The Harrad Experiment

by Robert H. Rimmer

  4. Lennart Nillson, Behold Man (Boston: Little Brown, 1975). Sex without continuous awareness and amazement at the partner’s inescapable biology lacks a sense of wonder, which is the best sexual turn-on.

  5. Paul Kurtz, Eupraxophy: Living Without Religion (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1989). Most Harrad/Premar students will have had some previous religious education, or indoctrination. Since the human-values seminar is also a “deconditioning” or “deprogramming” experience, which often conflicts with established religious theologies and moralities, it is important that students be exposed to the true meaning of secular humanism, and not the pejorative one often used in the popular press. Eupraxophy is a word coined by Dr. Kurtz, a professor of philosophy. It means “good conduct and wisdom in loving” without need for a supreme being. Kurtz is the author of The Humanist Manifesto II, which applies the Golden Rule in a wider context than Christianity has traditionally done.

  6. A. S. Neill, Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing (New York: Hart, 1960). When Harrad was first published, Neill’s approach to childrearing had thousands of advocates. Whether or not it is viable by today’s standards, it is a good book to examine a unique educational approach.

  7. John W. Gardner, Self-Renewal· The Individual and the Innovative Society (New York: Norton, 1983). Harrad ends on an optimistic quote from Gardner’s book, whose message is still viable as we approach the turn of the century.

  8. Reay Tannahill, Sex in History (New York: Stein and Day, 1980). In the last printing of Harrad Bernard Murstein’s Love, Sex and Marriage Through the Ages was listed. A continuing goal during the four years of the human-values seminars is to give young people a wide historical perspective on every aspect of human affairs and relationships. Both of these books will provide a good learning experience.

  9. Margaret Meade, Coming of Age in Samoa and Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (New York: New American Library, 1950). Although some of Meade’s anthropological investigations have been challenged or discredited, all students should be aware of sexual life in less-repressed societies, where people were never exposed to the Judeo-Chtistian tradition or Sigmund Freud.

  10. B. Z. Goldberg, The Sacred Fire: The Story of Sex in Religion (New York: Horace Liveright, 1932). An historical perspective on human sexuality that most people unfortunately are unaware of. Discovering the close tie between religion and fertility worship and exposure to the roots of all religious beliefs will encourage students to consider new religious approaches to life, where the joy of sexual surrender becomes sacramentaL

  11. Kamala Devi, The Eastern Way of Love: Tantric Sex and Erotic Mysticism (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977). Tantric sex and extended sexual intercourse are explored in many books, including Male Continence by John Humphrey Noyes, founder of the Oneida Community. This well-illustrated book, written by a loving woman, is the best introduction for young lovers.

  12 Lester R. Brown, State of the World 1990 (New York: Norton, 1990). Here’s a change of pace from human sexuality. These annual reports from the Worldwatch Institute, “On Progress Towards a Sustainable Society,” cover not only environmental problems but also the dangers of irresponsible (or religiously conditioned) procreation. If the population of the world doubles to 10 billion by the year 2030, the earth will become either a more communal place or a fiercely warring world.

  13. Abraham Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York: Viking, 1971). A complete collection of Maslow’s basic writings, including his thoughts on peak experiences and Theory Z, the “play” approach to work and study that could transform education and the workplace if humans understood and accepted it.

  14. Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture (Boston: Beacon Press, 1950). The premise behind my novel The Byrdwhistle Option is that work can be transformed into play. Huizinga proves that when you are working, praying, studying, or even at war, essentially you are playing. Martin Buber called the book “one of the few informed works about the problems of man.”

  15. Richard Knight and Thomas Wright, Sexual Symbols: A History of Phallic Worship (New York: Julian Press, 1957). One more book showing how religious beliefs are interwoven with human sexuality.

  16. Martin Buber, I and Thou The emphasis on human sexuality in the first year of the human-values seminar and on sexual ecstasy as a continuing part of human life is possible only if Buber’s I-and-thou philosophy becomes a way of life.

  17. Alan Watts, Nature, Man and Woman (New York: Pantheon, 1958). In addition to this book, which reflects the Harrad/Premar approach to human loving, Alan Watts left many joyous audiotapes that could be used in the human-values seminar.

  18. David Cole Gordon, Self-Love (New York: Penguin Books, 1972). Exceptional insights into human sexuality and what occurs in the moment of orgasm with another person, or in one that is self induced. A way of escaping momentarily from one’s self, which Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, see no. 26) proposes is also achievable through meditation, and which is also possible in Tantric, or extended sexual intercourse.

  19. Bernhardt J. Hurwood, The Joys of Oral Love (New York: Carlyle Communications, 1975). Even with wide access to porn videotapes, which too often dehumanize human sexuality but at least make oral/genital sex a way of life, many young lovers still fear telling each other about their quite normal oral/genital desires. This delightful picture book, offered during the fifth month of the human-values seminar, will create discussion. Since by this time all Harrad/Premar students will probably be experiencing sex with their roommates, this open approach would help allay any doubts for both men and women.

  20. Peter Webb, The Eroric Arts (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1975). Eroticism, religion, and sexual wonder go hand in hand in this fascinating, illustrated historical survey.

  21. Rollo May, Man’s Search for Himself (New York: New American Library, 1967). Dr. May’s books hold up well in the 1990s and make exciting reading as students search for answers to such questions as: Why am I here? What’s it all about?

  22. B. F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity (New York: Bantam Books, 1972). Skinner, who conceived an educational utopia in Walden II (tried in reality and failed) will be familiar to Harrad/ Premars who take courses in psychology. But the premise of the human-values seminar is that many students in the undergraduate work/ study program will pursue vocational studies that may not include the historical development of psychology. Skinner’s controversial approaches will stimulate discussion.

  23. Sydney Jourard, The Transparent Self(New York: Van Nostrand, 1964). The how-to-do-it book of self-disclosure. The ability to expose one’s intimate feelings to another person is the essence of achieving Buber’s I and thou.

  24. Eliot Aronson, The Social Animal (San Francisco: William Freeman, 1976). Joyous reading on what makes you you. A valuable book to examine how people, unknown to themselves, are conditioned to behave.

  25. Albert Ellis, Humanistic Psychotherapy: The Rational Emotive Approach (New York: Julian Press, 1973). The twelve irrational ideas, which Ellis suggests are at the root of all emotional problems, are examined by Harrad/Premar students, after which new self-knowledge can be incorporated into the day-to-day resolution of interpersonal problems and conflicts.

  26. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. A year before he died on Jan. 20, 1990, Rajneesh changed his name to Osho, a Japanese word that reflected his communion with and love of men and women seeking enlightenment through meditation. In his lifetime Osho, who had close to a million followers, challenged all major religions, denounced nationalism, and proposed graduate studies where students would be “deprogrammed” from the religious and political beliefs acquired in their earlier years. Osho wrote, or dictated, 650 books before he departed his body. They are available from Chidvilas, P.O. Box 17550, Boulder, Colorado 80308.

  His books, The Zen Manifesto (Rebel Publishing House in West Germany, 1989, for which I wrote an introduction) and The Tantra Vision, could introduce Harrad/Premar students to Osho’s
approach to meditation, along with his controversial life. I suggest that discussion groups deal with such questions as: If Jesus returned to earth in the 21st century, would he have any lasting effect on the world? Or, 100 years from now, about the time Jesus may be rediscovered, will millions of people be “dancing, laughing, and loving” and finding true enlightenment through meditation and the writings and video visions of Osho, a Zen master?

  27. Ajit Mookerjee and Madhu Kharma, The Tantric Way: Art, Science, Ritual (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1977). I’m sure that Osho would not have approved of using Tantric rituals to achieve nirvana, but an examination of them in this fascinating book will help Harrad/Premars understand Osho’s more modern feeling that Tantra is but one way, as well as his belief that greater enlightenment can be achieved by the simple process of escaping oneself. He recommends meditation without drugs or any outside assistance.

  28. Roger Lewin, In the Age of Mankind (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 1988). A book that tries to answer the question of human origins. Learning who we are and how Homo sapiens evolved over the past 100,000 years makes our here-and-now existence and our ability to love and care for one another even more awesome.

  29. Lester Milbrath, Envisioning a Sustainable Society (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1989). In covering topics from how to transform a dominator society to an inquiry on human values and social learning, Milbrath explores the biological, economic, scientific, environmental, and political problems we will face in the 21st century.

  30. Ruth Leger Sivard, World Military and Social Expenditures 1989,1990.1991 (World Priorities, Inc., Box 25140, Washington, D.C., 20007). This 60-page survey is published annually. It provides a social balance sheet of the annual costs for defense and war. Nearly $10 trillion were spent during the 1980s. It not only contrasts the costs of deterioration of the planet and human suffering in every part of the world but also proposes where the money (read, human time and labor) might have been spent to create a more fulfilling world for everyone. If my latest novel, “New Dawn, January 1, 2000,” which proposes a destruction-of-all-weapons-now (DAWN) is published, Harrad/Premar students will find it fascinating to wonder if this will ever happen.

  31. Nick Douglas and Penny Slinger, Sexual Secrets (New York: Destiny Books, 1986). Every Harrad/Premar student will want to own his or her own copy of this paperback. Illustrated with line drawings by Slinger, it explores every aspect of Tantric sex in detail.

  32. Johan Chang, The Tao of Love and Sex (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1977). This may be the best sex book ever written for men. Exploring the art of lovemaking perfected by the ancient Chinese, Chang shows how the male can enjoy extended intercourse for hours without ejaculating (or not at all) and thus presumably increase his longevity. The woman is encouraged to enjoy her own orgasms.

  33. Wilhelm Reich, The Sexual Revolution: Toward a Self-Regulating Character Structure (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1974). Written long before “sex revolution” became part of the vocabulary of the 1960s, Reich’s approaches to human sexuality will give the leaders of the human-values seminar the opportunity to contrast the theories of Herbert Marcuse and Sigmund Freud and to contrast both of them with the Harrad/Premar premise: we could be in better control of our sexual drives if we lived in a society that believed that satisfaction of sexual needs was just as vital to well-being as meeting hunger and thirst drives.

  34. Renee Guyon, Sexual Freedom (New York: Knopf, 1950). A good book to provide historical perspective on where we were at the middle of the 20th century, as well as on the then-current limits to sexual freedom.

  35. Maren Lockwood Caren, Oneida, Utopian Community to Modem Corporation (New York: Harper & Row, 1971). Harrad/ Premar students can compare the communal aspects of their lifestyle with the most successful communal living experiment that ever occurred in the United States. It included sexual exchange between the married couples who lived in the commune, together with extended sexual intercourse and male continence as forms of birth control.

  36. Alastair Heron, ed., Toward a Quaker View of Sex (Philadelphia : American Friends Service Committee). The first edition of this remarkable essay contains much of the Harrad/Premar philosophy and “conviction that love cannot be confined to a pattern.” Unfortunately, in later editions the Quakers excised this quotation and an entire section that seemed to condone nonmonogamous, postmarital sex.

  37. John Harris, The Value of Life. An Introduction to Medical Ethics (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985). A complete survey of most of the bioethical and moral problems facing human beings in the 21 st century. This is a subject on which the human-values seminars will constantly seek valid answers for individuals and society during the four-year Harrad/Premar program.

  38. June Singer, Androgyny: Toward a New Theory of Sexuality (New York: Doubleday, 1976). The potential of a religious or moral point of view based on androgyny, the theory that each of us has a blend of male and female characteristics.

  39. Sol Gordon and Roger Libby, eds., Sexualify, Today and Tomorrow: Contemporary Issues in Sexuality (North Scituate, Mass.: Duxbury Press, 1976). This compilation of essays by outstanding psychologists and sociologists reflects the sixties’ and seventies’ interest in exploring all areas of marriage and the family, with a look into the future.

  40. Roger Libby and Robert N. Whitehurst, eds., Marriage and Its Alternatives: Exploring Intimate Relationships (Glenview, Ill.: Scott Foresman, 1977). Essays on marriage and the family that give historical perspective but do not come to grips with the new-style families of the past 25 years. These depend on working wives or the “living together unmarried” lifestyle that mimics monogamous marriage.

  41. Gordon Clanton and Lynn Smith, Jealousy (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1977). At some point in their first year of Harrad/Premar, students will have to deal with jealousy if they become too possessive of or enamoured with a current or past room-mate. Clanton’s and Smith’s book not only dissects the nature of jealousy but also shows how to overcome it in sexual and other areas.

  42. Kenneth Keniston, All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1977). A frightening look at the American family and our children that proves the necessity for and utility of a Harrad/Premar type of solution, as well as a nationally subsidized work/study undergraduate education for all young people.

  43. Alan Harrington, The Immortalist: An Approach to Engineering Man’s Divinity (New York: Avon Books, 1969). This book is an excellent jumping-off point to an underlying theme of Harrad/ Premar. By helping students develop not a fear of death but a continuing sense of human contingency, they learn to savor each other and the joy of each moment and to not make tragedies of events in their lives where no tragedy need be.

  44. Kenneth M. Roemer, America as Utopia (New York: Burt Franklin, 1981). A careful study of utopian thinking, particularly in the last half of the 19th century when experiments in new-style families, communes, and “free love” were rampant throughout the United States. Roemer is a well-known utopian scholar. His unique course, Building Your Own Utopias, uses, among other books, The Harrad Experiment. Students write a thesis, often in couple groupings, proposing their own utopian (but hopefully practical) solutions to social and interpersonal problems. A nice approach for human-values seminars. (For details and information on a guidebook, write Roemer in care of the University of Texas, Arlington, Tex. 76019).

  45. Phil Donahue, The Human Animal (New York: Simon 8c Schuster, 1985). Although Donahue is a well-known TV personality, young people may not be aware that he is seriously concerned about the present and the future. In easy-to-read chapters, he tries to answer the questions: Who are we? Why do we behave as we do? How can we change? While he doesn’t have all the answers, he raises most of the questions facing humans in the 21st century. It may be better to use this book earlier in the first year of the human-values seminar.

  46. Joseph Heard and S. L Cranston, Reincarnation, The Phoenix
Fire Mystery (New York: Crown,1977). Since most Harrad/ Premar students will come from Christian, Jewish, or agnostic backgrounds, the implications of reincarnation (a major tenet of Hindu thought), for moral living, here and now, are not appreciated. It will stimulate human-values discussion to explore reincarnation as distinguished from resurrection.

  47. Robert Francoeur, Biomedical Ethics, A Guide to Decision Making (New York: John Wiley, 1983). Beautifully put together to get students involved in the ethical and moral dilemmas they will face in the 21st century, Francoeur’s book exhibits a human-values approach in posing problems that already confront everyone daily.