I don't think anything changes until ideas change. The usual American viewpoint is to believe that something is wrong with the person.

Teachers today can't take to a child.

We forget that the soul has its own ancestors.

When they talk about family values, it's in a repressive way, as if our American tradition were only the Puritan tradition or the 19th century oppressive tradition. The Christian tradition.

Not just any talk is conversation; not any talk raises consciousness. Good conversation has an edge: it opens your eyes to something, quickens your ears. And good conversation reverberates: it keeps on talking in your mind later in the day; the next day, you find yourself still conversing with what was said. That reverberation afterward is the very raising of consciousness; your mind's been moved. You are at another level with your reflections.

The word power has such a generally negative implication in our society. What are people talking about? Are they talking about muscles, or control?

I'm cautious about a lot of words