Teaching Ravens to Fly Underwater
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Note from the Editor:
This article was kindly written for the SDC by member Josephine G.
Years ago, the late Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore, ‘Pete and Dud’, did a sketch called ‘Teaching Ravens to Fly Underwater’. Sir Arthur Streebe-Greebling, being interviewed, admitted that his life ‘had been a miserable failure’ because, following the command of his mother, he had spent it trying this impossible task. He owned to never having had one success! It is a deliciously silly sketch; so much of the comedy of that time was absurd, hilarious, and unforgettable.
An unexpected offshoot from this wide body of work is the somewhat weirdly useful psychological implications of set pieces. I have often spoken of and taught what I called ‘The Basil Fawlty Routine’ as a very helpful means of sorting out conflicting emotions and finding the way forward. In a project earlier this year, I needed to assure the readers that ‘No one expected the Spanish Inquisition.' Today, Sir Arthur has come to the fore.
Science accepts as unarguable that, to quote Dr Bruce Lipton, from the latter weeks of foetal life until the age of six, a child is ‘a sponge’, i.e. soaking up experiences with no developed mental equipment to process or critique them. These experiences form the basis for the ongoing life. This means that unless we update them, we spend our whole lives living out of the beliefs we formed at that time, which have the authority of indelible truths for us. This being so, it is not hard to understand why some people, in rock-bottom honesty, would admit to feeling that their lives ‘had been a miserable failure’. Following the command of the mother, i.e. the authority figures of our infancy, we take on what we believe is expected of us, what they want, and what feels the safest way to go. We quickly learn what constitutes ‘unsafe’ behaviour. One has to feel some sympathy for the poor parents or guardians who have no cognisance of what the child is making of the day-to-day exchanges but may, eventually, be held responsible for ‘ruining my life’.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque in diam id erat facilisis consectetur vitae vel urna.
Ut lacus libero, suscipit auctor ipsum sit amet, viverra pretium nisl. Nullam facilisis nec odio nec dapibus. Integer maximus risus et velit porttitor ullamcorper
This article was kindly written for the SDC by member Josephine G.
Years ago, the late Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore, ‘Pete and Dud’, did a sketch called ‘Teaching Ravens to Fly Underwater’. Sir Arthur Streebe-Greebling, being interviewed, admitted that his life ‘had been a miserable failure’ because, following the command of his mother, he had spent it trying this impossible task. He owned to never having had one success! It is a deliciously silly sketch; so much of the comedy of that time was absurd, hilarious, and unforgettable.
An unexpected offshoot from this wide body of work is the somewhat weirdly useful psychological implications of set pieces. I have often spoken of and taught what I called ‘The Basil Fawlty Routine’ as a very helpful means of sorting out conflicting emotions and finding the way forward. In a project earlier this year, I needed to assure the readers that ‘No one expected the Spanish Inquisition.' Today, Sir Arthur has come to the fore.
Science accepts as unarguable that, to quote Dr Bruce Lipton, from the latter weeks of foetal life until the age of six, a child is ‘a sponge’, i.e. soaking up experiences with no developed mental equipment to process or critique them. These experiences form the basis for the ongoing life. This means that unless we update them, we spend our whole lives living out of the beliefs we formed at that time, which have the authority of indelible truths for us. This being so, it is not hard to understand why some people, in rock-bottom honesty, would admit to feeling that their lives ‘had been a miserable failure’. Following the command of the mother, i.e. the authority figures of our infancy, we take on what we believe is expected of us, what they want, and what feels the safest way to go. We quickly learn what constitutes ‘unsafe’ behaviour. One has to feel some sympathy for the poor parents or guardians who have no cognisance of what the child is making of the day-to-day exchanges but may, eventually, be held responsible for ‘ruining my life’.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque in diam id erat facilisis consectetur vitae vel urna.
Ut lacus libero, suscipit auctor ipsum sit amet, viverra pretium nisl. Nullam facilisis nec odio nec dapibus. Integer maximus risus et velit porttitor ullamcorper
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