TRAC
Interview Transcript

Joseph V. Montville   (cont)

An element of arrogance is an element of traditional Western disdain that it's hard to let go of.  I think it's probably more pronounced in Europe than it is in the United States.  The United States' is more a function of the Cold War, as it was pointed out here, that we had a splendid enemy in the Soviet Union, and we lost that enemy with the collapse of the Soviet system, with the Gorbachev revolution and the subsequent changes.  And there's a great deal of mourning for that enemy.  So that helps to explain what was described as the dichotomy in American opinion.  Part of the public opinion is willing to accept and work with Russia to the extent it even thinks about Russia any more, which is another negative aspect; there's less caring about Russia.  Another part still kind of hopes that Russia will come back as the splendid enemy that was so valuable in so many ways in helping us define ourselves and our American superiority.

 So we have this enduring problem of developing respect and overcoming not only Western attitudes of superiority toward the Russian people, but also Russian attitudes of self-hatred or self-negation in response.  Political psychology has been for me the Rosetta stone in trying to understand inter-ethnic relations--U.S.-Russian, Arab-Israeli, wherever they rear their ugly heads.  The roots of conflict, the needs for respect versus security, recognition, acceptance and respect above all the iron laws of human nature.

 In fact, in a very important way, the Bolshevik revolution (we've been discussing Bolshevism every once in awhile), was the ultimate rejection by Russians of the rejectors in the west.  The advocacy of autonomy, we'll do it all ourselves and we will prove to you that we are a superior people--that we don't need you, we don't want you, we will build, we will reinvent ourselves as Soviet men and prove to be morally and economically and militarily superior to all of you corrupt, disdainful Western powers and peoples.

 So another value that came to mind in reviewing the history of this whole relationship between Russia and the West and the special American connection as part of the West, again, Esalen brought a spirit of human value--again, the preciousness of each soul.  And in human potential for higher and higher levels of development.  This is a basic philosophy of this institution, of its founders and its supporters, and it certainly characterized the personal attitudes and approaches of, again, Michael and Dulce Murphy to the enterprise of building strong ties to the Soviet people and then the Russian people.

 And, in fact, science, in the form of developmental psychology, tells us that no race, no ethnic group is innately inferior.  All infants are capable of reaching high levels of developmental potential if they're cared for and stimulated for the growth.  So the innate value of the individual, the human being, is an enduring, underlying, underpinning value for this relationship.

 Then another fundamental value--the value of loyalty.  Again, this is the critical element and a consistent element in the Esalen spirit and the approach toward this relationship.  And, unsurprisingly, it created and generated and enormous responsiveness on the part of Soviets that were met on the trips to the Soviet Union and later to Russians.  There's something quite marvelous about meeting people when you feel inadequate, abused, and visitors come and say, you are valuable, we care about you, we're going to keep visiting, we want to develop our friendships.  Low and behold, there was a tremendous responsiveness on the part of Soviets to this gesture, this initiative.  And I am convinced that it had an enormous input into this transformation of the Soviet Union, the Gorbachev Revolution, and the transformation that we're witnessing now.

 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7