Blind Alley

[Guest guest]

LIVING IN OUR CONCRETE SAVANNAHS we are as displaced as wild animals

in a zoo. There might be comfort, food, reasonable security and good

sanitation yet the surroundings are often bleak, sterile and

dehumanizing. Young children, brought up in featureless, soul-less

environments are more likely to have limited experiences, which

affect both intelligence and the ability to enjoy the full spectrum

of life. They can so easily become intellectual and emotional

cripples.

Experiments with rats exposed to featureless surroundings and others

enjoying rich and stimulating environments show marked differences in

the actual size and mass of the cortex of their tiny brains. Those

who enjoyed the " rats' paradise " even underwent dramatic changes in

their brain chemistry.

While we still don't actually know which parts are stimulated or

repressed in human beings having such differences of background, we

do know that children who are lucky enough to have varied and

stimulating environments in early life have quite phenomenal

advantages over their less fortunate brothers and sisters in

featureless dull surroundings.

One of the historical reasons for many great cultural leaps has been

the development of the city. In a large metropolis the full spectrum

of diverse peoples and creative cultural ideas can be experienced.

But an equivalent richness and diversity has sadly not been matched

in modern times by the physical environment. It has, if anything,

reduced life to a standard dull uniformity. The planning of cities

now is almost entirely based on speculative growth by standardized

units. In terms of human values there are few buildings which

exuberantly celebrate the lives of those who live and work in them.

Production and efficiency have no intrinsic life enhancing value in

themselves — they merely serve as means to an end.

It is recognized that animals who have experienced abnormal

laboratory environments from birth, such as extreme deprivation,

loneliness or dull repetitive surroundings, tend to seek the company

of others who have had similar treatments. Urban ghettos increasingly

fit this sad description. When such trends of urbanization continue

in our cities, it cannot create whole and mature beings.

 

Unknown Man...Yatri

 

posted .........bob