Classroom Dynamics

I remember reading years ago about classroom dynamics.

For instance, there could be a class where there was one kid that the others picked on. Or there’s a class where one kid seems to be a discipline problem, and he seems to cause lot of commotion.

The theory was that if the child that others picked on moved away, somehow another child in the class would then take the picked-on child’s place, and he would become the one picked on. A child who had been there all the time, getting along just fine, now moved into the vacated slot. How? Why? And why this one child?

The same with the child who tended to cause a disturbance. Someone else in the class would then rise to the occasion. Was he chosen? Did he choose?

This sort of thing was not planned. It was not even discussed. Somehow the class had a need for a scapegoat or a need for a child to act out rebellion. By some silent agreement, someone fulfilled the needs of the class. How does this happen?

I suppose the same thing is true in our society. In our world. By some tacit agreement, we have the picked-on, and we have the disrupters. The majority in the world are good guys.

Do the “bad guys” exist because the good guys need them?

It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Why would we need them? Can it be that the bad guys do our bidding? Do criminals, for instance, act out on our behalf? Do the police need them?

In the same vein, the world seems to need movie idols. It’s more clear that we create them.

I had the thought that this theory of one thing leaving and another rising to take its place may also apply to personal anger, for instance.

For whatever reason, we have a supply of anger. Today something makes us angry. Then our anger goes away. Tomorrow something else will stir our anger. Once one situation is cleared, then another crops up to take its place. But why would anyone need anger? What is the reward in it? Why would God-seeking people ever have anger? Yet, who is a stranger to it? The seeming cause isn’t really the cause.

What are all these dynamics of living, and why do we have them?

Posted by Gloria on November 15th, 2008 under these topics
Personal Development, Education, Godwriting Journal

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12 Replies

Reply from Bonnie on November 15, 2008

I think this might answer your question, Gloria!!
Only Love
Heavenletter # 925 Published on: May 3, 2003

Reply from One on November 15, 2008

Querida, when all the world is good and everyone is pleasant, I would be the villain…and gladly too. Yet I would act without anger.

Imagine how flat the plot would be without a villain!

One Love

Reply from One on November 15, 2008

An answer to the question at the end may be, “to thicken the plot.”

Reply from Jack van Raders on November 15, 2008

Anger what is the meaning of the word???? I have forgotten. I get my heckles up when someone dares to criticize Mieke then I shrug my shoulders and think “Their Problem” No Jack you are definite not a saint yet Not by a long shot. You get wild and sometimes scream at that someone, till coming to my senses and shrug my shoulders Etc. One Teacher much to every one’s surprise myself included told the class. “Take a look at van Raders he knows just how far to go and just misses punishment” I probably was one of your disruptive pupils and very cunning. I will be away for a wile so till I am back keep well ALL and be Hugged by Jack

Reply from Gloria on November 15, 2008

So, Bonnie, the answer came before the question! Leave it to God — and you to find it!

One, heroes don’t qualify to be villains. And how can there be a villain without anger?!!!

Jack, if I had had you in my class, you would have been the teacher’s pet.

Reply from Jochen on November 16, 2008

Señora, Bonnie, One, Jack, I enjoy this entry and conversation so much I cant resist throwing in my two cents worth.

Heaven #2638 is on crime and criminals which, of course, is only part of what Gloria addressed. It has a very interesting passage on “service” (I put arrows since there seems to be no other way of emphasizing):
———————————-
As Wonderful as You Are
Heavenletter # 2638 Published on: February 14, 2008
God said:
You are the furthest thing from one who would murder, and yet, at one time or another you have had murder in your heart. Confess now! You too have wanted someone to disappear from the face of the Earth. When you hold on to a grudge from the past and will not erase it, what are you doing but in effect decimating the one who offended you?
I know My children like to think they’re above it all. Yet, beloveds, you too have spoken untruths. You have done a little cheat here or there. You have done shoddy work. You have let another down a time or two. You have driven too fast, and you have run away from events you didn’t want to face. You have mixed up facts. Is this not true? Just between you and Me, is this not true?
As wonderful as you are, the difference between you and those who are accused, those imprisoned, and those executed may be a skinnier line than you liked to think!
It is not My will for anyone to hurt another nor to take another’s presumed belongings and all those unfair things. It is also not My will that you discount those who are guilty of not having your vision. Someone has acted out what you only thought of in anger. Beloveds, you are not a stranger to temptation. You have been tempted here and there. The difference between you and the one you judge is that he was tempted and succumbed. He acted on his adverse thoughts while you did not act on yours.
I do congratulate you. I am glad, and I am grateful. For all intents and purposes, you have done the right thing. Your brother found guilty was not as wise as you and he has fallen. Perhaps he was not so blessed as you, and you are not so virtuous as you like to think. Perhaps you were lucky. Most certainly you were fortunate to have made less dire choices.
➨ ➨ ➨There is also the sense in which the injurer, as difficult as it may be to accept, did not do a bad deed exactly the way the world sees it, but rather gave a service. At the very least, you can acknowledge that his dishonorable acts serve you in reinforcing your desire to be honorable.⬅
I make no excuses, beloveds, because I have no excuses to make. I do not throw any one away. No matter what world crime has been committed, I do not say the committers are of no use. I do not say they are worthless. They may well, in their offenses, have been expressing the worthlessness they held themselves in. Had they greater self-worth, perhaps they would have made other decisions.
Beloveds, there is the sense in which you cannot know what is good and bad. You can know what you prefer, yet you cannot lay down a decision. You can decide for yourself, of course, yet it is not for you to make haughty pronouncements that someone is good and someone else is bad. You will have such thoughts, I understand, and yet, it behooves you to keep these thoughts to yourself.
You have stumbled and fallen. Perhaps you picked yourself up. Perhaps someone else picked you up. Someone else may stumble and fall and still lie there, and no one comes to help. Must you walk by, or read about, the man who stayed in the mud only to condemn him? No matter what you think of his lying there, he is still My child just as much as you.
—————————————-
It seems that we need all kinds of disruption and picking etc. simply to remember that it’s not what we truly want and that refraining from all of this, being “honorable”, is still not all of what we truly want. One, you are so right. A world that is only good and pleasant could get awfully boring, and you - well, we - would at least provide it with reasons to tut-tut. If a certain function in the dynamics of a classroom or society is vacated and almost immediately taken up by someone else, this can only mean that cleaning up things on that level is not enough. Law, order, decency, honorable behavior, goddness, pleasentness…..are not enough. We want more. What more? Jack, I think the secret is in your comment. Everything, even a flare of anger, has its natural place and does not have to be disruptive when it rests on a background of love. That background is what we are after, and everything else will fall into place once we get serious about it. In sum, I feel that all of those “problems” and their amazing resiliency simply say, “Don’t try to straighten things on the surface.”

Reply from Gloria on November 16, 2008

What a great discussion this is! Jochen, you go to the heart of Heavenletters.

I think I would be quite happy in a world without anger. I would be very happy to be without anger!

And, if there must be villains in the world, is it possible that we could have them but without victims?

Loving you all,

Gloria

Reply from Jack van Raders on November 16, 2008

Yes Jochen, All is well if Love is in the back of things. We are going to visit 2 of our daughters so I cannot continue with this discussion I will be back in about 3 weeks see you all then be assured of my love for you All Jack

Reply from Pam (fortheloveofGodde) on November 16, 2008

An illuminating discussion to be sure! Great points … and great point from Jack’s teacher … “look at van Raders. He knows just how far to go!” It’s a great trick to know how far to go and be able to pull back. Thanks, Jochen, for getting right to the heart of it with the Heavenletter.

Oh, and Jack, I’ll miss you these next three weeks while you’re having a wonderful time with your daughters!

Reply from Emilia on November 16, 2008

Anger is love compressed, love denied, it is an important if not foundamental step in spiritual awakening. Anger is the cry of the soul, the purifing fire that burns within before Truth can arise.
…I think
Emilia

Reply from One on November 16, 2008

The idea of hero or villain depends very much on which side of the fence you’re sitting on!

Of course a person can be villainous without anger.

Look at the Heavenletter that Jochen quoted. God says a too good world would get boring. Hah! See.

Worlds are destroyed for 2 reasons. When they get too good or too evil. When a world gets too good, villains are heroes cos they save the world from destruction, even though they know how much the goody goodies will not like them. A true hero and a true villain are the same. They’ll probably enjoy a good game of poker and share a cigar when their work is done.

Anger however is a completely different thing. Anger is worse than a villain.

One Love

Reply from Gloria on November 16, 2008

Well, Senor, I don’t debate with God!

Of course, sometimes I wouldn’t mind a little boredom!

Now that you mention it, I believe there is an early Heavenletter where God says what you say about heroes and villains. As I recall, God said that a particular tyrant had volunteered to play the role. And that does support the idea that we are all of us playing roles.

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