Academic blindness

It seems quite fair to say that the Bologna Process brought a more contemporary curriculum to European universities in terms of a more realistic life spam. Ten, fifteen years ago deeper and longer exposure to a broader range of topics was largely applied and understood as ideal education. But nowadays, whatever is the matter brought up in a conversation people can always excuse themselves and go to the loo to perform a quick google search in their smartphones. When retuning they should be able to ‘lecture’ on the matter to everybody around.  But if a process evaluation was able to change content and size in universities isn’t also time to review behavioural traditional academic ruling attitude?

There was a time where only students from wealthy families and good colleges were able to ingress in a university. Since then, with a global population growing around 1 billion per decade, people responsible for education have been adjusting the educational system from levels 1 to 6 in order to attend the immense variance of social cultural backgrounds and differences of purchasing power among population. Nowadays, there are more universities, a different selection of people to get in that follows the student history, and a larger range of coursers. But parallel to that, the professional market out there ends up for using these changes as selection criteria for hiring people. However, just being graduated, in most cases, is not enough as it is expected a first class or upper second grade. But if there is a visible chain of conditions to find a job why then up to one third of students potentially drop off university before graduation?   

It seems clear, perhaps, that somewhere in the educational reform timeline the pre-university system understood that some components should be learned at university while the university system sees that these same components should’ve been acquired previous to university time.

However, my university in London not only provides learning supporting sessions as they also provide peer mentoring programs as, according to evidences, it is important helping students to develop their learning skills so they can improve their grades, and experiences.  But what if the current system is too conservative and insists in keep applying a very old and traditional way of superior teaching designed for privileged people?  If only around five percent of all students in university levels reach first class grades and over fifty percent remind in and/or under lower second class, is grade improvement a reality for just a small percentage of students as first class grades seem to be?

In my point of view there are at least two very old traditional ideas associated to university that no educational system reform was able to change and they should’ve tried harder: University gives one a more refined societal status and university is all about self-learning. Indirectly, or not, one ends up feeding and strengthen the other.

What I mean is that first class students most probably had previous social, familiar, and educational well-structured overall programmes so their brains did develop in a way that prepared them for a more self-learning experience. Considering all the points brought up over the previous paragraphs it is more than time to revisit the teaching design for undergraduate programmes and adapt and adjust them to the new Bologna reality. It is time to face and talk about this awkward-should-not- mention relation between university education and how much it cost. Especially because we have a dramatically higher figure of less privileged students paying the same amount of money for a so called ‘guidance’ that in fact rely on a traditional bankrupted system.          

But how flexible should university guidance be in order to suit more comprehensively all groups once they all pay the same amount?  As I said, and also as example, my university already provides considerable help support, such as on academic writing and organising study techniques, for example.  This help is supposed to balance the allegedly natural difference among students by enhancing their academic experience and creating equity regarding their outcomes, which could justify more fairly the payment of same amount by all students. Then why students do not use these services or why when they do the expected grade improvement across classes not always is observed? Or yet, why as much as a third of the students in my university drop out academic life before graduation?    

Although I am sure we will find non-first class students with fine predicates knowing how to use all university’s types of support, my wild guess is that this group should also be no bigger than the ‘first class’. In fact, support classes are often near empty and many of my peers seem very disconnected to the academic reality and they actually look like to be taking the experience with rather contempt than responsibility. But please notice that merely pointing this behaviour out is quite dangerous; despite describing real observable behaviour, it leads people to rather obvious, easy, and shallow analysis regarding what could be happening with the student body. But another question pops out: how many more small groups representing five, eight percent, for instance, from this student body are out there?  

Universities should be more aware about the types of student profiles in their campus, rather than assume a general one. A university that has the largest amount of students going across first and second years averaging third class or so should not speak with an Oxford accent! A university claiming that because guidance and support has been available students are the ones to blame for their own failures is on the verge of just being taking advantage of these students. And when it happens within the school of psychology it is even more disturbing.

But this kind of speculations over student’s irresponsible behaviour or universities ethical issues is quite dull and unconstructive. So, it seems necessary to establish some grounds here. Let’s assume that the lacking of endeavour regarding some students is not related merely to irresponsible behaviour. Similarly, let’s also assume that universities are seriously committed in doing the best for all students.  Said that...   

Universities do know how hard it is the transition of a student to a more independent way of studying.  Universities really do try to make things easier by providing students with online repository websites where all information is make available. Also, they do introduce students to a more organised business environment by conveying all communication via email. By experience, university people know students eventually will evolve and get the pace until graduation day.  And here is the caveat! All these certainties seem to be conflicting with the students’ reality and from where I see, a series of underlying silently maladaptive behaviours start to build up from day one, misleading and contaminating the whole academic experience, leaving one feeling unconsciously unhelped and lost. 

While volunteering to Health Watch I came across a terrifying user complaint; her mother had gone to an A&E with severe stomachic ache. She was diagnosed with constipation and sent home. As her clinical status did no change past few days she was taken to another A&E where they diagnosed ovary cancer. Now, as revolting and scary as it sounds, it seems immediate to think of incompetence. However, think about the amount of people they actually save per day. Now think about the amount of people that actually go there in severe stomach pain actually due to constipation. In a case where a patient does not show more evident cancer symptoms, understandably, they will diagnose by the common expectation. The more one person do the same job or see the same thing the more automatic outcomes will be.        

Based on this, let’s evaluate the impact of this... automatic-pilot attitude over student’s reality:

Timing

A university is also a corporation and such as, it has employees; some are lectures and some are just administrative. But they all have responsibilities, carrier goals, promotions to chase, and projects to achieve. Let’s just remind ourselves here that a student first year at a university might correspond to a second, sixth, maybe twelfth year of a university’s employee who probably is used to the procedures and with the performing of tasks with some autonomy. How easy would be indeed to oversimplify a first year student needs?     

Most of information is conveyed via email or placed on the online repository site:  

• First year students’ reality regarding communication is far more interactive and attractive than emails by the use of Facebook and WhatsApp, for example. People not used to an office environment, people that haven’t yet had a real company/employee relationship will not infer, nor learn by osmosis, how important it is to look at their emails as a fundamental tool of work.
• The amount of general content sent via email to all students disregardless of their schools, or levels, or modules, meaning absolutely nothing to receivers, makes hard to build up a reliable relationship with this tool causing the loss of significant announcements occasionally.  
• Online repositories are often a confusing labyrinth and even the tutorials videos of how to use the online repository are hard to find.
• General information of how things work and even how things are done are displaced in the program as they are presented in a moment where the first year student has nothing to relate the information with.  Is is important to notice that students can go easily through 6 or 7 weeks genuinely convinced they are understanding  all the rules for writing a proper essay because in fact they do as they speak English and all tips make sense. However, due to the lack of exercise, practise, and feedback students often feel lost, ashamed and even betrayed as the task presents itself harder to be accomplished while time to submit it became short.
• Students are expected to make decisions regarding module registration or projects for next year in the middle of coursework and/or exams preparations.               

Lectures

Now, imagine all these disoriented, confusing people inside a room. Actually, most of the time, this room is as big as a lecture theatre. It is very impersonal and full of strangers that sometimes look or even smell stranger. It seems relevant for me to appreciate that for a largely number of students the university is a logical extent of their so far known student life. Therefore, they don’t realise quite clearly, if at all, the new type of relationship lecturers have with the university and with themselves. In a certain level, students still hoping to bind with their ‘teachers’ who until recently have been take care of them. In my university, and in my point of view, lectures don’t look like or sound like teaching or... lecturing. They actually look and sound like just an employee performing a task they exchanged for salary. And not just that, they seem to be very unhappy, perhaps tired employees.

• Although I must admit some lecturers are very professional and stimulating, I don’t need a whole hand to count those that does not entirely read up the PPS file contents. They simulate they are just using the PPS file as guidance, but honestly? Well, they are making a reading with adjustments.
• Although most of lecturers arrive in time, some don’t as they didn’t know in which room we were waiting for them. And they were not ashamed to tell us about these last minute internal arrangements.
• Some lecturers also love to apologise for how the PPS presentation looks as they actually finished its preparation very very late on the night before. And they were not ashamed to tell us about these last minute internal arrangements.
• Some lecturers answer questions even when they don’t understand the question. Many of us are foreigners with thick accents. It is not unusual to hear something like: ‘How did you get this value?’ and hear an answer like: ‘yeah, why not?’.
• This is my favourite: Imagine having a whole year of lectures in a lecture theatre with a faulty sound system! How expensive to fix that could it be? Despite many requests to do so!

Communication

Insofar, we have disoriented, confusing people forced to attend boring, disarticulated lectures provided by soulless creatures that look like they were just there to clock-in. Although this is no more than a teaser malicious statement (after all this is still a blog), what does ‘communication’ has to say about the issue?  

• There is an enormous general lack of verbal communication that might be associated to a list of acquired assumptions.  Because during the first semestre of first year some lectures were about ‘essay structure’, ‘how to’, or ‘never do that’ faculties assume that all of these became acquired functional information for the students. However, let’s just remember how displaced regarding timing this issue has been brought on already.
• Under this same list of acquired assumptions it also can be found important announcements or regular information that had already been sent via email or is available in the repository site. However, let’s just remember how displaced regarding timing it is what an inbox mail account really represents to students and how they really find themselves around the repository site.
• Real understanding of what one has been going through may take several months in order to the whole picture become clear and make a fine sense. Meanwhile, each time this person tries to complaint or express what the issue could be, the speech may come out truncated, incoherent, confused, or even devious. Some people actually do not realise that there is something wrong, they just feel it, and they just react to an uncomfortable feeling, therefore, with not much sense in their discourse. However, ironically, it does not need more than a couple of these weird sentences to the listener, somehow, seem to understand what is going on and come up with a fantastic motivational speech. It is possible that this incoherent, confused speech might be quite common among students, therefore, a quite common acquired reaction from listeners in that same list of assumptions. 
• Faculties do not present the available help and support classes by evidencing facts that really involve the student transition into university. In fact, the program is mentioned with a certain conditional tone in which is sort of implied that it could be good in case one need (which can also be interpreted like: in case you are getting behind and unfortunately you do not belong to the amazing five percent group, you have a chance to try to get the pace by using this opportunity for losers). The underlie message conveyed about support is not clear and much less positive.
• Faculties often don’t realise how meaningless or devious they can sound when talking about grade classes range. Please notice that a upper second class means that you still have a variation that may correspondent to as much as adding 39 points to your grade (in fact, it is less than this as apparently students would never be able to usufruct 100% within first class). If you had a 60 it means that there is much more to improve that could push you up to 88, for instance! Almost half of all! However, commonly, faculties will advise you with satisfaction in their speech that you should be proud as you have reached an upper second class. Yay! No one has the right in saying or establishing what is a good grade for you to achieve or a good class group for you to fit in.  
• Faculties and staff seem unable in answering questions objectively. Most probably to happen is the asker ending up with a URL direction, a journal article, or a book tittle where the answer can be found in (in one of its 145 pages!). If none of above can be provided they will send the person to the HUB (helpdesk). There is a visible embarrassment over commitment and engaging during conversations tending to psychological reversible attitude or shift of responsibility among some members of faculty.
• I am not able to tell you the total number of student representatives but I am pretty sure that 2 represent a very significant percentage of them. I had 2 experiences with 2 different SR; in one case I was casually dismissed, maybe, due to the amount and type of observations I was pointing out as I believe they required a different hermeneutic theoretical approach as in oppose to the one SR gang was willing to apply. The second one started a quite interesting debate with me, but as the ideas she was defending were completely opposed to mine whatever I had to say was ignored. A student representative should never judge nor choose with light heart which themes should be taken for further appreciation. When themes seem too sensitive or too discrepant from the general they should at least investigate amongst other people to make sure they are not isolated issues.  
• And of course, the old and good British polite way of saying ‘I am sorry’ to close a case as if it has solved or compensated any trouble one has been involved in. And that is all you get in this topic. I’m sorry.

Technicalities

This theme for me is the most relevant one. How people show the way they are developing their technical skills is the biggest component of how a student’s grade is affected. Whether grades count or not for the final mark they will be registered forever. I also understand that is through how well one technically becomes able to produce laboratory reports, essays, proposals, analysis, and etc. that this person will find compensation; that one will get that feeling that justifies the time, money, and individualistic compromised elements invested on or spent in it.

• The IELTS grade requested for non-English speakers is 6 and that is far from being compatible with the level of English expected from coursework one. The knowledge of the language, grammar and style, is what shifts the same content from one grade group to another.

• It is commonly know that writing well (whatever that really means) is a global problem. Many eloquent speakers sometimes struggle to compose a more refined piece of writing. Academic writing, as the name suggests, should be learnt and practice (as start) during academic time, at least during the first two years. However, from the coursework one, it emerges as a heavy target for criticism that in fact sometimes overcomes the evaluation of imputed knowledge (or at least feels like that).
• From the coursework one there is a sort of mystical-kind-of-game regarding essay’s titles that faculties love playing. Apparently, titles hold some sort of secret messages in between their lines and among the choice of words selected. If first year’s grades do not count for final mark, why such obscureness on what titles should look like and what lecturers expect from them? Why not use the first year to practise clearness and debunk how to understand essay’s titles? Why not take this year to exercise the celebrity ‘discussion’?  Why not discuss about forms of writing criticism? There is no learning in producing only one piece of work per semestre, which on top of everything it will be the piece providing one the grade.
• Lecturers fill us with tips to optimize or increase extra points in coursework. However, markers (whoever they are) seem oblivious to that and do as they want, and quite often we get contradictories comments to what we were advised to do. This is quite significant considering the small amount of work providing feedback.
• Markers’ grades are cast on stone! There is nothing anyone can do to undo the worst of the mistakes made for one of them. It is like a mob.
• Only scattered pieces of work produced per semestre are responsible for generating some feedback for future improvement of work, but they return with minimum and sometimes useless feedback. Even more preoccupying is the fact that accordingly to university rules, a marker’s evaluation should be reviewed by a peer to make sure it was fair. Whoever does the reviews do not point out the lack or the bad quality of feedback provided. It is very questionable and debatable.
• Lecturers provide us a matrix with criterias of how we are going to be evaluated, but most of them rarely justify their comments by this matrix. The matrix has also proven be highly subjective for comprehension as it totally relays on the personal level of knowledge and comprehension of each one. That highlights another topic that should be more explored in a teaching class so some standards could grow amongst the students.       
• The academic writing support team seems unaware, therefore careless, about their frequency type in relation to the techniques used within their classes:  I was in a group where none of us were not English native speakers. Instead of using the time wisely for teaching, long discussions were incentivised among classmates. However, participants had different accents and backgrounds, which sometimes made impossible, improbable, or even inadequate to hold conversations. Teacher’s corrections were like: ‘no, could be shorter’, ‘too long’, ‘it does not make sense’, which basically say nothing new and actually illustrates the original problems why that people was seeking help in first place!! (And allow me to add some extra !!!!!! because this one is too much!)
• The ‘write as a psychologist’ supporting classes, for example, were being held on Mondays for one hour and it was designed to attend the three levels altogether. Please notice that coming to university just for one hour class can be quite expensive for a student. It also brings up that a similar class only for third year students with a specific design to support dissertation could massively benefit them as the dissertation is a large part of the final grade.     

Surveys

While editing this text I had to go back and add this section after I have been prompted to do a survey while accessing my university’s online repository site.

• On my first year, by the end of the semestre each module was presented with a survey regarding that module. However, the surveys were applied at the very ending of the last session when students, obviously, could not stand one more second inside the room. On my second year they actually applied the surveys at the beginning of these sessions. However, only a shy and brief announcement requesting us to fill the surveys up were made. Surveys should be applied from someone not related to the student’s every day. There should exist a nice proper flammable introduction reasoning why students should fill that up. Why they should try to be as honest as possible answering that. Students just seem unaware to the fact that surveys can be their voices about the service they use!
• When answering the university general survey, it just caught my attention that more abroad subjects had options such as ‘strong agree’, ‘agree’, ‘disagree’, ‘strong disagree’, and ‘N/A’ whereas topics specifically enquiring about the university’s services more often had only ‘never’ ‘sometimes’ and ‘often’ as options. Notice that one of these topics was asking to evaluate how often I had contacted with a specific service provided by the university. However, as one time does not constitute ‘never’ I was left with no better option than ‘sometimes’, which does not reflect my involvement at all. 
• Perhaps due to the allegation that students are irresponsible and careless beings that would never answer surveys during summer after the final exams surveys were made available in the middle of revision week and with expiration date. So they asked for undivided optional attention to answer a survey simply during the worst period for a student.  Timing issues again!

By the very end of the second year it became clear to me that faculties generally carry on a predisposition, a fundamental certainty that is not shared with the students. Because first and second year’s grades do not count for final grades there is no reason to be putting too much effort on it.  It is an attitude that saves them energy. It is an attitude that denounces a ‘I am an unhappy employee’ behaviour display. Furthermore, this attitude is reflected across the whole program throughout first and second years. It became clear to me when all of the sudden third year commitments emerged demanding such extra work and orientation from faculties, even before the final exams of second year.  However, as a ground has been established here regarding intentions, this attitude has got to be unconscientious and reflects, perhaps, an automatism; an automatic-pilot system. Under further analysis, it could even be seen as a positive perspective once this automatism indicates that everything is under control by comparison to the usual. Therefore, it means that students will manage to graduate at the end, or in my university’s case, 67% of them at least. Though, students in general are not able to experience this same sensation in relevant time.

Confused and lost students disguised as unconcerned cool juveniles, shamed to be exposed by their very psychological status (maturity), are truly willing to get around the mythical university learning by attempts in figuring how to do a good job under tremendous pressure. Conversely, a whole invisible and dense wave of unconcerned, perhaps relaxed attitude is projected against them by the very same entity that put them under pressure. From day one, the excitement for new subjects grows into confusion and develops into feeling lost. As one is still uncertain of what it is expected from he or she, hope and dedication decreases by each unexplained grade, each improper feedback returned. 

The feeling that one has not been tailored for that starts to taking over silently and unconsciously.

Nonetheless, as a final note, both attitudes from students and faculties seem not to be exclusive to my university campus. A couple of months ago, papers brought to our attention that only one out of ten domestic complaints is actually investigated by police, despite the campaigns promoting the importance of complaining. Similarly and consistent to that is the NHS Choice online website, which is actively open and receives comments and complaints daily that are seen or analysed by no one. Additionally, some days ago the London chief for transport actually used the word ‘shit’ to describe the suburban services. He also said to be incomprehensible that people haven’t yet presented a petition against rail franchises. These examples represent the same types of attitudes previously pointed out here; companies not doing their jobs properly and users not knowing how to demand for the service they actually are paying for. Within the right extension, these examples denounce institutionalised already existing social attitudes that I am sure can be linked to what is happening inside my campus, helping to explain, perhaps, what seems isolated faults.     

In conclusion, some small groups of students cope fine with university because they have had better previous structure, but the current system seems oblivious about how to deal with the remain groups. Some groups are not happy with their outputs, but they don’t see that is worth to complaint, and others are struggling, but have no idea why or what they could do. However, the existence of different groups should be indicative of different approaches for a common well (is useless offer bicycles to solve people’s transportation problems when these people are afraid of cycling. Help must correspondent to the reality of who are experiencing difficulties). The allegedly irresponsible behaviour presented for so many students can be a direct aversive reaction to an inconsistent system that drop a huge load over their heads at the same time they act as there is no reason for such preoccupation. Excessive confidence and assumptions plays definitive roles in maladaptive attitudes that are reinforced every year while they cover this massive wave that in fact presses students’ motivation and reshape their behaviour negatively.  While a social project could be looking into increasing effectiveness and efficiency through a realignment of all education levels in a long term, another short term project could be looking into enhance and improve first academic years by pedagogically teaching a student how to become an academic person whereas at the same time a professional attitude could also be consolidate by all this experience.   

Have all nice week.

Eduardo Diverio-Marques

Is social network really bad for us?

Wherever I look nowadays there’s a comment, a report, a Facebook posting or filming denouncing how people seem to have forgotten to interact to others more physically and therefore, emotionally. It is hard to look around and not see that indeed. In fact, people really seem to dedicate more attention to their smartphones than to the friends next to them.  

However, is this behaviour a consequence of an abusive use of social networking or this use has just made evident what was not so noticeable before? Over 20 year ago when I moved myself to Europe I started working as a waiter. Saturday’s mornings always caught my attention because I could see couples simultaneously having their breakfast while they densely read a weekly paper and curiously, I could not see or hear any kind of interaction between them for all the time they spent in there. The same also happened in other days, with other types of relationships, where books, crosswords, magazines and sometimes even nothing looked like more interesting than talking to each other.

I believe that there is a powerful social construct selling out the exaggerated notion that relationships are a constant exchanging between people. A system from where people get to complement one another while within this constant exchanging there’s mutual compensation, which ends up fulfilling each individual. However, it also seems a bit claustrophobic to me. I can see all the benefits that come from it though, but I can also point out enough material serving as justifying argument or as accountability regarding personal agendas.

The point for me is: There’re as many people stuck in their smartphones as there can be found in bars, discos, shopping centres, or public squares and they all are interacting to others. Whoever likes a party just likes it, and this kind of person would never prefer watching an event through a minuscule screen instead of going see it live! Whoever enjoys a nice face to face chat will never hold much dependency on WhatsApp!  However, let’s think about the people that was never much popular, or those highly shy that used to go to the movies by themselves just to go back home later to a book. Think about how these people have never had the chance to say to anyone how they really feel. Social networking brought life, ideas, possibilities, lessons, inspirations and so much more to these people.

The thing is that we will find loads of narrow minded people out there, pseudo intellectuals not able to see further than the obvious common views by which they love to promote themselves. Of course that social network via communications technology did impact our lives and of course there are pros and cons. But there is such a fuss upon people that really don’t need anyone looking out for them! The excessive use of social networking comes from its own easy access and it is not an indicative of lesser life quality.

On the other hand for me, this phenomenon is just an extension of this backward stimulus that inspires a constant looking back type of behaviour, where people develop discourses comparing how childhood used to be in the 80’s related to now. They cynically, sarcastically, and ironically insinuate that the current knowledge that we have built up upon observation and research is nothing more than pedantry. They love narrating how ‘normal’ these children grew up to be despite of their childhood being devoid of all the current supporting laws and health and safety normative as we know it.

We are around seven billion of people in the planet with a very long history to tell, but for all that matters, we have a spatial lab navigating all the way through Saturn and we also have landed another one on a moving comet, which is enough evidence that what we have been building up can lead us somewhere better. This insistent looking back behaviour is a huge anchor in society life and it is also very disrespectful at our own evolving trajectory. It is the same kind of principle underlying attitudes that cut off human being’s freedom, that punishes differences, and that incarcerate those who dare to question or show new directions.         

As suggestion, try to think more deeply and with more reflection about whatever you are about to share in your social network. Remember that prejudice, ignorance, fundamentalism, and abusive behaviour are all ‘friends’ in their own social network and they are often connected and connect matters that in a first glimpse they don’t seem to relate to each other.

I wish you all an excellent week of social interaction.

Eduardo Divério.

Stepping back from patronising (?)

So this is it, they are walking among us! We have reached the point where people born in the mid first half of the 90’s are standing up for the starting of their third decade ahead. But when our age are precisely the double of theirs, does it really mean that our experiences throughout the past 20 years can be seen as wisdom and we, in fact, can kind of predict how some of their planes are going to turn up?

Let’s see: According to child development theories, a person can only start fully thinking and understanding the world around age of 13. That number is more than half of their current age. So, between ages 15 and 20 they really begin to start showing clear individual differences evidence, but progressively. However, after 20, poof! They absolutely know how everything works or don’t; a cosmic certainty flows through their existence looking like it is unfolding all mysteries and, full of property, they just have all figured it out: They really believe they know how to make a relationship last for ever, as they also know why some of us have failed on this task, and they absolutely seem to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. But we know that although some people actually may follow a easy and predictable path, most of the people will struggle to keep their marriages, raise their children, and they also will realise how boring or how mistaken their professional life have become!  

It is true though that these generations are the ones setting up the new tendencies that in fact affect us all. The trendiness of fashion, music, dancing, visual media, name it! They learn things, they change and improve them. But then why my second paragraph is so sarcastically done in a way that actually can denote some patronising? Allow me to keep building up my argument.

Coming back to university has placed me in a position where I am surrounded by this generation. 

There has happened a few times in which I witnessed situations where arguing escalated to out of control: ‘You’re behaving very aggressive towards me’, ‘I did not say that! You are projecting yourself over me’... That was shocking to me as much as almost unbelievable to hear it when I had just heard how these very same persons instigated and contributed to things got out of control. Suddenly, the cause, the problem was outside them, in somebody's else. I also often hear that my generation is quite cynic and bitter as if life-scars have moved us away from accomplishing our dreams successfully.

That makes me think: if you take 10 years out of my age I would still being a full grown up adult. However, if you take 10 years out of this generation you are placing them in the middle of childhood! So, what experience do they have to back up their dreams but hope and social constructs of happiness? For example, growing up knowing that gays are able to form civil partnerships, that they actually produce a huge annual party that congests major capitals does not make sexual discrimination in-existent. What happened is that for the past 20 years my generation have been tuning up with history, with other generations that still interacting with us, showing that in order to reach our dreams, we will have to do some adaptations. Unfortunately, the massive majority of people haven’t realised that their lives today are a mess because in the past they fed incompatible values related to the realities they wished and acquired, whether it was due to religion or just culture.

There are an alarming number of men suffering from impotence at age of 40 because life is no longer exciting, and that doesn't have nothing to do with whether they love their partners; there are a serious number of women that cannot even remember the last time they had an orgasm; believing that there is ‘the one’, or that ‘a great love should be forever’, or that ‘there is only one, maybe two’ can be the reason why one still stuck in an unhappy relationship.

The second adulthood, where my generation lives, is just the evolved and progressive part of a life spectrum. Our brains reached a maturate state, similar to any other age, including age of 13, in a way that allow us to feel and see the world in different perspectives, applying all what we learnt in the past 20 years. We realise that there are patterns:  at the 20’s, we have determination to pursue our dreams and as much as we can’t be apart from our families, there are always underlying issues creating constant friction with relatives. At 30’s, we arrogantly and proudly manage all we have built so far, but some sort of reconciliation with our families occurs. However, at the 40’s, somehow you realised that the fact you were born in a family, in a culture, in an environment, it may not describe or provide the best predicates of your true nature and finally, you feel yourself as a whole complete individual, free from inadequate values or beliefs. But this is like everything else in life: you need to lick it to learn how it tastes it.    

And that brings me to the title of this text. Who knows me and had the chance to read my blog in Portuguese can endorse me when I say: we cannot expect a child from the fifth grade to resolve ‘the approximation formula’ usually learnt years later. There is a time for everything.  My generation, in fact, trying to use the age argument or personal experience to input some allegedly wisdom into a younger generation’s mind is useless. For all that matters, we could, perhaps, operate as lighthouses in the darkness though, providing some glimpses of the future or showing some directions, but nothing much further than this.
I still don’t see that generally my generation patronises the younger one, as I believe they live oblivious from how things really develop, not able to fully comprehend it. However, I can understand why they feel this way. I have always thought that those who hold knowledge and wisdom are truly responsible for the balance, so let’s make an effort and zip up!

I wish all generations a fantastic integrated and peaceful week.

Eduardo Divério. 

Behold The Mystery of Faith...

A very old friend of mine felt sorry for me this week on the fact I have lost my faith on the Catholic God. It is true that I have been baptised and I even did my confirmation when I was about seventeen. Actually, the same very age I met the referred friend. Back in that time, I used to be a humble fearful servant to the love of God having a very strong relationship with the Church. Even more ironically is the fact that I was the one reuniting my friend to… faith.  

Over twenty years later, there isn't the most vaguely shadow of that boy in the man I am today. However, for those who are used to follow my blog, there are lots of clues and remains of my childhood along the texts pointing this out. Freud and Yung aside, where exactly the adult version of me has turned the back to religion in general?

Religion should be a reference, some sort of guidance for a high spiritual behaviour narrowing the path towards God. Meanwhile, in a planet figuring over seven billions of souls facing serious health issues, populated by shallow values, consuming societies, and full of ego-dystonic communities, it doesn't seem to me that prays and novenas – like ever – have been making a better race of humans or a better world. Even worse is the thought that it may only do better for life in a very, very individual way.

Statistically, people become more religious and grow in faith as the age grows. In other words, when they realize that the mystic and mysterious ending is getting closer, some king of ‘celestial benefits’ or some sort of heaven policy must be arranged in order to assure the access to the other side. Now, I know I am being quite harsh to the authentic religious people but I am just building up an argument.

Looking back to History before Christians, over 2000 years ago, when the Roman Empire had spread its doctrine during centuries for the vast areas between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and, before them, for more over 3000 year, in the Egypt, fathers had taught their sons through generations and generations to venerate their kings as gods, I wonder: 3000 years are seriously a lot of years, G! At least 1000 more than Catholicism… and for as long as it was, legacies and societies were raised up, lived, and died upon those beliefs. And even though they surely lived their religion experiences in a much more profound and dedicated way than we live ours nowadays, some of their gods can be seen at the British Museum and not just only that, we also learn about them in school, like we do with algebra or geography but contextualized as mythology.        

Somehow, it became clear to me that in the future, when the Earth’s core has been moved or twisted around and the whole urban architectures as we know have been under snow, somewhere in the Caribbean islands, people will be teaching about the Catholic Mythology and its deep impact into the socio-economics-politic development of that era.

Yet, looking over the human evolution, from the wheel invention, from the fire discovery to the historic journey of Casini spaceship to Saturn, or even about storms and cataclysm, plagues and inexplicable diseases, how could we have survived without a god?

It is notorious for me that almost 6000 years later to the writing invention, whereby we still have gods with elephant heads in the most populated nation in the world, that man still hasn't learnt what are God’s wishes, nor even strength faith itself. Well, the most Italian heritage that could still remaining in the Catholicism, nowadays, is the ability to commit some sinful indiscretion. Just in case we might have nothing to confess next Sunday…

I always have in consideration that when my mother studied chemistry in the 50´s, a half dozen of metals or gazes had not yet been catalogued. In fact, we don’t have to go back in time that far! The periodic table that I used when I was in school in the 80´s was already shorter in elements than the one my nephew has been using now. But imagine, what those unknown materials and odours could mean for those who, full of unawareness, have met them?   

I had some contact with magic and esoteric practises and I read a lot about Spiritualism, something about Buddhism and it is worthless talking about Judaism. I am son of Yemanja with Ogun, Gemini by the solar horoscope and Pig by the Chinese one. I read Taro and on my strongest days in the past I’ve done some card reading using an English deck!

I believe that the material and energetic world retains thousands of secrets and keys we haven’t seen, found or understood yet. Quantum Physics is a small baby comparing to mathematics age. Somehow, I found peace in the fact that I am living in the era where we are, as we have always been, surrounded by the limits of our present evolution. Unfortunately, common sense, some groups, and even entire societies they take out of hypothetical thoughts, short explanations, and theories the comfort their souls need, exactly as their ancestors needed in order to go through devastations as El Niño or even plagues as the red or black ones.   

This look upon History, upon our entire trajectory, and also for have watched tones of National Geographic Channel, makes me realize that we are the only living creatures disconnected from our biologic nature, from the planet, and the cosmos. We do insist in keep living around active volcanos or above seismic cracks when we know by fact that someday, any day, things may run badly. We are also the only homothermous stubborn specie living immersed in ice or caved in into a desert!     

Every year, hundreds and hundreds of different species they cross over the planet running away from cold or seeking food or just for procreation. They are amazing beings fully equipped with natural-organic radars, sonars, censorial lines, thermostats and GPS, but if a human being says he had a feeling, foreseen something or predicted whatever, he is medicated and people around this person may show some ostracism because, after all, schizophrenia is some serious and, for some misinformed, dangerous decease! Halooooooo? 

In my point of view, we get this all so very wrong. Think about it, how much more healthy it would be if you had free mornings instead of free nights? Having some quality sun light bursting you out with vitamin D in a blue sky after you and your partner and child had taken the breakfast together! You all could even get lunch together, enjoying the day, before starting the work, school or even housekeeping! At night, instead of getting fat in front a TV doing nothing we would do a light meal, shower, and bed! Renovating for one more gorgeous day surrounded by those you love most in the sun!

We are simply victims of our own evolving trajectory regarding decisions, social organizations, schemes, and structure of how we solve the needs of managing life under the most stupid and useless rules and beliefs in the past 5000 years. Let’s agree upon this, that a little help from a god was very welcome and helpful.

So, living in a world where approximately 98% of people believe in God, you might be wondering, how does he do?

Well, finding myself gay in the middle of a South American dictator country has provided me lots of practice in how to survive under a disguise (LOL). But I just don’t have any Tudor tendency to fight against a whole belief to change it, break up with it, or even to establish another new one based on mine. I don’t mind and I don’t feel bothered by any belief and in fact, I have a profound respect and sense of understanding regarding the need of having it and I also recognize the benefits some of those religious movements may bring to one’s life. 

I am fascinated by human nature and human behaviour and I feel myself part of a system as important as water and wind for the creation of Grand Canyon. I enjoy being alive and I am sure there are millions of opportunities ahead and that fills my spirit with expectation and hope and that nurtures my soul.

I do not care about the mysteries we just cannot explain but I will not reject what I can feel. Humans are living longer and so, brand new aspects of our physique are coming up revealing things, confirming knowledge but also, putting down old, once, certainties.

At last, when I look over my lack of faith, I found how I behave to myself and in life and to others and then, I dare to say that I live much more like a Christian than those who cross their chest passing by a church. I see myself as a person with an active spirit and vibrant soul. Even though a strange version of myself still needing some ‘divine intervention’ regarding the falling in love issue. But please, do not feel sorry for me. I am fine.

I believe all of you will have a nice week.

Eduardo Divério 

The Hell is within Us

Within a doctrine I do get the concept of purgatory. It would be something like: if you did not behaviour yourself during class you are going to miss the break, so you can bethink about what you have done. But the hell’s concept, well… I don’t.

Look, if Lucifer’s work, the fallen angel, is to recruit people to stimulating them to perform evil actions, so it can decrease heaven’s attendance like creating competition, why do this people, once held in hell, would be punished and tortured for all eternity?

I suspect that the contract policy offered by the devil should promise things that truly allure the human form in order to sign for it. If so, Lucifer was supposed to take them in as it happens on those holidays pack deals including a luxurious resort with gym, a poll with artificial waves, tennis court, ski and equitation! Something to keeps the customer really happy.

But if Lucifer is going to torture all these people because they have performed some evil, for whole eternity, it is like he is almost an infiltrator agent from heaven and hell itself would not be more than a celestial department of losses! After all, he would be punishing those who did not behave properly, which is the rule number one to get into heaven!

Ok, we all know people say that the ‘cuckold’ lies through his teeth and promises what does not exist, fools people and pretends a lot to get some attention. But would all that be just for the pleasure of smelling burnt flesh? Hum… I don’t know. I do understand, using antagonism, that ‘evil’ degenerates and corrodes life in contrast to the ‘good’ that builds up and enriches all around. If so, I could see his intention on trying to destroy the Lord’s creation. 

But if God is the direct relation to the ‘good’ image and the devil is to the ‘evil’, one is on disadvantage; the devil once was a high patent angel from heaven, full of wisdom, so his essence is ‘good’ and not the pure ‘evil’ as the pure ‘good’ is to God. Are you following me? His DNA is divine, from heaven! So for this reason is very hard to me to believe, and even accepting, that someone enterprises its own life longing for satisfaction based on something not present in its own nature.

(Pause for analogy reflection).

But all of this reminded me an old joke: A guy dies and goes to hell. He is received by the devil himself who takes him for a petit tour. He surprises himself with the hell facilities. There are people hanging out on the grass by a lake,  playing football, and there’s a huge rave going on under open sky, I mean, open hell, and everybody ultra-mega-hiper-super happy. Then, in a corner exhaling a strong smell of sulphur, there were people being tortured and burnt by flames and so, the man asks to the devil what contrast was that, to which the devil responds: Don’t bother with them. Those are Catholics, they love that.

Wish you all a divide week of good behaviour – just in case… ;)

Eduardo Divério.

Responsibility

My mother has taught me since I was a little boy to comply with my commitments as well as to assume the consequences of my actions. This notion, within either a larger or lesser amplitude of concordance is quite common and I do believe that, in general, everybody has this perception regarding their tasks, jobs, and even home school.

Meanwhile, I also believe, but only by my pure observation, that this concept has been disconnected from the real and profound role it plays over less palpable things, or more subjective ones, although, totally linked to our decisions.

Deciding is an act of acknowledgement and understanding upon what we want against to what we can do or what we would never do. It is ratiocination (taking emotions on board in the equation as obvious) and it demands intelligence and wisdom but above all, courage.  

But what if when we decide to take a short cut, or to ignore a matter, or to deny a situation, or to procrastinate another one, or to wait for something dissolves it by itself, or to wait for somebody leaves, or for somebody returns while the reflexes of all this occurrences do produce unexpected events in the future. Can we accept or discern this? Are we able to take responsibility upon such mass?

I look at people suffering, outraged by the development of some issues, and I see them totally alienated from the responsibility that they have actually conducted their lives up to that point or yet, they have probably put themselves in there, in a collision route with an issue. It caught my attention how frequently people feel that life has been unfair, how destiny has betrayed them, when indeed they are just harvesting what they sowed.  

Accidents, cataclysms, and sickness a part, when we are taken by surprise and sorrow takes command of our lives, are we suffering for haven’t known how to decide or for not taking responsibility in assuming the consequences of our decisions?

I like to think that a man should not be judged by his infractions but for how he has tried to undo them, or fixing the damage. It is true that many times we do not have psychological structure to take a decision. Sometimes, we just don’t have enough acknowledgement of ourselves or yet, the subjectivity of the question is underestimated by ours own out of date or mistaken values and concepts.

So, part of the key to solve problems should be responsibility.

Assuming we have got a judgement wrongly. Assuming we rather let things just went out flying instead of taking control of them. Assuming that contempt, vanity, presumption, fear or stupidity were the forces we have allowed to get things where they are. By doing that, you would be removing from your shoulders all this esoteric weight that universe is conspiring against you. It allows us feeling a ground under our feet and realizing that, maybe, you find the right time to sort things out for good.

Confusing people, those who do not seek an alignment of ideas, some enlightenment, and wisdom, modulating their lives by routines that avoid them to live in plenitude, when confronted to consternations, sometimes recurrent issues that look like a person has been exposed and punished over and over again, they have a tendency to reinforce this very same behaviour based upon what they cannot let go, such as values, without realizing they are the very cause of a vicious cycle, an anchor.     

We should not impose a Kantian way of living upon ourselves (even if you sympathizes with it a lot like I do) and we should take it easier with ourselves too. After all, any thin material folds down or breaks up under pressure. But perhaps we also should not let many things getting accumulated and we should do a mental cleaning up more often. That would level us up so we could make more strong and truthful decisions and so, reducing future conflicts and on that way, responsibility and decision would have their hands together.

Whatever it works for you so you can have a more balanced life with a minimum of disadvantage. But it is just a thought anyway.

Wish you all a very responsible week!

Eduardo Divério.

Intelligent Psychology

When Coco Chanel created a whole new collection raising the border of her skirts around 4 inches she launched a certain furore in the fashion world. In fact, in the whole world. Not much just for the artistic daring new look but more for the social impact caused. A woman would have to be quite avant garde, or brave enough, to display her ankles in the 20’s of last century.

But what exactly it was said of woman who allowed to expose herself publicly?

When I was a child we were not supposed to have eye contact with anybody’s underwear. Never! So, based on this rule it was conclusive that people revealing their internal pieces of clothing, or even just part of them, would have at least a questionable moral, a sexualised element, who would be working the eroticism through their own image. Obviously, because this issue was involved into a sexual tenor, a list of other adjectives was applied to these same people.  

But nowadays underwear comes with griff and it can accessorise a whole outfit and exposing it is no more related to any sexual appeal or eroticism. Perhaps, some sensuality, when it is good taste.  It is granted that any teenager that have grown up watching people on streets, TV, and in social events having a use of this resource can only face it as ‘normal’ (regular) and, I imagine, wouldn’t get much when someone commented that only a whore would dress like that 20 or 30 years ago. References…

What we have is a miscellaneous of generations kind of flexible about what they learn with some hints of tradition merged into their concepts and suggestions but, on my point of view, the mathematical tendency of this evolution is accepting the fact with the same naturalness we replace an old collection winter coat.

Please notice that I am not ignoring the fact that there still are ways and ways how one may reveals its underwear and how this action can even be subjected to an old judgment regarding sexual behaviour.

When I was going into my first adult phase I remember it was kind of awkward to mention we liked oral sex. To be honest, that was an authentic taboo e only with the dearest friends we would dare exchange some details. But today, any American vespertine movie talks about it freely. In fact, I would say that weird would be not doing it or don’t like it.

As that, there are a series of others concepts, ideas among us, suggesting connotations forgotten in time long ago without any review and all of us can do a less appropriated use of them. We do have a permissive tendency to analyse events with a very short lazy mind.

Psychology is dynamic because the human behaviour also is. We evolve but our evolution is confusing because it happens physically in the world around us much more rapid then we can actually ‘read’ it, acknowledge it, rationally.  

For instants, the micro-waves was invented in the 60’s last century. However, 20 years later it still could be considering a luxurious article in a kitchen as so many others electronics. Twenty years ago things moved slower and their evolutions were compassed but today, in times of globalization, with the high technical level we achieved, ‘everybody’ has got ‘everything’ in a much faster way.   

Scary enough, there is also here a parallelism to the evolution on the variety of aims we do impose to ourselves nowadays following a very similar tacit pattern where all became so easy and quick on the matters of wishing and getting things. Meanwhile, seems to me that what looked like more stable 20 years ago, truthfully, it was just slower…  

This text was born from my observation upon those unlucky people who has put faith in some help or advise – professional or not – and ended up even more confused. But after all, psychology is just like odontology: is filled with mediocre professionals.  

It has been a very hard time for living, full of commotion causing even more confusion and increasing the subconscious need we have about order and that can lead people to hold themselves to rules and values not quite tuned to our reality anymore, maybe, 4 inches out of size. Rules and values that formerly in their time and space, once, were exactly what we all needed before they have been called by revision.

Where and how we seek for guidance is the key for the balance or so I believe.

Have you all an evolutionary week.

Eduardo Divério