat me — the shared reverence will bind us. This is how it works within a closed circle. Therefore it is very important for us to gradually begin forming such images and values that will replace their previous ones. These images must be attractive and understandable, that is, not artificially created. Today these are players, athletes; earlier they were fighters for freedom. Of course, they too were covertly instilled into the public consciousness. In any case, as we have already said, with the help of our young people we can work on this with the broad public. The only question is: which values do we offer? What respect, what authority? What do they depend on?

I am asking about this as well. Will these changes take place under the influence of an environment that adopts new values, or will the young people themselves understand and respect values of a higher level in accordance with their development? After all, they do not judge or criticize the values they receive today. Must they develop within themselves a critical attitude toward what they respect, or is it enough that the environment as a whole turns to new values?

The thing is that young people do not live in a separate space; they feed off us, the adults. And what adults revere seeps through to them and is accepted by them. Therefore we are obliged to work on a broader layer of the population — a more adult, understanding, balanced one — instilling new values there. Then it will pass on to the young people as well. Besides, I very much hope that a recognition of evil will come in various fields, especially in sports. Look at what is happening around the championships! Something terrible! Who will play?! Which country will win?! As if all the countries had turned into teams of spectators. Heads of state fight for the right to host a championship!

That is an economic interest.

But the phenomenon itself is turning into an important symbol. Of course, it is better to play than to fight wars. But countries play football — that is what is happening today. In such a situation it is difficult to do anything.

True, during the championships the mood of the public improves considerably. We feel a pleasant shared atmosphere.

Of course. I remember that when a popular TV series was airing, the police reported a significant decrease in the number of thefts…

Can we say that young people look for models like football players because they do not see worthy examples in their own environment?

No. If you could reveal to them broader, more attractive and sparkling horizons, they would certainly become interested in them. The question is to what extent you are capable of interesting them. And that is a problem, for you are working against public opinion.

It has to be something far stronger.

Yes.

Then I will ask differently. Let's say football today is not just a game — a whole industry has been created around it: live broadcasts, the lives of the players, expert commentary, big money, excitement. People live by all of this. The question is whether we can offer an alternative that would be, as you say, stronger, yet would arise out of their own lives?

It is hard to say now. I see the present period literally as an intermediate one between degrees. If once we had to work hard to provide ourselves with food, today there is no need for that. Today 90% of the population could refrain from working and still receive everything thanks to mechanization and technology. We are entering an era of such technologies in which a person has nothing to do: 2 to 3% of the world's population provide humanity with literally everything! What will the rest do?

Play football all the time! Precisely so, and this does not happen by chance. We must understand that we are facing a problem: either destroy the population or give it an occupation. They speak of 10% unemployed. What 10%? We understand perfectly well that this is not so. If we relate to the population correctly, we get 80 to 90% unemployed. It is said: "Go and earn from one another." You do something for me, and I do something for you, but neither is needed. Therefore, some steal, others put them in prison, and still others guard the prisons, and so on.

The question is whether it is possible to form a critical attitude for the duration of the transitional period?

There is no substitute. Right now we are going through a special process in which everything is changing: technologies, the way of life, the connections between people, the attitude toward ecology, toward the family, toward oneself. If earlier we filled ourselves with constant occupation with work and family, today this is not so. We are still caught in this cycle, but gradually we are moving toward the point where this ceases to be a concern. There is almost no family, and almost no work either. So what is to be done with people? It is not by chance that we come to states in which a game becomes life.

But in this intermediate period there is a generation that works. For now, it is developing and going through a serious crisis in everything that concerns young people. So what is to be done with it? Sacrifice it?

No one can give an answer to everything we are now going through — this is evident from the research. And we have not yet brought our own answer to such a level that it would be simple, understandable, and easily perceived by everyone. This must be worked on. If we work with our young people and teenagers the way our instructors do, then we will simply show the world how to achieve success with them.

To show an example of how a group creates for itself a mini-environment that protects and develops them?

Yes. For any explanations are merely philosophy and theory. They are scarcely absorbed. But if you show the realization of the method, that works.

What alternative can be given to such a group if it also experiences the influence of the external society? What higher kind of reverence, of respect?

In the course of the discussions that you lead, gently and imperceptibly you bring them to self-criticism and the recognition of evil. What is needed is the formation within a person of a sense of the recognition of egoism as evil. This is precisely what we lack. It does not matter what one is enthusiastic about — supposedly all these enthusiasms are not bad. They bring pleasure and fulfillment, but at the same time, being caught up in them steals from me eternity, perfection, infinite attainment, unlimited life full of adventure. This is precisely what I must show them — and then they will recognize the true evil.

Is it necessary to speak to them about this? — Only through discussion.

We do not ask them or discuss it directly, but as a result of the discussion each one pays attention to it?

Correct.

Let us sum up. I thank the participants for an interesting conversation about the intermediate stage, after which a new state will surely come. And for now, the solution is to build an exemplary group that, through self-criticism and the recognition of evil in its present state, will show humanity that there exists a different option, a different example. This is precisely what we now want to develop and demonstrate in our midst.