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Terrence Webster-Doyle
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Terrence Webster-Doyle (formerly Terrence Reith Doyle) b. April 3, 1940, Mount Vernon, New York is an educator who has made a significant contribution to peace education in developing the field of BioCognetics - The Scientific Study of Human Conflict Created by Cognitive-Emotive-Bio-reactive Conditioned Thinking, later to be called BioCognetic Peace Education - The Scientific Study of Conflict Created by Conditioned Thinking. BioCognetics is based on the premise that prejudicial, conditioned thinking prevents peace and hence creates conflict, individually and globally. It addresses the inappropriate reaction of the human brain in its unsuccessful attempt to cope with fear created by a conditioned, imaginary threat and the implications of that in creating conflict, at a personal as well as social level. Webster-Doyle's main intent in developing BioCognetics was to design a comprehensive insight and programs for teaching young people about the basic factors of conflict-creating conditioning. But he also felt that BioCognetics could be designed to provide therapists with a thorough understanding of the multiple causes of prejudicial conditioning so they could assist Youth-At-Risk to cope with the effects of bullying caused by this situation. Education for Understanding the Conditioned Mind Two major influences in Dr. Webster-Doyle’s life led to the creation of BioCognetics. The first influence was in 1968, when Webster-Doyle was introduced to the work of educational philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, especially how his insights on prejudicial, conditioned thinking could be practically applied within the relevant context of the bully/victim cycle in the education of young people in helping them to understand conflict. With a life long interest in understanding what caused human conflict, these insights were profound. So it was natural for Webster-Doyle in the 1970s at Sonoma State University, to teach numerous classes on Krishnamurti's insights into understanding the cause, nature and structure of conditioning. He soon started three alternative schools in Sonoma County with this focus in mind. The second major influence was the work of Quantum Physicist Dr. David Bohm and his insights into conditioned thinking. His books Thought as a System, as well as Changing Consciousness and On Dialogue helped create the basis for Webster-Doyle's BioCognetic Peace Education Series, understanding how thought can falsely define one's perception of reality, and therefore can create conflict, within one's self and hence outwardly in society During this time other educators had interested him, including the following: A.S. Neil, the founder in 1921 of England’s internationally famous Summerhill School, a caring, democratic community that respects the rights of children and their individually natural process of education without damaging judgments or heavy discipline. Herb Kohl, American educator, philosopher and author who currently runs The Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice, a new teacher preparation program at the University of San Francisco. John Holt, best known for his popular teaching books, How Children Learn and How Children Fail, followed by Instead of Education and his newsletter Growing Without Schooling in which he invited home schooling families to resource together. And Joy Berry, educator and pioneer of self-help books for young people, producing over 250 Living Skills resources for them, who encourages behaviour modification through insight, supports teaching ‘how’ rather than ‘what’ to think, and promotes teaching children about responsibility: for themselves, in their relationships and for the environment. Webster-Doyle served as the Director of Joy Berry’s Institute of Living Skills from 1980 to 1983. He was also interested in the work of Aldous Huxley about conditioning, mainly his book Brave New World. George Orwell’s book, Nineteen Eighty Four, opened his eyes to the effectiveness of negatively reinforced conditioning. But it was not until later when he read books such as The Battle for the Mind by William Sargant and The Manipulated Mind by Denise Winn that he found a more practical context to further explore conditioning. The insights gained from these books helped him start to formulate a clearer picture of how conditioning manifested in brainwashing indoctrination in areas such as religion and politics. From his studies and direct observation of prejudicial conditioned thinking on the societal level he began to understand that when the human race, which is inherently one undivided entity, is divided into ethnocentric tribal fragments, each splintered faction zealously proclaiming their piece to be of supreme importance, that this in itself creates a disintegration of humanity. He realized that people must wake up to the fact that identifying and conforming to a particular fragmentary ethnocentric ideology would continue to produce a human race ceaselessly at odds with itself. And he also realized that focusing only on the destructive tertiary outcome of this divisiveness, such as war, would not prevent conflict from happening in the first place. Webster-Doyle could see that people had to seriously attend to the primary cause of human conflict in the way we have been conditioned to think, that any attempt at the peaceful resolution of conflict without this insight would unrelenting continue to create human strife. Out of these insights grew the field of BioCognetics - The Scientific Study of Human Conflict Created by Cognitive-Emotive-Bio-reactive Conditioning. BioCognetics addresses the inappropriate reaction of the human brain in its unsuccessful attempt to cope with fear created by a conditioned, imaginary threat and the implications of that in creating conflict, individually and socially. The -Neo-Cortex (cognitive) Mammalian (emotive) and the Reptilian (bio-reactive) - reacts to fear in an uncoordinated, disjointed manner so that incorrect action is unnecessarily taken because it is initially triggered by invalid, indoctrinated, fearful thinking. This erroneous dysfunctional mechanical structure of the triune-three tiered brain's reaction based on false information also results in an inability to coordinate a cohesive, intelligent response to a supposed threat. This original insight led Dr. Webster-Doyle and his wife Jean Webster-Doyle, to develop a relevant and practical context of understanding how the brain's maladaptive response when reacting to an unjustifiable threat created by unsubstantiated fear creates conflict. This practical and relevant context is bullying - from the “playground to the battlefield.” Out of this comprehensive awareness into the destructive holistic nature of conditioning Dr. Webster-Doyle, again working together with his wife Jean, then developed the context of BioCognetic Peace Education - The Scientific Study of Human Conflict Created by Conditioned Thinking as an educational framework to understand how prejudicial conditioned thinking prevents peace and creates conflict, individually and globally. Together they have developed fifty-four literary works related to this endeavor, and created the Atrium Society Youth Peace Literacy and Martial Arts for Peace of which the BioCognetic Peace Education can be effectively applied as a multi-purpose program. These resources have also have been used successfully with children of war in Liberia where these war torn young people have been educated to understand the fundamental cause of what prevents peace, that is, what creates conflict - ethnocentric tribal prejudicial conditioned thinking -“bullying on the battlefield”. Webster-Doyle encouraged their teacher Marvin Davis from the Common Ground Society, Liberia to write a book about the effect of using Webster-Doyle’s book and curricula on prejudicial bullying with these youth. The outcome was truly amazing in that after only twenty weeks these young people formerly bent on revenge having grown up in one of the most horrendous civil wars ever were freed from that conditioned mind set to look at life anew. The book ' states, “Many theories have been put forward as causes of the Liberian civil war, including unemployment, abuse of human rights, political patronage, illiteracy, lack of development and tribalism. While it is true that all of these factors may have contributed, the heart of the Liberian conflict—and the fundamental cause of all human conflict—is psychological conditioning.” The Atrium Society With his wife Jean Webster-Doyle, in 1984 they created the Atrium Society , as a non-profit, non-sectarian, and non-political organization based in Ojai, California. Under the sponsorship of the Atrium Society, they developed the Atrium Society School, a unique educational environment based on the necessity to understand psychological, prejudicial conditioned thinking as the basis for an intelligent life. The Atrium Society School taught every subject matter through the eyes of conditioning as it examined the countless prejudices that conventional education instills in the minds of young people. Publications Books for Young People * Why is Everybody Always Picking On Me?-A Guide to Handling Bullies (English) * Why is Everybody Always Picking On Me?-A Guide to Handling Bullies (Russian) * Why is Everybody Picking on Us?-Understanding the Roots of Prejudice * Facing the Double-Edged Sword-The Art of Karate for Young People * Tug of War-Peace Through Understanding Conflict * Fighting the Invisible Enemy-Understanding the Effects of Conditioning * Eye of the Hurricane * Maze of the Fire Dragon * Flight of the Golden Eagle * Breaking the Chains of the Ancient Warrior * Operation Warhawks * Martial Arts Masters-Black Belt Warriors for Peace * Respect-The Martial Arts Code of Conduct * My First Martial Arts Book Books for Adults * Growing Up Sane—Understanding the Conditioned Mind * Brave New Child—Education for the 21st Century * The Religious Impulse—The Quest for Freedom * Peace - The Enemy of Freedom—The Myth of Non-violence * Karate - The Art of Empty Self * One Encounter One Chance * Dr. Webster-Doyle’s Martial Arts Guide for Parents * The Complete Guide to the Bully -Victim Cycle-From the Playground to the Battlefield * Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors * BioCognetic Education-The Scientific Study of Human Conflict * Educating the Whole Child-An Introduction to BioCognetic Education * Healing the Whole Child-An Introduction to BioCognetic Therapy Curricula * Why is Everybody Always Picking On Me?-A Guide to Handling Bullies * Why is Everybody Picking on Us?-Understanding the Roots of Prejudice * Why Are We Always Picking On Each Other-War-What Is It Good For? * Why Are We Always Letting the Bullies Pick On Them? * The Bystander: Villain or Victim * Why Are They Always Getting Picked On? Youth-at-risk * Why Am I Always Picking On Myself? Making Friends with your Inner Bully * Why Do We Bully? Understanding the Causes of Bullying * Derrotar al Matón Sin Luchar (Spanish Bully curriculum) * Defeat the Bully without Fighting * Defeat the Bully the Smart Way * Character for Kids Life Skills * Who Put This War in my Brain? * Awareness: Exploring the roots of conflict * Mastering Martial Arts Manners * Respect-The Act That Conquers Fear * Respect, the martial arts Code of Conduct * Understanding: Creating peace * As Easy as A.B.C-Part One -Twelve Ways to Act with Respect * As Easy as A.B.C-Part Two-Twelve Ways to Walk Away with Confidence * Stranger Heightened Awareness Response Program * P.A.L.S Positive Action Life Skills-12 Personal, Social, Coping Skills * R & R-Rights Responsibilities * Understanding: Creating Peace-Two Levels Workbooks * Why is Everybody Always Picking On Me?-A Guide to Handling Bullies * Why is Everybody Picking on Us?-Understanding the Roots of Prejudice * Awareness-Exploring the Roots of Conflict * Martial Arts for Peace MAP S.T.A.R.S. (Mental And Physical Safe Tactical Awareness System) Endorsements * Awarded the Robert Burns Medal for literature by Austria's Albert Schweitzer Society, for "outstanding merits in the field of peace-promotion" * Selected by the International Association of Educators for World Peace for their Central American peace education project in Panama and El Salvador * Acclaimed at the Soviet Peace Fund Conference in Moscow and published in Russia by Moscow's Library of Foreign Literature and Magistr Publications * On permanent display at the International Museum of Peace and Solidarity, the Commonwealth of Independent States. * Why is Everybody Always Picking on Us? explores the roots of prejudice. I don't think I've seen another book like it. How wonderful if this book could be used in social studies classrooms! I have learned where prejudice begins, how it is created, how it is perpetuated, and how it can be resolved. This book looks at stereotypes, bigotry, discrimination, scapegoating, racism, and more. It is a wonderfully comprehensive manual for young people and adults alike on understanding our conditioning and the root of prejudice.” American Pride Through Education * "Webster-Doyle's insight is that by recognizing, understanding, and accepting our violent tendencies, we can avoid acting them out. These new books . . . are good for teachers and parents of elementary school children who need appropriate language and activities to help children deal with their feelings and the violence-provoking parts of the environment. To this reviewer, they are realistic and practical." —Young Children-Magazine of the National Association for the Education of Young Children * "The book excels at impelling children to understand how conflict works within themselves. Tug of War offers engaging exercises that enhance a child's ability to understand the world. These exercises inspire self-observation, and the drawings of award-winning illustrator Rod Cameron enliven the book." Forum - Newsletter of Educators for Social Responsibility * Fighting the Invisible Enemy and Tug of War recommended by the Elementary School Library Collection as "fine contributions to materials for children"; both books also chosen by the British Commonwealth Collection-A Selection of Books and Journals on Non-violence and Social Change * "Every publication from the pen of this author should make a significant contribution to peace within and without. Highly recommended!"—New Age Publishers and Retailers Alliance Trade Journal * Why Is Everybody Always Picking On Me?—cited by the Omega New Age Directory as one of the Ten Best Books, for its "atmosphere of universal benevolence and practical application" * Dr. Lawrence Shapiro of the Center for Applied Psychology described Dr. Webster-Doyle as an "eloquent leader of the movement to combine principles of education, psychology, and the martial arts to teach young people to resolve conflict peacefully." * Selected by the National PTA as a recommended resource for parents. * "We use his books and thoroughly endorse the usefulness of his methods which have high potential in schools."-Stewart W. Twemlow, M.D. Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis, Menninger Clinic * Endorsed by Scouting Magazine and Sports Illustrated for Kids * Endorsed by Mothering Magazine * Nine time Winner of the Benjamin Franklin Awards for Excellence in Independent Publishing - in six consecutive years * Selected by the American Booksellers Association for its resource listing of "Children's Books About Peace" * "These topics are excellent and highly relevant. If each of the major countries of the world were to have ten Drs. Webster-Doyle, world peace is guaranteed to be achieved over a period of just one generation."—Dr. Charles Mercieca, Executive Vice President International Association of Educators for World Peace, NGO, United Nations (ECOSOC), UNICEF & UNESCO * "The books of Dr. Webster-Doyle are the first attempt I have seen to explain to young people and adults the concept of martial arts as a peaceful, non-violent 'way of life' and to give students the tools to accomplish this goal." - Linda Lee Cadwell * "Helps young people deal with conflict and violence by describing practical skills for peace." —Holistic Education Review (now entitled Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice) * "I realize Why Is Everybody Always Picking On Me? urgency for every child and adult . . . My daughter couldn't stop reading it!"—Marina Dubrovskaya, Assistant Director Dept. of Sociology, Lenin Library, Moscow, Russia * "Your book (Why Is Everybody Always Picking On Me?) has really helped me ignore the bullies and in a way stop bullying others." - 4th grader * Presented by the * "The materials were very helpful to the facilitators who conducted the workshop on bullying strategies." - New Jersey State Bar Foundation * Endorsed by the New York City Board of Education 
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