ers, and self-centeredness. Upward growth to escape the Sandbox Syndrome is a necessary ingredient of any serious social change. At the outset, I want to emphasize three beliefs that I share with many others: -Peace, freedom, equality, justice, community, love, truth, health, beauty, frugality, self-reliance, and selffulfillment-despite frequent conflicts with ~ach otherare all worthy goals, and should be pursued for all people worldwide. -The old paradigms or ways of thought a~e obsolete; new and broader paradigms offer more promise for the intelligent conduct of human affairs. ~Hyperindustrialized societi_es are in deep trouble, as are "developing" countries seeking to follow their example; majo~ changes will be necessary if we are to survive in any dignified fashion. Although a transformation in values, percep.tions, and institutions is desirable, it is far from inevitable. Despite an urgent need, change in a humanly desirable direction may not be taking place at all, or may be taking place at such a minuscule rate so as to be irrelevant. Indeed, I strongly suspect that the widespread belief in a transformation that is happening in fact keeps it from happening. We need reasonable hopes, of course. But making a religion out of social change-developing a body of unquestioned belief, derived from concern for the human condition and hope for a better world-only serves to deflect energies away from the hard work that must be done. Making a religion out of social change-developing a body of unquestioned belief, derived from concern for the human conditiOn and hope for a better world_-only serves to defiect energies away from the hard work that we must do. To illustrate, imagine that you are an agent of the FBI or CIA. You are called into the office of the Big Chief ar1d informed that there may be a subversive movement afoot-some call it the Aquarian Conspiracy. 1 It threatens the American way of life by seeking to disarm the U.S. and make peace with the Soviet Union, by redefining national security, by weakening the nation-state in favor of global peacekeeping, by weakening the global economy in favor of national and local self-reliance, by slackening U.S. participation in world competition for high-technology leadership, by encouraging individuals to be more self-reliant and not to consume as much, by promoting environmentalism at the expense of commerce, and by decentralizing economic and politieal November/December 1984 RAIN Page 5 power through wider participation in corporate and community decision making. This i,s clearly subversive. Your mission is to stop it. What should 'an effective agent do? · . Being wise in the ways of the world, you realize that the 1950s strategy of fighting the Red Menace will no longer work in the sophisticated 1980s. In our age of infoglut, why give valuable publicity to the Green Menace, when the movement, at least in the United States, 2 is largely invisible? Rather, you would exploit the widespread tendency of the movement, such as it is, to render itself politically impotent. You understand the dynamics of the sandbox: an enclosed area where children safely play, while adults carry on, undisturbed, in their usual wicked wa,ys. Two complementary forces promote this condition: Adults place children in the sandbox to get rid of them, and c~ildren volunteer to play_there because it is fun. Write a guidebook to networking or bartering, the magic processes of the alternative culture-but don't acknowledge the networks and barters used by the res_t of the world. To stop the potential subversion of America, all you have to do is go with the flow and promote the Sandbox Syndrome. 3 It's easy. Here are some tips: . (1) Encourag_f Belief in Success . Promote the view that cosmic change is coming, or taking place. Sirr}ilar to the fundamentalist Christians, who believe that Armageddon is about to take place, to be followed by a millennium for those who are saved, preach that the Transformation1or the Third Wave, is happening now-that we have reached the turning point, and that people are now seeing that. we can't continue the old ways. Don't attempt to offer evidence for this change, other than a one-time 1977 Harris Poll based on leading questions, 4 or some fuzzily estimated data sanctified by association with Stanford Research Institute. 5 Anything else would involve left-brain quantifying-an artifact of Consciousness II. 6 (2) Confuse Goals and Results. It feels good, and it won't hurt anyone's feelings, to proclaim that we are working for peace, we are changing minds, we are healing. Perhaps we are; perhaps we aren't. The intention and . the process are primary, not the outcome. Any hint of a managerial, performance-oriented approach is fascistic. (3) Don't Criticize. That's related to asking embarrassing , questions about results. Just let it be. Being peaceful, loving, supportive, and cooperative means treatin'g everyone equally and saying ill of no one. After all, everyone means well. Prickly questions are hostile and best ignored, or met with a hug. (4) Add a Dose of Hubris. Stand on the leading edge, the crest of the Third Wave, amid the New Age. You're _superior to those unliberated, linear cluckheads out
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