Today's musing is about obedience, context, compassion, and understanding.

Below is a video someone has posted showing a famous psychological experiment designed to see how people would react when asked to perform tasks by an authority figure. They were conducted by Stanley Milgrim. If you haven't seen or heard these videos (even if you have heard or read about the experiment) they are interesting but very difficult to watch. The volunteers are clearly very disturbed by what they are being asked to do and yet the vast majority of them continue to follow instructions. Keep in mind that these were not bad people. They were (like most of us) ordinary, obedient people who felt very bad about what they were asked to do. Recently, this experiment was repeated, with a couple of modifications, but very similar results. Last Friday, during the second section of The Current, on CBC radio had a very good discussion about both of these experiments and what they can teach us. (continued below)



The main conclusion of both of these studies, according to Jerry Burger (the author of the repeat experiment), "The real lesson is that the behaviour is not a function so much of the kind of person you are as the kind of situation you are in. I think we often fall into this trap of thinking well these must be bad people who do these things."

As a parent, I can't help but think of discussions we have with our kids about peer pressure. Peer pressure is not just about stealing cars, or smoking in the boys room (cuz it's cool). It is also (or mostly) about the little decisions, and having an independent mind. Do you play a game that you aren't entirely comfortable with? What do you do when one of your friends gets mad at another one?

At the end of the day, thinking about how our behaviour is affected by our situation, and recognizing that other people also have their behaviour affected by their situation, beyond their individual predilections, might be an important part of how we try to understand and have compassion for ourselves and others.

The most important part of this study is the reflection on the findings afterwards. What can we learn? Constant reflection and contemplation about our own experience is also the most important part of being honest and growing in our own lives. It is especially important when growing in our spiritual lives.

An end of day review can be very helpful for this. Before you slip into dreamland ask these three questions,

WHERE DID I SEE GOD TODAY?
WHERE DID I MISS GOD TODAY?
WHERE DO I WANT TO SEE GOD TOMORROW?

Peace
K