On Monday, DZ posted about a NY Times article on how very few resolutions last past Valentine’s day, which causes one to question how and if people change. That article didn’t offer much hope for change. But an article in Tuesday’s The Washington Post, “Practice What You Plan to Preach,” offered one solution to the resolution conundrum…SHAME:
“The most effective way to get people to change their behavior revolves around the clever use of…hypocrisy. When people feel not only that they are failing themselves but also that are failing to live up to what they tell other people to do, they change their behavior — and stick to it.”
Jean Paul Sartre said “shame is the hemorrhage of the soul.” That’s a high price to pay for change. In his book Gift and Grace, Paul Tournier, writes: “I cannot study the problem of guilt without raising the very obvious and tragic fact that religion—my own as well as others—can crush instead of liberate. What my patients truly seek is grace. Yet in most places they encounter shame, the threat of punishment, and a sense of judgment.”
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2 responses to “Shame on You?”
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wow…
Great!