"Draining The Swamp": An Interactive GAME Of Personal And Collective Transformation

How we transform the Dark Side at New Horizons and guide you on the adventure of a lifetime!

Whatever is wrong in Washington, you/we don’t need to keep it going! 

“Draining The Swamp” Is One Of New Horizons Unique Interactive Games

Based on “old” New Horizons "signature" program --

The Truth or Dare GAME

(originally the “Discount Derby” as created by Martin G. Groder, M.D.)

“Draining The Swamp” is an interactive game based on more than fifty years of New Horizons evolving community development principles and practices to create the most up-to-date group dynamic  strategies.

Do you believe that our Congressional representatives ought to --

• Learn how to work cooperatively with one another, at least to some degree;
• Learn how to establish some degree of win-win intention on behalf of American citizens;
• Find elegant solutions to the collective challenges facing our nation?

If these ideals make sense to you, are you willing to develop the necessary skills, to practice, in your own life, what you preach?

If you believe as we do, that greater unity is a way to a healthier future -- then New Horizons “Draining The Swamp” interactive game is a great place for you to start taking some next steps!

The objective of New Horizons this “Draining The Swamp” GAME is to help participants clear away personal cobwebs that obscure the clarity needed for people to solve small and large social problems. “Draining The Swamp” aids players in developing enhanced communication and conflict resolving skills to help move beyond power struggles and abuses. It also facilitates participant’s development of strengthened community bonds.  

Our “Draining The Swamp GAME” might even assist some folks in developing artfulness in helping to reweave the fabric of our society and politics?

Date: TBA 
Next Day Long Program 

New Horizons Harpers Ferry Retreat Center

Bring snacks and a bag lunch. Stay for potluck dinner and campfire storytelling.

Space will be limited! 

Register early!

Fee: Donations encouraged. $100 suggested or --

Pledge time, talent or treasures to ---

New Horizons Coffee House Conversations Project

Contact: Anastasia 240.409.5347
Email: SuperSleuthDSW

Some of How Anastasia Got From There To Here

How Anastasia found the roots of her devotion to community life – and – what she discovered. (In Two Parts, at least; the “how” and the “what.”)

You think you know stuff. You think you know who you are. Then in the midst of daily living -- upheaval. And you find you don’t know what you thought you knew or even fully who you are. I had an awakening of this sort when I went to lunch with a friend whose knowledge and wisdom about world peace, or its alternatives, I greatly respect.

The objective for our luncheon was for her to give me feedback on my new book in progress, The Middle East Crisis In My Backyard: How Communities Come Apart and How They Heal. 

I was feeling fairly confident at the onset of our time together that I had gathered the threads of what I viewed to be the fundamental principles for the book. And had written a decent first draft for the Prologue that would appropriately open the book and identify these, or so I thought.

Then, much to my surprise, my friend drew my attention to the absolute, final sentence of that draft, strongly urging that what had been my ending needed to be my beginning! 

Wow! What an amazement that was to me. But in an instant I saw the unequivocal merit of her feedback.

The phrase that caught my friend’s eye so meaningfully was “tikkun olam,” Hebrew for world repair, a word that has come to symbolize a certain philosophy of contemporary Jews such as myself. Not only did she press me to bring the word to the very front of my Prologue but she also implored me to explain its meaning to non-Jews like herself. Ok, no problem. I would do that.

I was so excited and inspired by her suggestions and the light they had thrown on my writing I could barely wait to get back to my computer to begin investigating what I would need in terms of new information to help me comply with her suggestions.  As I did this, it quickly became apparent that the significance of the central word, “tikkun olam,” of her suggestions was only a password for me; an almost secret and forgotten code that if properly deciphered could give me access to what turned out to be a gorgeous treasure chest of riches almost completely buried and forgotten for much of my life. 

Had I overlooked the beckoning of a friend at a casual restaurant luncheon I might never have ever found this key to a partially buried heritage of mine, a grand surprise, especially after all the digging I already had done; Truth seeker that I am. 

Maybe I would have discovered these treasures anyway before too long. After all, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Yet here it was now in a long-held trust, if I could break the code; a treasure chest that contained hidden parts of me – and – my mother, unseen.

Amazing!!

How beautiful too that I unearthed this treasure, containing the very Essence of my mother – and – therefore myself just in time for Mother’s Day. What a blessing!

With new discoveries now surfacing, almost daily, vivid in their beauty and significance, I have found that former hints of my devotion to community life were signals to me to keep searching for roots that ran more deeply in me than I have “consciously ever seen” before! 

Here is what I am now realizing through my persistent reach for clarity that only a search for the Light can find. Darkness, rarely, if ever discovers treasure like this!

I am coming to understand, out of the riches of my newly unearthed treasure chest, that my mother who was a mentally ill and horribly cruel and abusive mother from early on in my childhood was also, in her heart and soul, an American-born shtetl Jewess who had bottle fed me on the milk and honey of her Eastern European heritage, as she knew it and incorporated it from her parents, passed down from grandparents and many generations before. 

Until her mental breakdown when I was eight, she had imbued in me, by my merely standing next to her as she did her best to live by these ideals, a cultural way of life that while dying out in her family’s country of origin, Rumania, was being steadfastly held to by immigrant and first generation American Jews such as herself. This heritage of mine, I now realize, was always with me, back to my days in my mother’s womb and the life I was born into; a personal and family life intrinsically interwovn into the communal.

Community/tribal is who I am, at least in part! I’ve known this to be true for many years. 

Now I really know it to be true and how it came to be!

When I made my pledge to follow my way to LOVE rather than the Dark Side I had gotten myself embroiled in through my own Survivor/Addict way of living on the Washington D.C. fast track, I, unknowingly, but guided by the Light, put myself on a path to this destination! 

And now I believe I’ve come home to it! My pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

This year in Jerusalem, no need to wait until the next!

The brilliant, sparkling epiphany my luncheon date with my friend brought me is the kind of awakening most likely to come to a traveler on the Compassionate Warrior path, a seeker of Truth and Light, not someone blinded by the Dark Side Warrior (Survivor/Addict) way!

Just as I’ve believed, intuitively, since those first steps of mine, pledged to transform the Dark Side of me, an exceptional communal life, as the GRAD theory suggests, has been the way!

It is the way of the Spirit! 

The Broadway musical, Fiddler On The Roof, depicts a slice of this way of life that my maternal heritage brought me. With words and music it illustrates a vivid picture of communal life, fraught with interpersonal complexities, yet filled, too, with loyalties, love and laughter, song and celebration.  

So brilliant is the Spirit in this play it is no wonder it has been been Beloved on Broadway to such an extent over the years.

Just like discovering Lucy or Neanderthal Man, this is BIG! 

I’ll be keeping you posted as I start making sense of it all. For now what I can most aptly say is this -- 

My treasure chest is overflowing with riches. 

The main one to share for now, is this – unlike my original perspective, as I presented it in my Lean In Legacy Template (note I was already thinking in terms of inheritance here) …

My mentors have been my father, Marty Groder, Murat Yagan and my mother!

Wow!

No wonder Anastasia The Super Sleuth, investigator and transformer of darkness into Light, is my alter ego.

Taking The “Bother” Out Of Community, Answer #5:3

See bottom posting of this linked article for new entry (5:3) on "Why bother with community...."

"Whoever is not 
aware of this force...."

The discussion in its entirety begins with this article.

Answer 5:3: Question 5,   Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..?, begins leading us in the direction of developing a preliminary understanding of the powerful and profound message and guidance the GRAD theory which, in its entirety, offers us as a basic map out of personal, societal and political dysfunctional into the Higher realms of human attainment. 
That is if we can interpret it accurately and learn to apply the tenets of its resolve.

What GRAD points us to is in the direction of understanding what might best be understood by, first, rearranging the emphasis of Question #5, Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..?

See this linked article for complete new entry (5:3) on "Why bother with community...." -- continued here.

Why Bother With Community When I ……..? Question #5

Questions and Answers About Groder-Rosen (GRAD) Theory Principles and Perspectives

The discussion in its entirety begins with this article.

Q and A: A work in progress

Question #5 from a reader: Why should I bother with a whole community of people when “I” ……..?

Answer 5:1: Any standard definition of “community” will immediately tell you that a community is a group of people. So our question might well be “why bother with a group of people, instead of just “ME”?

Another version might be “why bother with anyone else but “ME”?

The answer to the question (which ever version you choose) is so complex and multi-layered I barely know how to begin answering it. For starters, allow me to invite you to join Jack Slattery, my radio show co-host, and myself for our program this week titled – 

“Why Bother With Community When I ……..?
Thursday evening, November 12
6:30 p.m. 

We are going to talk over our topic from many angles that will help the question and the answer be addressed from countless directions. You can join us with your perspectives in our the after broadcast portion for an open-ended conversation forum. Maybe together we can nail down a simple and direct answer.

Sound like a bit of hedging on my part?

Well as I said the answer to our question here, “why bother with a community when “I”……, is not a simple one. Perhaps the best I can do is angle around an answer until maybe, some time, in the future I can nail down an answer in a few words. And, you will, by then, be able to come right up close to your own answer.

Maybe!  I hope so as this is a most important subject we are on here, exceptional community-building.

Answer #5:2: In the meantime, also, try these few key words or phrases I have come up with so far to help our conversation develop on “why bother…?”

Key words and phrases (for a start)

• Destination for human survival at its most efficient – synergy;
• Chaos versus order (Remember “9/11” was it self-centeredness that helped us survive in the earliest days of the tragedy? 
• Pulling together is more fun;
• Pulling together gets more rewards in the long run (pulling for yourself is good too);
• Working together brings expanded ideas and options and more than twice the power
• From Ben Franklin, "We must hang together or surely we will hang alone."

Well, as I've said before "Q and A is "A work in progress."

New Post: Friday, November 13

Answer 5:3: Question 5,   Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..?, begins leading us in the direction of developing a preliminary understanding of the powerful and profound message and guidance the GRAD theory which, in its entirety, offers us a basic map out of personal, societal and political dysfunctional into the Higher realms of human attainment. That is if we can interpret it accurately and learn to apply the tenets of its resolve.

What GRAD points us to is in the direction of understanding might best be understood by, first, rearranging the emphasis of Question #5, Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..?

"Whoever is not
aware of this ...."

Recall that “community” does not even enter the basic principles of GRAD until the very last point, #10.  Up to that step the preceding details focus on the individual. In particular the individual as being bound and/or excessively controlled by a biologically-based survival ingredient of the personality. 

(Re-visit this item to review the danger inherent in not paying attention to this personality component and its challenge.)

This inherent survival aspect of all humanity, bred in a culture such as ours as well as most others that currently inhabit planet earth, interacting with the culture within which it finds itself becomes inured to the basic, most essential human need -- connection.  As a result “wants,” typically of an excessive nature, substitute for this basic need. 

Since these wants are unable to satisfy the normal, natural need for human connection, the quest for higher and higher doses of the substitute can almost spiral out of control. So urgent does the sense of emptinesss become.   This urgent drive is no different in terms of conscious experience, if one remains conscious of it, as a sugar addiction or drug or alcohol addiction. Here we can include addictive use of the internet and cell phones.

So the rearranging of the emphasis in our Question #5, Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..? might be more aptly restated as –

Question #5, Revised:

How Does The Intrinsic Need For Community That Exists Naturally in Humans Become Twisted Into A “Bother” Rather Than An Inherent, Biological Necessity?

Steps you can take to begin to understand what I am saying here –

• Give yourself the necessary time to take and score the Survivor/Addict Personality inventory;
• Pay particular attention to your answers on Survivor/Addict Inventory questions #1, 5, 6, 10, 14, 23 and 25;
• Be sure, then, to read or re-read the legend offered in the scoring section of the Survivor/Addict Inventory;
• Next ask yourself if you still think that “community” is a “bother,” even sometimes;
• And how and why your “yes” answer might reflect your personal aversion to “leaning in” to others so as to truly be “community” with them.

Comments regarding the application of answer/answers to Question #5, “Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..?” as it/they relate to the GRAD theory: 

• Especially as an introvert I am well aware of the need for time outs from the force and fury that communal life can generate. So I don’t mean to imply that solitude etc. is a problem though it can be and certainly has sometimes been for me.

• I am attempting to emphasize here an attitude of seeing others as “The Other” or the “Enemy” along with the other attributes and their influence of the personality characteristics spotlighted by the Survivor/Addict Personality inventory.

Note to readers: As you can, no doubt, begin to see the answer to Question #5, Why “Bother” With Community When I ……..? is complex and multi-faceted as indicated earlier.  Like all other parts of this unfolding discussion this is a work in progress.

Jack Slattery, my Possible Society In Motion Radio Show co-host, and myself made this question the topic of our conversation on last evening’s program. We ended up talking about many of the aspects of the topic and still were unable to zero in on its essence throughout the show.

There was a surprising culmination to our discussion, however, near the end of the show when Jack commented that the word “bother” had significance for our discussion that we had overlooked.  Check out our discussion on podcast – and – the surprise turnabout near the end when “bother” came to the fore.

What Are The Building Blocks Of The Exceptional Community?: Question 4

Questions and Answers About Groder-Rosen (GRAD) Theory Principles and Perspectives

The discussion in its entirety begins with this article.

Q and A: A work in progress

Question #4 from a reader: Anastasia, are there some building blocks for the “Exceptional Community” that we can begin practicing right away?

Answer #4:  Definitely. In fact I have been laying these out for readers since I began writing (2010) for the first of my three blog sites, the New Horizons Small “Zones of Peace” Project blog. 

What I am about to put up, here, for your exploration, asap, will enable you, this very day with hints from that site, to go out in the world (or stay in, if it’s chilly where you are like it is here) and start “exceptional” community-building, after you catch on to even one or two principles and guidelines as I have explained them thus far.

Some of these you may already be applying just because your instincts have shown you the way to the “high” way!

If you have been following (or do now follow) my postings on these three sites; the New Horizons Small “Zones of Peace” Project blog, Anastasia The Storyteller, and this one, Exploring Your Dark Side, you may soon begin to see that many principles and hints are already displayed.

Couched in various discussions, I have also been offering my particular set of exceptional community building blocks on my two radio shows, The Possible Society In Motion Radio Show and Anastasia The Storyteller Radio Show, since their beginnings. (“Takeaway" questions are sometimes suggested at the tail end of these programs that may also suggest some applications of GRAD to you.)

Of course, these building blocks were not being presented in a systematic format up until now. However, now, through this site, I believe I am in a position to remedy this and use this site, my Dark Side Warrior site (my name for it) as the organizing center for that effort. 

I will begin by outlining four of the most important foundation pieces.  They are listed below. Then I will provide you with some working details on how to learn more about these by going to articles already previously written while I go on to figure out (because I don’t know yet) ways in which I can assist you online with the application of these.

Of course, if you really want my help and what I am offering here is not adequate for your eager interest in becoming an “exceptional community” activist right away, you can always contact me by email at: SuperSleuthDSW@aol.com or on my cell: 240.409.5347 where you will likely be asked to leave a message.

Good luck to all who wish to travel with me!

We are now at the beginning of an adventure of a lifetime!

Exceptional Community Foundation Building Block Principles

• Lean In: No matter what, lean it toward others with an intent to be bridge builders of humanity at its best. (Of course, don't do this if you are in danger or if it would be unhealthy for some other reason. And, if you are introvert such as I am be sure to balance this with making ample space for your solitude or solitary activities);

• Avoid debates: Strive to always find the path to dialogue. Debate separates and polarizes. Watch out for intellectualizing rather than connecting with others on a heart level;

• Get yourself out of the “lower triangle”  (i.e. survival-driven behaviors and attitudes). The lower triangle is displayed in this posting as the second graphic on the page. Notice on that diagram that there is a triangle with the markings on the side indicating "survival consciousness." This is another angle to explore to apply this item.  I will discuss its intrpetation as we proceed.);

• Strive to consistently behave by putting what Murat* called the “Spectrum Of Love” attributes into your regular daily activities. (In other words, act "as if" if you are yet unable to "be" the real deal.  

(* The best model I can suggest for now is that you imagine yourself on Murat's Bus Ride Story Adventure and how you might, in that setting, be inclined to handle yourself. We will get to this instruction later. For now, simply consider it as a formula to be learned.)

What Is An Exceptional Community?, Question #3

Questions and Answers About Groder-Rosen (GRAD) Theory Principles and Perspectives

This discussion in its entirety begins with this article.

Q and A: A work in progress 

Question #3:1 from a reader: Anastasia, you have given us an overview of some different types of communities. Still you seem to keep stressing that “the”  type of community that is most exemplary would be likely to have certain characteristics in common with the New Horizons “Exceptional Community Model.” Can you describe your “Exceptional Community” approach – and – additionally….

A small "zone of peace" can be anywhere.

Question #3:2 from a reader: … tell us what you see as the viability of sustainability of such communities.

Answer #3:1: In my manuscript in progress, “The Middle East Crisis In My Backyard” I describe New Horizons’ “Exceptional Community” as follows.

The following is excerpted from “The Middle East Crisis In My Backyard,” (a manuscript in progress).

Commonly held views of a “community” define it as “a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government and are bound together by various interests, characteristics and values they hold in common.   

A definition of community that is more exceptional, however, holds that the most exemplary type of community has several other distinct characteristics. These qualities carry the normally-held view of a community forward into an extraordinary form; one that has the potential to deliberately elevate its members in such areas of human development as character development, cooperation, civility, conflict resolution and violence prevention. 

New Horizons has a model of this type. It is called the New Horizons “Exceptional Community Model.”  It may be a bit idealistic but its application is do-able while its sustainability can be acquired over time, once set in place.  New Horizons own version lasted for close to twenty years (1976 to 1998), succumbing to a wearing away only after I lost my eyesight.

One characteristic of the exceptional community is that the members are particularly like-minded regarding the necessity for resolving conflicts in ways that represent social justice in a superlative fashion. A second is that they function synergistically. The presence of these two attributes*; like-mindedness and synergy, separates the exceptional community from all other communities.  

To the extent that members not only share common values, interests and characteristics (i.e. like-mindedness) in a particular locality and under one government, but also consistently seek to function synergistically, they set themselves on a course of evolving. Evolving as a group can be the basis for producing an “exceptional community.” 

The exceptional community is a thriving, healthy organic system that makes every possible attempt to maintain harmony and peace. In the exceptional community, violence could, someday, even become obsolete because the conditions that foster violence become unnecessary. 

In today’s world the exceptional community is an important model for creating a “culture of prevention,” a significant deterrent to the proliferation of violence. (The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet is an example of this.)

The Exceptional Community Model is an example of an intentional community approach.

Answer #3:2: Sustainability is, indeed, a challenge, as evidenced by the high rate of mortality of communities of this type; the intentional community variety. However, the impermanence factor need not be a constant deterrent if we remember the following:

• Lasting cultural change is slow and accumulative. For example, many fought for the abolishment of slavery in this country as well as an instituting of voting rights for women before these came about; 

• Social change, thus, is a long-term investment. For example, now, more than forty years after the widespread counter-culture movement in this country of the late 196os and early ‘70s, many of us who came of age in that era are watching our children and grandchildren – and – even great grandchildren incorporating our progressive ideals such as civil rights and women’s equality into their “ordinary” daily lives as though they were second nature to them;

• In actuality we can pay attention to the words of Gandhi on the subject of creating world peace when he stated that to accomplish this “We do best to begin by carving out territories or zones of peace in our personal relations where violence and deceit won’t be used.”  

Brittany Wilson, the winner of a New Horizons’ essay contest stated it this way…

"I believe this quote (Gandhi’s) to mean metaphorically that if you are angry, you could find a quiet place in (your) mind. In reality, it could mean that if two friends live near each other, and there was a park that was close to both of them, they could call the park a zone of peace." 

To us at New Horizons, Brittany’s statement exemplifies that each and every one of us has the wherewithal to build small “zones of peace” and/or exceptional communities by reaching out not much farther than an arm’s length. Thus one might say the effort is ours for the making.

Notes on the New Horizons’ “Exceptional Community Model” approach.

Many types and varieties of communities exist today, especially in this day and age of the internet. Additionally, there are likely many types and varieties of even “exceptional communities.”  Those I have been able to find that have had a natural or organic emergence have, consistently, been of an indigenous nature, originating in native lands and circumstances. Other than these I have found intentional communities such as have grown up throughout the United States since its founding and, particularly, in the latter twentieth century.

To the extent these communities do, indeed, aspire to attain individual and collective transformation as does New Horizons, I know of very few and wish you well in finding them.  If and when you do, if you decide to participate in them, you will be, as I have been along with many others, likely to be changed for a lifetime. New Horizons has been known for close to forty years to have established communities of this nature.

By my describing the origins and operations of New Horizons’ “Exceptional Community Model” you may get a taste of one intended, created and sustained exceptional community. (The “old” New Horizons community ceased to operate in 1998 when I lost my eyesight. It is now in the process of intending to re-build.)

In general New Horizons as an exceptional community model derives from five main sources: 

• Asklepeion Therapeutic Community Model or Total Learning Environment (TLE); 
• New Horizons’ modification of the Asklepeion TLE model (“old” New Horizons); 
• Kebzeh Community as taught by Murat Yagan; 
• Quaker Process as introduced to us through my collaborator and New Horizons’ board member, Sue deVeer and; 
• The Everyday Democracy methodology for community dialogue and problem solving.

These threads weave together in a unique fashion, making up the New Horizons’ “Exceptional Community Model,” a unique and complex community development and violence prevention approach that has been evolving since 1973. You can read of  the various principles that underlie the methodology by reading our three of our blog sites, integratively, and listening to our Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, as we broadcast it or on podcast. 

When you have done this background work, conscientiously, you are likely to still be in the dark as to how exactly our approach works, intent always on turning lead into gold in individuals and the collective. 

Then your real deal, Dark Side transformation work can begin to reach for the next levels of development with guidance such as I have available to provide or with someone else who has traveled the path and has come to know its intricacies.  

This aspect of the adventure; mentorship, coaching and guidance,  is essential as you will not and cannot find all the hiding places of your Dark Side on your own and the transformation of this entity, the Dark Side, is critical.  

Choose your guide carefully as relatively few are equipped to assist you with this discovery and transformation, systematically, as I have learned to be.  I credit my two mentors, Martin G. Groder, M.D. and Murat Yagan, with this edification of mine and, also, Ken Windes who taught me some of my most important skills.

Question #2: Are All “Communities” Alike?

Questions and Answers About Groder-Rosen (GRAD) Theory Principles and Perspectives

The discussion in its entirety begins with this article.

Q and A: A work in progress

Question from a reader: Anastasia when you speak of the importance of community, do you mean to say that all communities are alike or are you just certain “communities?

Overarching Answer #2:1: 

In some respects I put all communities under one heading as all, or almost all, will have certain characteristics in common.  These attributes include:

• Communities existing as any collective of individuals, groups and certain sub-groups;
• The gathering together of these people can be indicative of their sharing of certain common purposes such as establishing housing near water, transportation or schools, or as members of a church or club such as Rotary or the Lion’s Club’
• Members of these communities share a like-mindedness for something, even if only one thing such as living on the same street or in the same  neighborhood.

Overarching Answer #2:2: 

Next, in my organizing system about likenesses and differences in community types, I begin to differentiate one community type from another by designating them as distinct merely by being naturally or organically formed, or intentionally organized.

The natural or organically formed community -- Meets the critera of an "ordinary community" as indicated below. Thus this type of community will naturally emerge out of geographical connectedness.

Community Types – Wikipedia -- Wikipedia has an extensive discussion on community types, including those of the internet.

Dysfunctional Community

Ordinary Community (as defined in the dictionary) -- Commonly held views of a “community” define it as “a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government and are bound together by various interests, characteristics and values they hold in common.   


The intentionally formed community -- 


Exceptional Community -- A definition of community that is more exceptional, however, holds that a true, healthy-affirming community has several other distinct characteristics. These qualities carry the normally-held view of a community forward into an extraordinary form; New Horizons call this the exceptional community.  

One characteristic of the exceptional community is that the members are particularly like-minded regarding the necessity for resolving conflicts in ways that represent social justice in a superlative fashion. A second is that they function synergistically. The presence of these two attributes*; like-mindedness and synergy, separates the exceptional community from all other communities.  

To the extent that members not only share common values, interests and characteristics (i.e. like-mindedness) in a particular locality and under one government, but also consistently seek to function synergistically, they set themselves on a course of evolving. Evolving as a group can be the basis for producing an “exceptional community.” 

The exceptional community is a thriving, healthy system that makes every possible attempt to maintain harmony and peace. In the exceptional community, violence could, someday, even become obsolete because the conditions that foster violence become unnecessary. 
In today’s world the exceptional community is an important model for creating a “culture of prevention,” a significant deterrent to the proliferation of violence. (The Tunisian Dialogue Quartet is an example of this.)

The Exceptional Community Model is an example of an intentional community approach.

The skills we need in order to sustain humanity....: Answer 1A: Addition

See bottom posting of this linked article for new entry on "The skills we need...."

The discussion in its entirety begins with this article.

Question #1: What Makes "Community" So Important In The GRAD Paradigm?

Questions and Answers About Groder-Rosen (GRAD) Principles and Perspectives

The discussion in its entirety begins with this article.

Q and A: A work in progress

There are many angles from which to come in providing full answers to this question. I could, no doubt, write an entire book, at least, to address this one question. So this blog post is going to be a long, continuously ongoing one where I will accumulate many answers to the question, along with, hopefully, a good many comments and other related questions.

Answer #1: The Dark Side cannot hide, indefinitely, in a community, especially an “exceptional (human) one.” See my discussion on New Horizons’ “Exceptional Community” approach here.

For your reflection: If the internet is a world wide community, how well is Bill Cosby doing hiding in it?

Allow me to elaborate on this one question; "What Makes "Community" So Important In The GRAD Paradigm?" This one, alone, will be a time consuming endeavor. (My comments on Bill Cosby will need, therefore, to move aside here for now.) My answers to the main question will require deep consideration which will take me some time. 

Consider this one answer (#1) to be under construction as is my GRAD theory presentation in its totality.

Completed answer under construction.

Answer #1A (Posted October 26): The skills we need in order to sustain humanity through its darkest times such as war, extremes of climate change, earthquakes, famine, drought,  economic hardships are most naturally developed in learning to live cooperatively with one another. 

The Dark Side does not do this readily except in times of immediate crisis such as the 9/11 tragedy. Hope for improvement in this comes by developing the skills used, spontaneously initially. This development, however, typically, remains undeveloped as advancement generally demands discipline and commitment which people/the Dark Side repetoire typically disallows..

Comment regarding GRAD’s application of concept of "community" as essential : 

Nonetheless, as you will see as I am able to complete the GRAD theory outline of principles:

• If individuals and groups will purposely choose to develop the necessary skills to live healthfully in communities, they would be able to, in the process, transform the lead of the Dark Side into gold of the Dark Side’s counterpart which I call the Compassionate Warrior.

• The dysfunctional community could be considered to grow out of the end result of involved individuals not choosing to learn what they could, if they set their minds to it.

• Therefore one might say (again as the completed GRAD theory outline will indicate) that “community” is of critical importance to the GRAD theory as it is the basic training camp for transforming the Dark Side as well as it is also the fruit of that labor.

Questions and Answers About Groder-Rosen (GRAD) Principles and Perspectives

This discussion in its entirety begins with this article.

Q and A: A work in progress

Since I am blessed to have an extensive network of support to help me keep on track with everything I do, now, in life, I asked members of that support network to give me feedback on my introductory piece to the Groder-Rosen (GRAD) theory.

That brought me to see, surprisingly, that simply elucidating all “I” know about the various points I offered could, in actuality, become another whole book. I hadn’t thought of that on my own. GRAD seemed so self-explanatory to me. That can happen when you are sleeping for years with someone, or a theory -- and -- when you are intent on going it alone!  You get to a place where you can't see the forest for the trees.

I used to be that way to a fault! OMG!

In fact, I found it a bit of a stretch, as a psychotherapist, to put myself in the shoes of the hundreds, if not thousands, of people, especially women, I counseled in my twenty-five years in private practice, who were co-dependent. I, personally, was almost totally anti-dependent (a true solo flyer am I)!

The book that some of my supporters saw emerging from that brief introduction, offered yesterday, to the best of my knowledge, would be a book I have no interest in writing! I think it would be a most boring exercise for me. Could the right person/co-author change my mind?

I have no idea!

What I am, now, going to do instead is take advantage of this very intriguing online creation, the blog site, to use the format to expand upon what my friends/supporters are suggesting is a mere introduction (one friend called it a” teaser”) in an attempt to expound upon my own original thinking on various aspects of that piece.

Expect this endeavor to follow in the form of “Questions and Answers.”  Some of the questions will derive from my own conjectures. Others will originate with questions and/or comments from others. I hope my format for the effort will provide reading comfort and contemplation for you, the reader.

The Interactive Side of “Questions and Answers”

Over time we at New Horizons have discovered through reader comments that our blog sites do not seem to take comments readily.  A workable alternative has been derived; if posting a comment, is troublesome for you, you can send me your comment, directly, and I will post it myself if you write me at: SuperSleuthDSW@aol.com.

This being said, there is no reason that you, the visitor to this site, if inspired to converse with me about the principles, philosophies and so forth, should hold back from doing so. As I indicated above, simply send your comments and questions to me in an email at: SuperSleuthDSW@aol.com. I will post your comments/questions etc., personally, and our dialogue can thus commence and move forward with a bit of an online “community” discussion.

You can also bring your thoughts, ideas and so forth to the Coffee House Conversations by Conference Call forum that Jack Slattery, my Possible Society In Motion Radio Show co-host, and myself host every other Thursday evening. Details here.

More on “Questions and Answers” on the way.

Coming Up Next: The Groder-Rosen Theory of Almost "Everything" Human (GRAD)

Introducing the Groder-Rosen Addiction Development Theory (GRAD)
(Originally the Survivor Addiction Development Theory (SAD) 

I have been finding it no small undertaking to translate a series of three books (still unpublished), written under contract to Random House (1988 and 1998) into an online blog format. However, the content the series covers is too important to hold back. 

It was so when the series was sold initially. It is even more so today. So an online version seems necessary, at least for now. 

Most important of the content, as I see it, are the detailed formulae the series offers for individual and collective betterment. The basic formulae provide principles that are fundamentals for model communities to serve, not only in ordinary ways, but also as learning laboratories for personal and collective transformation.

Certainly this is a rather utopian dream, most appealing, no doubt, to idealists like me. Yet at this point in time, on the heels of the award of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, I am inspired to put some of my top priority time and energy into another round of efforts to share the teachings passed on to me, in what I now hold to be a sacred trust, that they might be known and utilized.

Perhaps our time has come!

At the outset of this endeavor, begun last November, the effort to translate the body of knowledge developed originally by my mentor, Martin G. Groder M.D.  (1939- 2007), then researched, expanded and finally written up by myself in my three unpublished books on the subject seemed to be a worthy one. In fact, when I began this task almost a year ago, I thought the endeavor might even offer some refreshing ways and means to present what possibly had grown a bit staid as the “trilogy” sat on my shelves these past years. 

Then I began finding innumerable obstacles that took on an almost daunting quality for me. This accounts for the scantiness in the number and irregularity of my blog posts here.

Not the least of these challenges has been that Groder, in his devotion to the elegant body of theory known as Transactional Analysis (TA) and based upon it, endeavored to create the ultimate theory of the universe on how to bring the world out of its darkness into its ultimate best, if it would only see the Light. This intent on Groder’s part combined with his yearning to be known as one of, if not the, most brilliant men (people???) in his field to lead the way to such a grand destination. 

I admit to being, not only respectful and admiring of Groder’s conception, originally named the Survivor Addiction Development theory (SAD) and later the Groder-Rosen Addiction Development theory (GRAD), but one who could see the potential for its application and eventual success, if enough people would embrace and utilize it as a discipline. I was, without reservation, committed to go as far as I could with the venture. That, still, was an ambitious vision. 

Maybe the 100th Monkey Effect would thus be proven valid here in this instance. If not, so what, I, personally, would have learned to live as beautiful a life as possible, as I believed one should.

However, the “if” has had so many challenges and obstacles built into it that the vision alone could be daunting, if not adjusted for reality.  With this, I believe, I have done well.

On the up side of my challenges is that one thinking construct, in particular, is central to the message I took from Groder’s guidance and already appears to be gaining credibility. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet dranatically shows us that it just might be possible, even worldwide, for people to begin recognizing, respecting and acting upon the notion that --

"Communities of people working together for the good of the whole can generate enormous change for each as well as the group."

Groder made this teaching tangible in his role as one of the first prison psychiatrists at Marion Federal Penetentiary. As far back as the late 1960s (which I will write more of later) with his efforts to create a viable counterculture, within the prison soon after it opened, replacing Alcatraz as they most maximum security prison in our country. His notable contribution in this arena remains as a remarkable attainment even today.

In my advancement of Groder's theories and organziational strategies for the collective "rehabilitation" of individuals within a group, altering the group as well, I eventually blended his theories with certain methodologies, garnered from my second important teacher, New Horizons’ Beloved community development mentor, Murat Yagan. This expansion of GRAD has now given me an enhanced map and a methodology that I offer you as one that is almost fail safe in delineating how and where to travel for both personal and collective betterment, if that is what you truly want. 

The map is almost as golden as the "egg" I got from Marty. If you can interpret it, it can serve as your own personal TripTik to destination "awe," a place I hold to be attainable, if one puts forth the effort and discipline.

If you cannot make the sense of it that you need and are still intrigued, ask me. I will be your guide, if appropriate.

With all this in mind, along with the inspiration I am taking now from this recent Nobel Peace Prize award – and – the joy, fulfillment and encouragement through recent events I am involved in locally, affirming my ideals almost daily, I am prompted to now be ready again to offer one more round of the wisdom Groder handed off to me.

This is all quite a mind full (and mouthful) for me to present to you. But I am intent on doing my level best with it for this intent. 

Thus I now invite you to, once again, begin exploring this site, as well as your own Dark Side. Our personal and shared growth beckons us to seek out this “the adventure of a lifetime” and a best possible society.

More on the way.