pe Ee a We a Paes Siar Le eee Owen amen eC 8) vedee afl carn ile

 

The Other Press

April 1st to April 14th, 1982

 

 

 

es

 

 

| found it. Honest. f a]

On page 15 of last Tuesday’s Vancouver Sun
was a tiny little story explaining why students
across Canada are undergoing severe cutbacks in
services and extreme increases in tuition.

Buried at the bottom of the page with a 20

point headline it read ‘‘Federal transfer bill gets ©

approval’’. The CP w story explained that the
Liberals ‘‘outgunned’’ the opposition 121 to 55 to
approve $5.8 billion, yes BILLION, less for the
next five years for various programs, i.e.
post-secondary education and medicare.

Of course Pierre Elliot tried to say that the
aboye does not directly relate to either service
but those are exactly what services the provincial
governments use the transfer payments for.

It’s sickening the way the different levels of
government sidestep the questions about post-
secondary education leaving the local college and
university boards to ‘‘aprove’’ the actual budget
cuts. Trudeau and his consorts have known for at
least the past year that they intended to cut a

huge amount from the Established Programs

Funding. Why else would the Douglas College
board have received a discreet operating budget?
The amount of action taken at Douglas College
was regretably, too little, too late. Even more
alert colleges such as Capilano and Caribou were
unsuccessful in stopping budget cuts. It appears
that anything our Prime Minister wants, he gets.
continued _on Page 9
By Dan Hilborn

staff Box

lan Hunter - Editorial Coordinator (No, no! Not
that, you fool!) i

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHO0000

Warren Laine - Production Coordinator (Because ©
| LOVE Hee-Jeong, Pete!)}:

ODOOOOOOOOODOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Nancy McRitchie - Typesetter (I am sooo good!)
DOOODOOOODOOOUOOOOOODOODOOO
Dan Hilborn - Helper Outer (One L, not two!)
DOOOOOODOODOOOOOOOOODOOO
Pete Julian - Another Helper Outer (I can’t
understand you, Warren!)
DOOOOOOUGBOOOOOOODOOOOOO00
Mike Knowles. - Photographer (Here | am.
Where’s. the pizza?)
HBCU DECRE Sa BE BhoeBBnetrs
Charlene Kamachi - Returning Graphic Genius
(Here’s your dinner, Little Brother!)
OOOOODOOOOOOOOODOOOOOEOO
Mike Wilson - Staff Writer (lI have another
Opinion!)
OODOOGODOODOOOO0O00000000
Richard Moore - Guest-Writer (I hate
Katimavik!)
OOOOOODOODOOOOOOOODOoOOH
ae & Ed - Thanks for bringing the Beer and
ce!

OOOOOUOOORQOOOODOOO000000

 

 

 

‘

- up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Michael Wilson

“The time is not far distant when
man will find himself biologically faced
with a choice between suicide and
adoration.’’

: -unknown

Having, hopefully, established the
“terror of the situation’’ last issue, |

- would like today to address the question

of choice. - -
| see two distinct difficulties that

prevent the majority of people from ~

exercising their choice - one is ignor-
ance of the mechanism of choice , the
other is fear of the unknown. | will deal
with these two problems separately.
Choosing, like any other process of
becoming, can be divided into three
stages - first, one must realize the

_ possibility of choice; second, one must

be able to choose, and third, one
commits oneself to a choice. The first is
a function of intelligence, the second of
will, and the third of conscience. Each

~ contains its own specialized trap.

The first stage was pretty much dealt
with last issue. One problem people
have -here is that they are often not
conscious of possibility. A way to open
this up is to honestly look at your life,
see where exactly it is that you are
unhappy, and then to realize that it
doesn’t have to be that way.

A more subtle problem involves
illusion and preconception - people think
there is a choice when actually there is
none.

A splendid example is our political

system. You get a vote and several”

alternatives, but you don’t get a choice.
Voting for a candidate in one of our
elections is like voting for one or
another brand of explosive to put in a
bomb. Whatever ‘your vote might be,
the result is a machine that blows things

The secret here is that there is no
choice within a system, because a
system is a machine designed to
channel and transform energy in a
specific way. The better the system, the
more specific the result.

Any changes within a system serve
only to make it more or less efficient. To
change the result, one must disgard the

 

 

existing system and adopt another
which produces the desired result.

Please do not read this as an,
advocation of any of the alternative
systems currently available. The point is
one can choose between systems, but
one cannot choose within a system. .

The second stage, that of ability,
involves the psychic muscle known as
will. It is a muscle in the sense that it
must be exercised in order to work well.
Without a strong and enduring will,
one cannot chose. One can only think
and fantasize.

~The trap here is that many people
believe that they are capable of choos-
ing, but they do-not have the will
necessary to carry their choice to it’s
conclusion. ais

A classic example is the terminal
alcoholic who says he can quit when he
wants to. The struggle with drink,
tobacco, drugs, diet, etc. are all small
things, but if you can’t handle these,
you can’t touch anything bigger.

An exercise in this direction (spe-
cifically for smokers but adaptable to
many small addictions) is to stop
smoking entirely for a period of six
months (or so) and thereafter limit
yourself to one indulgence per day. This
way, you face the fact that your will is
the only thing that keeps you from
losing control.

The third stage is the actual art of |
choosing. The previous two stages are
about creating the possibility of choice.
Now that one has the knowledge and
the power, one must face the responsib-
ility of having the means to change the
world.

In our culture, this is traditionally the
provence of law (in political terms) and
morality (in religious or philosophical
terms).

The problem with these codes is that
they are externally imposed upon the
individual by the prevailing system.
They serve to reinforce and protect the
system, rather than supporting the
people the system is supposed to serve.

This can create great problems when
a system has outlived its usefulness.

Page 5

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