pearance of composure and rationality is a sign of emotional autonomy. Someone who does not know how to recognize and express his emotions severs himself from an essential faculty, and his life is impoverished accordingly. Furthermore, the emotions that we reject or are not able to accept for what they are will have an even greater hold over us, precisely because we are not aware of them. Naturally, expressing our emotions does not exclude respecting the integrity of others. Wanting to hit someone and saying so is one thing (expressing feeling and emotion), but wanting to hit someone and actually doing so (carrying out the action) is quite different. The feelings and emotions that are activated by a situation (fear, anger, etc.) are natural, spontaneous and legitimate reactions. Selfcontrol does not mean ignoring or repressing them so that they
surface later, in a stronger and potentially destructive manner; rather it means managing them in a dynamic and positive way, in our own interests and in the interests of those around us. Is there such a thing as social autonomy? Is it not a contradiction in terms? Clearly not, because autonomy does not mean ignoring others, and behaving as if one were the only person in the world. Being autonomous also means recognizing and accepting others, as they are - in other words, different, but not worse or better. It means recognizing the fact that we are interdependent, acting in solidarity with others, without abandoning what we are and without denying or neglecting our own needs. Being autonomous means relating to others and communicating with them because we want to, rather than because there is no other choice. It means choosing to
cooperate, to support each other and to take the lead when necessary. And finally, it means moving from an imposed code of behaviour to a freely accepted value system on which behaviour which is responsible, respectful of others and of the common culture can be founded. In other words, it means moving from sham conformism to profound adherence to common rules which we have personally recognized as being valid and which we freely accept. In spiritual terms, autonomy means first of all acknowledging a dimension beyond us (i.e. that we are not the beginning and end of everything), accepting to explore this dimension and to translate what we find meaningful into our everyday lives and into the ways in which we grow in all the other areas of development. The spiritual dimension gives meaning and diScouting in practice - Page 15