When a Root is Severed

There is a learning that happens that’s deeper than stuff. Past all the information, and beyond all the experiences. There is a learning that goes to the formation of a person. The stuff of character. Who they are and how they will be in the world.

It’s happening all the time, but where? Who is deemed responsible in society for this formation of character?

If institutions are defined as an organizing of people for a particular purpose, it was once the institution of the family that was deemed responsible. Then, more broadly a community. Institutions of religion have played a role. Then the public schools as an extension of governance. And always the circle of friends have had an impact. There was a reason we weren’t supposed to “fall in with the wrong crowd.”

This kind of early learning has a name: Indoctrination.

Indoctrination has garnered a negative connotation in recent years, and many institutions have attempted to develop pluralistic environments based on no underlying framework in particular. But there are repercussions.

We are easily mired in the evils of each day. We desire quick judgement, punishment, and a continual cleansing of our communities from the ills that we see in them. We search for righteousness while clinging to whatever freedom of choice we feel we have, often in direct contradiction to the righteousness we seek.

This is happening because we are severed from our root. There are only two things that can happen from here out.

We either continue on the current path or we are grafted back into the tree from which we came.