| THE POTENTIAL OF EMOTIONAL LITERACY |
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SUSIE ORBACH ON EMOTIONAL LITERACY |
| THE POTENTIAL OF EMOTIONAL LITERACY |
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SUSIE ORBACH ON EMOTIONAL LITERACY |
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Emotions are right at the centre of individuals'
private lives and the nation's public life. But at
present they are there in a way that degrades the
political process and political participation. The
recent mass demonstrations of feelings are not unambiguously
one up for those struggling to put emotional literacy on the
agenda. On the contrary. Such demonstrations indicate rather
how squeezed our political responses have become on the one
hand, and the paucity of opportunity we have for the digestion
and expression of emotional issues, such as grief, anger, helplessness, on the other. The reason why some politicians have supported Antidote is not because they want more raw emotions in public life or counselling in the House of Commons or trauma therapy instead of programmes to alleviate poverty, but because they recognise only too well how many of our presumed political decisions are played as emotional decisions (such as Europe) and how many of our emotional decisions require political and economic responses. They want to change this. Emotional literacy means being able to recognise what you are feeling so that it doesn't interfere with thinking. It becomes another dimension to draw upon when making decisions or encountering situations. Emotional expression by contrast can mean being driven by emotions so that it isn't possible to think. These two things are often confused because we are still uncomfortable with the idea of the validity of feelings. We allow them in certain kinds of endeavours and exempt them in others. There is a real difference between bringing emotional literacy to the political agenda and substituting emotions for a political agenda. There is a real difference between bringing personal issues into the political framework - relations, work and home, parents and children - and understanding the political nature of such relations. Everywhere we witness the depoliticisation of our culture. Rather than deepening the political by linking what people feel and the conflicts we need to come to terms with, we strip the emotional of its connection to the political. Emotional literacy by contrast increases political literacy by joining issues where they need to be joined and separating political and emotional issues when they have become fused. It's not a substitute for political expression but a strengthening of it. Susie Orbach, The Guardian, August 12 1998 |
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