November/December 1984 RAIN Page 9 Afterword Michael Marien's analysis of the Sandbox Syndrome prompted a brief response from Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy, in the same issue of the Journal of Humanisti, Psychology (Winter 1983, volume 23, numberl): "Transformation as a Rough Draft." In her article, Ferguson contends that the transformation is a good thing and that it is indeed happening. . In the Fall 1983 (volume 23, number 4) issue of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Michael Marien responded to Ferguson in the article "Further Thoughts an the Two Paths to Transformation: A Reply to Ferguson." In this article, Marien expands on his first article, after stating that "the Great Conspirator offers no evidence that she has actually read the essay, ot, if she did, that she understands it." He challenges Ferguson's points with wit and logic, and the essay \s well worth , reading. In addition, Marien restates the two paths as Transformation I (the utopian/puerile path) and Transformation II {an attempt "t'o grow up politically, and to deal effectively with the real world'.'). Marien's points are convincing, unlike Ferguson's "arguments." In fact, Ferguson declined an invitation to respond to . Marien's second article, and further stated that if the Journal of Humanistic Psychology published the piece, she would resign from the journal's Board of Editors. They did and she did. -TK · I I NOTES 1. Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Tra11sfor111atio11 in the 1980s (Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, 1980). 2. Green parties such as Les Vertes, Die Griinen, and the UK Ecology Party are now established minor political parties in Europe. Despite characteristic disorganization, they are at or near the point of being wooed by the major parties. 3. The Sandbox Syndrome is not confined to New Age groups, but can be found in many minority political groups of both the Right, the Left, and "beyond Right and Left" (which New Age groups purport to be), as well as in established organizations. For purposes of this exploratory essay, Sandbox behaviors will be described only as they apply to "transforinationalists." 4. Duane. Elgin, Voluntary Si//lplic;ity (New York: William Morrow, 1981), p. 128: An example of the leading questions asked: "By 66 percent to 22 percent, the public chooses 'breaking up big things and getting back to more humanized living' over 'developing bigger and more efficient ways of doing things."' 5. Ibid., p. 132. Based on work with Arnold Mitchell at SRI, Elgin estimates that, in 1980, roughly 6% of the U.S. adult population is "wholeheartedly exploring a life of voluntary simplicity," and that such a lifestyle "could well grow to be the dominant orientation for as much as a majority of the adult population of many Western developed nations by the year 2000." No justification is given for this exuberant extrapolation. Although the SRI data have been frequently and acritically cited by many New Age writers, they are not based on a rigorous survey, btit on "best guesses based upon our immersion in all of the relevant data that we could find" (Elgin letter to Marien, September 7, 1979). 6. For historical buffs, Consciousness II is the est!'lblishment mindset as characterized in a 1970 best seller by Charles A. Reich, The Greening of A//lerica (New York: Random ·House). Ferguson's Aquaria11 Co11spiracy might be usefully compared as a 1980s version of Reich's book. · 7. Rollo May, Power and Innocence (New York: W.W. Norton, 1972). May describes innocence a·s the virtue of not having powera way to confront one's powerlessness by making it a seeming virtue. He distinguishes between the authertic innocence of childlike attitudes and the childishness of pseudoinnocence, often associated with utopianism and the urge to make things simple and easy. 8. Abstracts of recent books and articles by most of these writers are available in Future · Survey Annual 1980-1981, ed. Michael Marien (Bethesda, MD: World Future Society, 1982). Note especially the section on Decentralization/ Eco-Humanism, pp. 109-117. 9. This argument, still applicable today, is made in detail by Herbert Ag<Jr, Land of the Free (Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1935), who poses a choice between the true American Culture of self-government, equality, freedom, and humanity, and a debased form of the Civilization of the West (finance capitalism and ownership by the few). 10. May, Power and Innocence, p. 110, eloquently states that "our narcissism is forever crying out against the wounds of those who would criticize us or point out our weak spots. We forget that the critic can be doing us a considerable favor. '~ 1 11. Charles Hampden-Turner, Radical Man: The Process of Psycho-Social Development (Cambridge, MA: Schenkman, 1970), p. 327. Developmental radicals, in contrast to dogmatic radicals, need the insights of all their political opponents (p. 329). Also see May, Power and Innocence, pp. 109-110, who points to the necessity of opponents for all important truths. ' 12. William Ryan, Blaming the Victi111 (New York: Pantheon, 1971), argues that the ideology of victim-blaming is a primary barrier to effective social change: Also see Dana Ullman, "Responsibility and Holistic Health," Holistic Health News (Berkeley Holistic Health Center), Spring 1980. Ullman has pointed out tha·t "blaming the victim" (including self-blame) is another important characteristic of the Sandbox Syndrome (Ullman letter to Marien, July 30, 1982). 13. Fritjof Capra, The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982), p. 36. 14. Byron Kennard, Nothing Can Be Done, Everything ls Possible (Andover, MA: Brick House Publishing, 1982), p. 83. 15. John W. Gardner, The Re.covery of Confidence (New York: Norton, 1970), p. 29. 16. Abraham H. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York: Viking, 1971), pp. 308-309. 17. The first three paradigms are explored in somewhat greater detail by Michael Marien, "Toward a Devolution of Services," Social Policy, 9, 2 (1978): 26-35. 18. Bruce Holbrook, The Stone Monkey: An Alternative Chinese-Scientific Reality (New York: William Morrow, 1981). Holbrook argues that the Chinese Polar-Complete world view is clearly superior to the Absolute-Fragmental paradigm of Western science. Although he does not suggest the compromise of a synthesized world science, such a,synthesis would seem to be ultimately likely and desirable. Also see Ziauddin Sardar, "Why Islam Needs Islamic Science," New Scientist, April 1, 1982, pp. 25-28, for a parallel argument from another scientific tradition. Rl?printcd by per111issio11 of Michael Marien and Sage Publications.
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