We are conditioned in school.
13 years, 15,000 hours.
The adults condition the kids.
I’d know – I’ve been the adult.
But those adults were conditioned too. It’s an ongoing feedback loop.
Pair that feedback loop with the status-quo bias and the incentive structure of the public sector, and there’s much perpetuity.
Blame, shame, and reproach of the adults doing the conditioning is – ironically – just more conditioning.
Memes of punishment-reward, top-down, conditional love, extrinsic motivation, is the water in which all fish swim.
It’s possible though — changing tone here — for Aquaman to evolve from fish to mammal.
It’s possible for an adult to leave the water, to let go of its gils, to breathe with healthy lungs.
New memes of unconditional love, autonomy, choice, and harmony can be established.
He can build new opportunities (as Kerry McDonald discusses) to nurture the children of the present and future.
He can invite the children of the water to “become mammals” as well.
He can express sadness, regret, disappointment. He can mourn and heal with the children of the water.
He can mourn the very existence of the cycle of conditioning.
And continue to self-empower.
