Freedom of speech?

A debate on the freedom of speech, including the freedom to express oneself as an artist in media, is going on all over the world. Focus is on some drawings of the prophet Muhammed, the great symbol of the Islam believers. Is it up to every single person to draw or to paint whatever he likes – as the true Islam believers claim that this is a very serious blasphemy and an offence of the religion? In many Western countries there are a lot of people standing up, saying that the freedom of speech (including the freedom of art production) overrules all religious and all other inhibitions. But this question is quite complex. We, Human Beings, speak in many different ways when we speak. We express ourselves by words and pictures – and our body language (our eyes, our mimicry, our gestures). Is it up to me to do whatever pleases me referring to my freedom to express myself by my body language?
Is it up to me to decide if it is OK to walk with my dirty feet on the nation’s flag, or to throw dart arrows on the picture of the King, claiming that this is my right as an “artist”? I think that we have to put some limits around our freedom of speech. You have your right to claim whatever you want to say by your spoken or written words, but not by acting out whatever comes up in your mind. Freedom of speech is freedom of the spoken words, not necessarily everything that could appear under the headline “Art”.

Injuries and inflammations

If you have got badly hurt with a severe injury this will most probably be followed by an inflammation in your body. It is quite common. I know it very well as the body tissues in my right leg have been ripped off, and during the healing process the body creates an inflammation process; thereby increasing the body temperature around the area of the damage, which, in fact, is speeding up the healing process.
The same goes for the damage within an organization, perhaps caused by careless people, who have expressed themselves in a way that have hurt several others. Such a damage lead also to a special sort of “inflammation”, a state of pain and grief and anger, which could remain for several weeks or even months, or, in worst cases, over years. There are no simple pills to take to relieve that kind of pain, but it is of importance for the hurt ones to stick together, to get some comfort from each other, and to plan for the future. Get together, stick together, talk to each other, form strategies for a better future – and implement them in a sound and a wise way. Don´t just sit there waiting for someone to pick you up! Do something! Turn to the others. You are not alone. No one is completely alone.

One accident never comes alone

The badly hurt leg from my bike accident made me limping. Without being aware of it I overcompensated by straining my thigh muscles, which made them stiff and somewhat swollen. Two days later I got a sudden pain in my back (lumbago), most probably also an effect of my bad leg. The body is always an interactive system. The mind-body system is also interactive. Everything is dependent of everything else. You can not just hurt your leg thinking that the rest of your body is strong and healthy. The same goes for the individual in the group. A severe damage at one point in the group will bring you to new experiences, new crisis and new behaviour patterns. A big failure in the company or in the society will affect the group, which will affect you. You are not alone and there are no accidents nor any mental or mind problems that occur just by themselves just inside of yourself.

Crash! Boom bang!

I really like to ride my bicycle. It is a very nice way to move along. It demands no petrol, just the power of my own muscles. It is smooth and it is quite fast. But this morning….crash! I rode just into a road barrier that I did not see due to a low standing sun, shining directly into my eyes. Pow – down on the street! At first I did not feel any pain, but then I saw the blood, and unfortunately the trousers had been ripped up below my right knee, and there was a huge crater in my foreleg. I just stayed down where I was, someone called an ambulance that brought me to the big hospital and its emergency room. There I was treated, x-rayed (nothing broken) and stitched with 17 stitches. It will take at least two weeks to heal. One conclusion of utmost importance: never, ever, ride a bicycle without a helmet. As one of the doctors said to me: “Well, those who ride bicycles without a helmet have nothing to fear – because they have nothing of value to protect anyhow”. Did I have to tell you that I, of course, had my helmet on? Perhaps it saved my life.

Freedom fighters

Free and independent at any cost – is a common Human credo. The longing to grow and to stay strong is mixed with a fantasy or a dream of being established as the powerful “Lonely Wolf”. This is the underlying force making man so very interested in buying and driving cars or, even better, motorcycles, or, why not, a small, speedy aircraft. The consequences are horrible: in Sweden only there are accidents and crashes caused by all these free-ride-lovers corresponding to a heavy jet airline crash every year. And, of course, all those vehicles are great providers to the fast and very dangerous climate change. What are then our authorities doing about it? Well, they are always willing to build even more roads, thereby inviting even more cars and MC:s, thereby stimulating even more fantasies and dreams of the free, independent, action-loving man, thereby causing even more damages.

The value of a psychological advisory program

There are tempting and often refreshing thoughts going on among young men and women. The future could look very nice indeed if you are really able to fulfil your dreams. Some young people dream to become popstars or actors or comedians – or medical doctors or skilled engineers or….airline pilots. Each profession has its very special requirements. Training to become a professional airline pilot demands a lot of special skills. Later serving as a pilot has of course its special requirements. Everyone is of course not apt to become a pilot. (I, myself, am a quite good example: I would most certainly have been rejected as a pilot if I ever had tried to apply for that training when I was young. But I do think that I became quite a skilled and good psychologist, something that I have never regretted.) It is very interesting to meet and to assist young pilot candidates prior to their training. By our special tools, developed within Gordon Consulting, we could profoundly and systematically work through everything that counts in this matter: the basic talents, the resources, the personality – and we could come up with some good advices. Mostly they are very much appreciated, especially as the fee for the professional pilot training is quite high: more than half a million Swedish crowns or close to 100 000 US dollars.

The necessity of mutual communication

The small infant will not grow up to a competent youth or a mature adult if there were not the processes of mutual communication in between the child and the surrounding people. It is equally of importance to continue the ongoing communication (mostly verbal) amnong the grown-ups. I have experienced several relation breakdowns caused by one or more people around me suddenly withdrawing from the communication arenas. My words have been met by complete silence. My questions have been unanswered. I know that I now and then could express myself in a way that could hurt someone, but the totally silent reply is mostly causing even more damage to the relation. It normally ends as a relation disaster, and I have finally to conclude that the person that turned his or her back to me is not any longer anyone that earns my trust. But everything could become repaired and healed. If the disappearing person wants to return to me I am open to listen to what happened, and perhaps I could re-evaluate the situation.

The attractive numerals

If you say “This man is quite an intelligent man”, or “This man reaches 131 on the IQ scale, where 100 is the average” my guess is that the last sentence wins in credibility. It sounds very precise and as it sounds very precise it could become associated with a very exact scientific truth. But the problem is that there is no precise IQ scale. There are presumably hundreds or even thousands of different IQ scales around in the world, and it is not certain that those scales are real valid “fingerprints” of intelligence.
And if you say “This man has quite a vulnerable personality and is not always to be trusted”, or if you say “I have found that this man is a typical square-16-personality, measured by the famous MBTI personality test” my guess is that once more the last sentence will look as it is the one that really tells the truth. It sounds “scientific” as it refers to a “famous test”. The personality has been measured on a scale. It does not matter if the scale is a mixture of less good ideas with almost none well-founded theory about personality.
We have been taught to trust numerals as the most efficient way of describing the reality around us. But even though numeric figures indeed often are very attractive theoretical or practical models of the world my advice is: be critical and don´t swallow everything presented to you in numbers. It could be far from the truth.