The Swedish resistance towards higher levels of maturity [Part 2]

Before I continue let me once again reiterate what the Swedish resistance towards higher levels of maturity is about. The simplest definition would be a person's unwillingness to distinguish between different levels of development and that person's unwillingness to lead each level in the way most appropriate for it to evolve healthily together with the other levels.

I use the word "unwilling" purposely. I mean that people living in the Swedish culture, me included, are unwilling to distinguish between basic levels of human development such as: egocentric, group-centric, worldcentric and kosmocentric. This is not because of ignorance, it is done volitionally, i.e. there is an active choice being made by each and every mentally healthy person in the culture. And this turns the resistance towards levels of development or verticality into a whole different ballgame. It brings in the aspect of hope and the possibility for change. And it doesn't need to take time. Despite how bad things are in this culture, it doesn't have to be this way. Nobody is forcing us to give our children such a bad and ugly future as egocentric brats, ethnocentric racists, or worldcentric narcissists. (Maybe it's the same in other cultures as well???) But if we have reason for having to change the way we think - for example for the sake of our children, the planet or consciousness itself - we can actually take on the responsibility for the situation and change very fast. Who is stopping us???? And when life becomes filled with a meaning and purpose beyond living for ourselves, i.e. our ego, it also takes on a spiritual* dimension.

(* For Swedish readers: when I use the word spiritual I mean living a life that expresses the highest and deepest dimensions of human maturity and moral virtues. Sorry for all the bad language, teaching kids about spirituality, as I use the word, and moral virtues or even talking about moral virtues is frowned upon in Sweden. But talking about sex is great. We have a lot to sort out in this crazy culture and world. I think sex is great to, but what happened to spirituality and moral virtues??? I remember reading in the Lonely Planet guide to Sweden a warning to visitors about bad behavior: "Although most Swedes are friendly - ethnocentricity, spoiled kids and teenage alcoholics are likely to create irritation in many visitors." I wonder how LP gets all these tit-bits of information? )

On January 30^th 2007 Sweden's public channel television news program SVT Rapport (Sweden's most popular news program) did a report about my work at Sofielundsskolan. The heading was "Students get given grades after every lession - successful method at a Malmö   school".

My colleague Mats Edin and I were both very happy about finally getting some serious media attention for the work that we have been doing. (That a school in Sweden had found a successful way to help kids develop from egocentric to group-centric wasn't of interest to the journalist who interviewed us, the kids, the teachers or the headmaster. What was of interest was that some of the teachers for the older students didn't like the method and that it involved giving kids grades and rewards for behavior - which is politically incorrect. That the kids were getting top grades for each lession and doing really well wasn't of interest. What was of interest for the worldcentric sensitive-self journalist was asking the kids "Have you ever received the lowest grade? Why? How did it feel?")

Then February 9^th just one day before I headed off for a four week retreat** at my guru*** Andrew Cohen's EnlightenNext World center, two of Sweden's tabloid newspapers Kvällsposten, Expression and Aftonbladet published scathing articles about my work. The heading this time read, "Sect leads school project at Sofielundsskolan" and "Leader [ie Andrew Cohen] leads with an iron hand."

(** I first did a ten day silent retreat, going from ego to the ground of being, followed by an eight day intensive retreat going from the ground of being to the authentic self. It was an extraordinary time, especially doing these two retreats back to back, as well being another huge development in Andrew's teachings. I will write about the significance of this later. I learnt a tremendous amount and consciousness evolved.)

(*** For Swedish readers: I apologize for my bad language, saying that I have a spiritual guru. To say such a fetid thing is REALLY breaking with political correctness in a culture as tolerant as Sweden. You would definitely loose your job, many thousands of kronor, and most of your clients. A certain few may even want to pursue a public investigation. But wait, what IF I said I had my very own personal world leading sex guru, I bet the Swedes wouldn't even think twice about it. Or maybe they would...can you IMAGINE....the looks I would be getting...the invites ...what the liberated women would be saying. Sorry... my mind - the mechanism it is - is wondering, to much biological programming...Don't worry I can take responsibility for it and relieve the world and everyone else from at least that burden. That gives me an idea, what if a group of people who could take such responsibility got together? What would be possible? Such a group might even function so well that more people may want join and become members, or maybe just be inspired by what that core group was demonstrating to the world. Hell, even crazy Swedes might get inspired.)

One word that is REALLY bad for business in Sweden is to be called a member of a "sect", even a good one. It is much worse than being called a "racist" and nearly on par to being called a "pedophile". People tend to look at you very strangely... (Remember the time when being homosexual led to a prison sentence. And remember reading about when questioning the doctrine of the church led to a death sentence.)

So while I was retreating from the world for a month and really learning what it meant to come together with other people in an atmosphere that had it's focus on the development of consciousness, the Swedish media started to become very interested.

This led to Sofielundsskolan writing a letter requesting Sweden's National Agency for Education to examine the program we had started. That led to even more articles being published in the tabloids Expressen and Metro.

Then the National Agency for Education replied that there was no need for an investigation, nor into Mats Edin or myself or into EnlightenNext. This news led to one article being printed in Sydsvenskan.

By then I had returned home to Sweden for the next round and to see what damage had been done....

But, as my father reminded me recently, "All publicity is good publicity".