Friends of Aesthetic Realism
       Countering the Lies
“It’s a lie, and not a well told one at that.
  It grins out like a copper dollar.”

                  —Abraham Lincoln

Statement by Jeffrey Carduner, Aesthetic Realism Consultant

I've studied and taught Aesthetic Realism for over 30 years, and I've seen it to be true.   It's had a tremendously good effect on so many, many lives, including my own.   The attack on it by a few people is completely unrepresentative of the many people who respect Aesthetic Realism and Eli Siegel, whether they're studying Aesthetic Realism directly or not.    The attack is on an education which stands for, and makes for, real kindness between people.

1. The cause of youth violence

I wrote an article about what I learned from Aesthetic Realism about the cause of youth violence, which was published in several American newspapers. I urge you to read that article; it appears on the website of myself and my wife, Devorah Tarrow: at http://www.tarrow-carduner.net.

I have seen that this principle of Aesthetic Realism explains the cause of all cruelty--including in young people--and needs to be studied if cruelty is to end: "The greatest danger or temptation of man is to get a false importance or glory through the lessening of things not himself; which lessening is Contempt." In the article I quote something central I learned from Eli Siegel about contempt and myself. When I was a young man in my early 20s, I said in a class in answer to a question: "If I see the world as against me, I feel I can do anything I want." I am thankful that I was met with firm and beautiful logic as Mr. Siegel said: 

According to Aesthetic Realism, the one sin in the world is to use oneself to lessen what other things mean. Once you do that, you can get into embezzling, you can get into mugging, all the horrors.

2. The necessity for Aesthetic Realism consultations:

I also urge you to read, on that website, my paper about boredom in young men, including the section titled "What a Young Man Is Learning about Boredom." The parents of the young person I tell of in it wrote to his consultation trio, grateful for the changes that occurred in their son's life as he studied in Aesthetic Realism consultations.

If a young person learns that he is really expressed through seeing meaning in the world and in people, and wants to see the world and objects and people accurately, he won't be bored; he'll be authentically kinder; and he'll like himself honestly. That is what happens through Aesthetic Realism consultations. Along with my colleagues, I have seen this steadily in teaching Aesthetic Realism for over 30 years!

3. As to the family

I want to comment on the lies being told in relation to family. Through knowing Aesthetic Realism, people are kinder as to their families, whether a relative studies Aesthetic Realism or not.

For instance, my father and I, who often had been very angry with each other, were able to work together closely in the same business for 25 years. This would never have been possible had it not been for my study of Aesthetic Realism, which encouraged me to try to know my father and to have good will for him, to see him with all his depth and complexity. My father did not study Aesthetic Realism. However, he was present at one class, in which Eli Siegel spoke to us about how we could see each other more deeply. Near the conclusion, my father said to Mr. Siegel that he, Eli Siegel, was kind.

In the last months of my father's life, as he was ill, I went often to Florida, where he was living. He was very grateful I was there and said so; and I was with him at the hospital and on the night he passed away.

Through my knowing Aesthetic Realism, my mother and I have a new relation.   She has told me how distressed she was before I studied Aesthetic Realism, because I was so uncommunicative and cold.   Now, I've come to want to know what she feels and to encourage her life, and this never would have happened without Aesthetic Realism. She often tells me how much she enjoys talking to me and my wife, and that I have a good effect on her and her husband, my stepfather. They don't study Aesthetic Realism.

I have taught many men Aesthetic Realism over the years; they have become kinder and deeper in relation to their families. And they have written to their consultation trios about this fact.

There are families all over America that are broken up, or can't even talk to each other without screaming. They long to know what we've learned and teach.     

  • Read statements by many individual men and women
  • Read reviews from the NY Times, Smithsonian, Saturday Review, Library Journal, Harlem Times, Popular Photography, and more
  • A letter by Ralph Hattersley, noted critic of photography ...not only counters the lies, but is a means of showing something of their history and motivation.
  • Read poetry by Eli Siegel so greatly respected by William Carlos Williams and many others
  • Read lectures by Eli Siegel on subjects as diverse as literature, love, & economics
  • About classes for Aesthetic Realism consultants and associates taught by Ellen Reiss 
  • Poetic criticism by Eli Siegel and Ellen Reiss
  • Scribner's Magazine book reviews written by Eli Siegel

  • A Little Anthology of Comments (Some Funny We Hope) on Further Misrepresentations
           — including:

     
    Isn't being Anonymous
       wonderful?
    I can say anything ugly and
       dishonest I choose...
       >continued

    bullet for Friends of Aesthetic Realism "The Incredible Aesthetic Realism Deadlock..."
                                and more

    A Dramatic and Cautionary Tale about an Unknown and Very Unimportant Person

    There once was a young man of ancient Greece named Milos. And Milos knew Socrates. He did not like Socrates because the great man asked far too many questions....continued

    Statements by Friends of Aesthetic Realism

    Barbara Allen
    Frances Amello
    Jerry Amello
    Christopher Balchin
    Mara Bennici
    David Berger
    Alice Bernstein
    Rachel J. Bernstein
    Barbara Buehler
    Gina Buffone
    Beverly Sue Burk
    Maureen Butler
    Jeffrey Carduner
    Margot Carpenter
    Lori & Robert Colavito
    Albert Corvino
    Nicholas Corvino
    Henry D'Amico
    Matthew D’Amico
    Ernest DeFilippis
    Vincent DiPietro
    Carol Driscoll
    Donita Ellison
    Anne Fielding
    Lorraine Galkowski, RN
    Pamela Goren
    Edward Green
    Avi Gvili
    Ames Huntting
    Mark Lale
    Dale Laurin
    Rose Levy
    Timothy Lynch
    Lorraine Mahoney, RN
    Derek Mali
    Glenn Mariano
    Haroldo Mauro Jr.
    Joseph Meglino
    Pauline Meglino
    Allan Michael
    Marvin Mondlin
    Robert Murphy
    Michael J. Nadeau
    Meryl Nietsch-Cooperman
    Ruth Oron
    Arnold Perey, PhD
    Lauren Phillips
    Jack Plumstead
    Maria Plumstead
    Rosemary Plumstead
    Rev. Wayne Plumstead
    Marcia Rackow
    Zvia Ratz
    Ann Richards
    Anthony C. Romeo
    Leila Rosen
    Rhonda Rosenthal
    Sally Ross
    Claudia Senatore
    Sheldon Silverman
    Jeffrey Sosinsky, MD
    Barbara Spetly McClung
    Joseph Spetly
    Faith K. Stern
    John Stern
    Arlene Sulkis
    Devorah Tarrow
    Jaime R. Torres, DPM
    Dennis L. Tucker
    Francine Weber
    Steve Weiner
    Miriam Weiss
    Carrie Wilson


     

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