WASHINGTON SOCIETY FOR JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY (WSJP): On Friday evening
Dr Marcus will
do a two-hour demonstration of the sequenced self-study technique at
WSJP.
Obviously one can have a better experiential feel for the technique
in two
hours with a small, participatory audience than one can have in a 20-minute
paper to a large audience. Although the subject is different
than that of
the following JSCOPE paper, the technique to be
demonstrated is the same, and some of the people attending JSCOPE may
want
a more extended demonstration than they will get in my 20-minute paper
at
JSCOPE. All are cordially invited to participate.
(info and registration: April P. Barrett, <meta4s@mindspring.com>)
SEQUENCED SELF
– STUDY
Rudy Marcus
MILITARY COMMANDERS
AND THEIR MORAL ADVISORS--A Case Study
Content
This
is acourse on “Military Commanders
and Their Moral Advisors--
A
Case Study”.It is designed for
sequenced self study.The set contains
eight envelopes marked sequentially I - VIII.
Questions
addressed by this courseare:
-
How might a supervisor avoid giving misleading cues which can lead to unethical
actions by subordinates?
-
How might a subordinate avoid unethical actions?
-
How can I find moral advisors?
-
Who or where is the moral advisor I will find?
Method
If
you were using this material in a class, workshop, or seminar, you would
be sitting in a circle.Each person
in the circle would hear from a facilitator what is in envelope I--a short
story, and then a question to which each member of the circle responds.That
is not a discussion group, and there is not a consensus to be reached.Rather,
each response is respected as that person’s truth at that particular time
and place.
The
facilitator would have warned participants NOT to identify with any character
in the story.All of the characters
are parts of oneself.The circle
you would be sitting in is a temenos, a ritual enclosure which contains
all that is said, and thus assures privacy and confidentiality.
In
such a workshop, there would be a long break after the discussion of the
material in envelope I.That break
might even take the form of lunch, a nap, a walk in the woods, and/or a
swim.More thoughts about the story,
and additional responses to the questions occur, and those might be written
in a journal or one’s workshop notes.
Instructions
You
are not at a group workshop now, so you have an opportunity to create your
own pace and place. Find a private space and time for 45 minutes, turn
off the telephone, putout the cat,
and open envelope I only.Read the
story, consider it, and respond to the question(s) in writing or other
art form.Send your response to
the facilitator (Rudy Marcus, catnrudy@monitor.net).DO
NOT OPEN the next envelope until your response has been acknowledged.Stay
with Envelope I for a day or more--preferably a week.Look
at the story, questions, and your responses occasionally and write down
any additional thoughts.Note any
additional insights,
Only
after doing all that, and some rest, open envelope II and proceed as you
did with the contents of the first envelope, and so on until you come to
the end of this work with envelope VIII.Do
not cheat yourself by peeking at the end first!
Because
this kind of work is an ongoing process and new insights keep popping up,
it is well to keep these sheets, your responses, and the facilitator’s
comments on your responses in a notebook.You
will find that collection a valued friend and a growing resource asnew
problems to be handled, and new insights, arise.
Good
luck, and enjoy the process!
SEQUENCED SELF - STUDY
MILITARY COMMANDERS
AND THEIR MORAL ADVISORS--A Case Study
BECKET,
Part I
(Chorus
from Murder in the Cathedral by
T. S. Eliot. )
We
did not wish anything to happen.
We
understood the private catastrophe,
The
personal loss, the general misery,
Living
and partly living;
The
terror by night that ends in daily action,
The
terror by day that ends in sleep;
But
the talk in the market place, the hand on the broom,
The
night-time heaping of the ashes,
The
fuel laid on the fire at daybreak,
These
acts marked a limit to our suffering.
Every
horror had its definition,
Every
sorrow had a kind of end:
In
life there is not time to grieve long.
But
this, this is out of life, this is out of time,
An
instant eternity of evil and wrong.
We
are soiled by a filth that we cannot clean, united to supernatural vermin,
It
is not we alone, it is not the house, it is not the city that is defiled,
But
the world that is wholly foul.
QUESTIONS
I,
1What differences do you hear in the
story between “the private catastrophe,
the
personal loss, the general misery,” on the one hand, and “an instant eternity
of evil and wrong” on the other hand?
I,
2“We did not wish anything to happen,”
but the story says “this” did..Write
a few sentences on not wishing anything to happen, and what in you wants
to prevent “this” from happening.You
will not be asked to hand in that which you write, or to talk about it
in the discussion circleThere is
no correct or incorrect answer, and you will not be graded on your response.
I,
3This question is NOT about the sentences
you wrote in response to Question I, 2 . However, it would be good to share
what you felt as you were writing those sentences.
SEND
RESPONSES TO Rudy
Marcus, <catnrudy@monitor.net>
Do
not open next envelope until your response is acknowledged.
SEQUENCED SELF - STUDY
MILITARY COMMANDERS
AND THEIR MORAL ADVISORS--A Case Study
BECKET,
Part II
(from
Jean Anouilh’s play Becketin
text version)
(Four
Barons in front ofKing Henry II’s
tent on a battlefield in France)
2nd
Baron:A Baron who asks himself questions
is a sick Baron.Your sword--what’s
that?
1st
Baron:My sword?
2nd
Baron:Yes.
1st
Baron:(Putting his hand to the
hilt)It’s my sword!And
anyone who thinks different--
2nd
Baron:Right.Answered
like a nobleman.We peers aren’t
here to ask questions.We’re here
to give answers.
1st
Baron:Right then.Answer
me.
2nd
Baron:Not to questions!To
orders.You aren’t supposed to think
in the army.When you’re face to
face with a French man-at-arms, do you ask yourself questions?
1st
Baron:No.
2nd
Baron:Does he?
1st
Baron::No.
2nd
Baron:You just fall to and fight.If
there are any questions to be asked you can be sure they’ve been asked
already, higher up, by cleverer heads than yours.
QUESTIONS
II,
1Does the last statement sound familiar
to you?How did you become familiar
with it?
II,
2Express that statement in your own
words.
SEND
RESPONSES TO Rudy
Marcus, <catnrudy@monitor.net>
Do
not open next envelope until your response is acknowledged.
MILITARY COMMANDERS AND THEIR MORAL ADVISORS--A Case Study
BECKET,
Part III
With
a partner, read the dialog of Part II out loud.Really
get into those characters; with voice and body language, express what you
perceive they are feeling.It’s OK--this
is a self-study course and no one is watching.Note
your feelings and experiences as you do that.Share
your experiences with the partner in that exercise.
After
making notes on that exercise and the sharing, exchange roles with the
partner and read the dialog out loud again.Note
any differences from the previous reading.Repeat
the sharing with your partner in the exercise.(Note
that the actors in the Broadway production of Becket, Peter O’Toole
and Richard Burton, exchanged the principal roles on alternate nights.)
QUESTIONS
III,
1What did “getting into those characters
with voice and body language” add to your earlier responses to Questions
II, 1 and II, 2?
III,
2Write down some personal experiences
with, or personal observations of, “If there are any questions to be asked
you can be sure they’ve been asked already, higher up, by cleverer heads
than yours.”You will not be asked
to hand in that which you write, or to talk about it in the discussion
circle
SEND
RESPONSES TO Rudy
Marcus, <catnrudy@monitor.net>
Do
not open next envelope until your response is acknowledged.
SEQUENCED SELF - STUDY
MILITARY COMMANDERS
AND THEIR MORAL ADVISORS--A Case Study
BECKET,
Part IV
(from
Jean Anouilh’s play Becketin
text or movie version)
Henry:I
can do nothing!Nothing!I
am as limp and useless as a girl!So
long as he's alive, I'll never be able to do a thing I tremble before him
astonished.And I am the King!Will
no one rid me of him?A priest!A
priest who jeers at me and does me injury!Are
there none but cowards like myself around me?Are
there no men left in England?O,
my heart!My heart is beating too
fast to bear!
QUESTIONS
IV,
1In the dialog of part II, the Barons
demanded orders rather than questions.Does
Part IV of the story contain an order by the king?If
so, where is it;if not, how do you
read the text?
IV,
2What action would you take upon
hearing this text from your superior, and why?
SEND
RESPONSES TO Rudy
Marcus, <catnrudy@monitor.net>
Do
not open next envelope until your response is acknowledged.
SEQUENCED SELF - STUDY
MILITARY COMMANDERS
AND THEIR MORAL ADVISORS--A Case Study
BECKET,
Part V
(from
Jean Anouilh’s play Becketin
text or movie version.The same night.)
Becket:One
does not enter armed into God's house.What
do you want?
1st
Baron:Your death.
2nd
Baron:You bring shame to the King.Flee
the country or you're a dead man.
Becket:It
is time for the service.He turns
to the altar and faces the tall crucifix without paying any further attention
to them.
The
fourBarons
hurl themselves on to him.He falls
at the first blow.They hack at his
body, grunting like woodcutters..(Note:Italics
are stage directions)
QUESTIONS
V,
1Is killing an unarmed person at the
altar ethical in warfare?Explain
why or why not.
V,
2From what you saw in the movie or
read in the text, did the killers have reason to believe they were carrying
out orders of the king to do that?
SEND
RESPONSES TO Rudy
Marcus, <catnrudy@monitor.net>
Do
not open next envelope until your response is acknowledged.
SEQUENCED SELF - STUDY
MILITARY COMMANDERS
AND THEIR MORAL ADVISORS--A Case Study
BECKET,
Part VI
(From
Murder in the Cathedral by
T. S. Eliot.The same night, after
the killing.Note that this portion
of the play is prose; the rest of the play is poetry.)
4th
Baron:[Becket] used every means
of provocation; from his conduct, step by step, there can be no inference
except that he had determined upon a death by martyrdom.Even
at the last, he could have given us a reason; you have seen how he evaded
our questions.And when hehad
deliberately exasperated us beyond human endurance, he could still have
easily escaped; he could have kept himself from us long enough to allow
our righteous anger to cool.That
was just what he did not wish to happen; he insisted, while we were still
inflamed with wrath, that the doors should be opened.Need
I say more?I think, with these facts
before you, you will unhesitatingly render a verdict of Suicide while of
Unsound Mind.It is the only charitable
verdict you can give, upon one who was, after all, a great man.
QUESTIONS
VI,
1Is blaming the victim for one's own
ethics violation a valid excuse for the violation?Give
reasons for answer.
VI,
2Name some contemporary versions of
blaming the victim..
SEND
RESPONSES TO Rudy
Marcus, <catnrudy@monitor.net>
Do
not open next envelope until your response is acknowledged.
SEQUENCED SELF
- STUDY
MILITARY COMMANDERS
AND THEIR MORAL ADVISORS--A Case Study
BECKET,
Part VII
(from
Jean Anouilh’s play Becketin
text or movie version.Four years
later, England is under interdict--no one can be baptized, married, or
buried.Henry’s son leads a popular
armed revolt against him.)
Henry:
(being whipped by monks at Becket's tomb in the cathedral
)England will owe her ultimate victory
over chaos to Becket, and it is our wish that, henceforward, he should
be honored and prayed to in this Kingdom as a saint.Come,
gentlemen, We will determine, tonight, in Council, what posthumous honors
to render him and what punishment to deal out to his murderers.Our
justice will seek them out so that no one will be in any doubt as to our
Royal desire to defend the honor of God and the memory of our friend from
this day forward.
QUESTIONS
VII,
1Did
the killing of Becket at the altar achieve the king's aim?The
killers' aim?Explain how it did
or did not in each case.
VII,
2In the dialog of Part II, the Barons
claimed that ‘if there are any questions to be asked you can be sure they’ve
been asked already, higher up, by cleverer heads than yours.”According
to the story, had such questions been asked prior to a killing which imposed
interdict and revolt on the whole country?
VII,
3In your experience, who or what
makes a similar claim today?Express
that claim in your own words.Be
explicit.
VII,
4Now that you have worked with this
story, who do you feel should ask the question and where might an answer
come from?In the story?In
your life?Use as many different
descriptors as possible for entities, outer and inner, which might ask
questions or provide answers.Compare
your response to this question with your response to Question I, 2.
SEND
RESPONSES TO Rudy
Marcus <catnrudy@monitor.net>
Do
not open next envelope until your response is acknowledged.
SEQUENCED SELF - STUDY
MILITARY COMMANDERS
AND THEIR MORAL ADVISORS--A Case Study
BECKET,
Part VIII
The
story of Henry, Becket, and the Barons recurs again and again when power
meets power in any of its forms.Who
asks what questions, and where answers are to be found, remain problems
which are as relevant today as they were in twelfth-century England.Here
is a contemporary example which comes from an interview with Leon Panetta
when he left as White House Chief of Staff after President Clinton's reelection.
Panetta
was asked what he did when the President gave him an unethical order and
couldn't be argued out of it.Panetta
said:"In that case I temporized
and delayed at least overnight before carrying out the order.Most
of the time the President came in in the morning and said 'You didn't do
that stupid thing I told you to do last night, did you?"
QUESTIONS
After
working with the story of Henry, Becket, and the Barons, and with a contemporary
example, you can write at least tentative answers to the four questions
listed under Content at the beginning of the course.
VIII,
1How might a supervisor avoid giving
misleading cues which lead to unethical actions by subordinates?
VIII,
2How might a subordinate avoid unethical
actions?
VIII,
3How can I find moral advisors?
VIII,
4Who or where is the moral advisor
I will find?
SEND
RESPONSES TO Rudy
Marcus <catnrudy@monitor.net>
Be
aware that your answers might change in 20 minutes, tomorrow, or next week.That
is why the material of this course--story, questions, your responses, and
the facilitator’s comments on your responses, all collected in a notebook--is
a growing resource.It will be a
record of responses changing with time, consideration, and exposure to
new and different choices and problems.That
is the beauty of this method:your
course notebook, and the process which it embodies, will become an ongoing
conversation with a moral advisor.