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The Other Press

April 1st to April 14th, 1982

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| 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

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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!

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‘

- 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.

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