"The first time you do it, it has a kind of `stripping the veil effect.' You walk around puzzled for a while." Utah Supreme Court Justice Michael D. Zimmerman was talking about his first experience with a "justice in society" seminar in Aspen, Colo., three years ago. Back in Utah, he began talking to other members of the Snowbird Institute for the Arts and Humanities about doing the same kind of thing here.
After three years of planning, the result was the highly successful "The Challenge: A Just Society," a Snowbird first. After attending one of the sessions during the last week of July, I'm wondering if the expansive environment of Snowbird is destined to become as famous for matters of the intellect as it is for recreation.Moderators Zimmerman and Harvard Law Professor Kathleen Sullivan challenged participants to think about societal issues and to examine the foundations of their own world view.
A self-selected group of 15 people - just the right size for a seminar - enthusiastically responded to the 250 invitations sent out in an effort "to guess what type of people in the community might be interested."
They turned out to be surprisingly diverse and highly energetic. White and predominantly male, they came from education, business, law and journalism - and many were movers and shakers.
The theme was divided into four sessions - law and justice, justice and autonomy, poverty and economic equality, and race and gender - with a group of readings including Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from the Birmingham City Jail," excerpts from John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" and Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own."
Cliff Lodge was headquarters for sleeping and eating as well as a three-hour-seminar session each day. Then participants created a bond by going hiking, mountain biking and swimming together.
In the session on justice and autonomy, the discussion around the table was remarkably balanced. Moderator Sullivan asked challenging questions designed to provoke wide-ranging opinions about how much freedom people should have to think and act.
Should a person be free to smoke marijuana in the privacy of his office - as long as it is not harmful to others? Should he be allowed to view pictures or films in the privacy of his home? When does the private act stop being private and start affecting the community? How is freedom curtailed if the reading matter changes from "Playboy" to "Rape Manual"?
Other stimulating questions were discussed - all without drawing conclusions. As Zimmerman said, "There isn't a right answer to any of these issues." Sullivan effectively provoked thought, wrote down the names of those who wanted to respond, then took them in order, a technique forcing those who might dominate to share time.
It worked. I was amazed that in this group of 15, all participated but none dominated. As Zimmerman said, "No one was a wallflower."
The group caught fire. In Zimmerman's words, "We go through life and accumulate opinions without probing their foundations. They may be perfectly comfortable opinions, but when you talk about them and try to make sense of them, you find they aren't consistent."
Zimmerman said that in her first visit to Utah Sulli-van's preconceived notions were destroyed. She was glad to find that "in Utah people are more ready to acknowledge religious foundations as sources of their values - a rare occurrence in New York or Los Angeles."
Zimmerman was pleased that "There was spirited but civil exchange between people with different assumptions."
Most considered it a fun but intensive four days. As Zimmerman said, "Too many of us don't have the time to sit back and think hard about things. In college you often are not forced to take positions on the issues. And you don't have the life experiences - the raw material to help you take positions."
In next year's seminar Zimmerman hopes there will be even greater diversity. "I want to get someone from a foreign country - perhaps from Islamic or Hindu culture or Africa - someone from an entirely different culture set."
So if you are nostalgic for those stimulating college days and are ready for a bigger challenge without the threat of grades, head for Snowbird in '92 - just to think!