This post lists the root foundations – equivalents of universal phenomena in the physical world that are present in the psychological world – that I feel are important when considering a Universal Theory of Change .
Mostly, this post lists them. Many of them are given posts on their own and links will take you to the relevant post. If you haven’t read the descriptions already, it might be useful to skip to them one-by-one as you come across them, and then return to this post to read on.
I’d like to suggest phenomena such as:
1. Identity, which I will not describe in this post. I think that its importance is sometimes underrated so I give it a post of its own.
2. Emergence as described already – we are intrinsically growing – though it could be in an unplanned direction.
3. Affect, described here also, which is defined as the experience of being emotionally affected by something, some event, or my own or others’ behaviour. I think of affect as movement in the body – that is, energy flowing from one part to another – and displayed to the world. The word emotion (e-motion) also, of course, implies movement.
4. Consciousness, that is,the knowledge and awareness of self, and that we are alive – also described here.
5. Integration which is described at some length here. In the context of human growth and/or healing, integration means the tendency that we have to make ourselves whole, and avoid fragmentation, or the breaking up (or breaking down) of our psyche. For example, a three-year-old returning to normal after a tantrum – physically and psychologically becoming calm – is an example of integration. Different perspectives on integration are offered here, and also here – where I link integrity and discipline.
6. Time is also included in the list. Because of its importance in respect of our day-to-day lives I give it some attention in the next post.
7. Love is ubiquitous, and necessary for our survival. If I define a root foundation as something that is experienced by everyone in the world, every place, and has been since time immemorial, and will be into the future then love certainly needs to be included.
In fact, without love, the others will be significantly impeded – if they happen at all. Integration, for example, will be far more complete if it happens in an atmosphere of love. The same goes for emergence, and relationship. And consider how difficult it would be to form a secure identity in an atmosphere where there is no love?
I describe the four kinds of love (identified by the Ancient Greeks) in a different post. To save you linking, they are eros (romantic, sexual), philia (affection, family), storge (dutiful) and agape (unconditional).
I propose that the love that is a root foundation is agape – the unconditional one. This is because I believe that it is the purest one – the love that demands nothing in return, the love that is good enough and doesn’t have to be perfect, the love that we feel before we think or behave, or before we are conditioned to believe a myth. (Unconditional positive regard is also an element of Person Centred Therapy as will be described in this post).
And now the last one….. (well – maybe not the last —– we may think of others).
8. Relationship, a very powerful motivation to stay alive, heal and grow. While there are many different types of relationships, (including relationship with self) it appears to be fundamental to our existence. Relationship is mentioned in the website in different settings so I don’t think that there is any need to give a lengthy description here. Many studies into effectiveness of therapy over the past 50 years or so posit relationship as the key to change. And in general in our lives, various studies (here is one of the longer ones) have shown how important relationship is to health, wellbeing and even longevity!
So they are the root foundations as I understand them. I will explore their relevance in emotional and cognitive learning – which is a central concern of the website – later in the Sub-Chapter, in this post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other Possibilities:
When I say we may think of others above, I also thought of wisdom, spirituality, intelligence and energy as root foundations.
After some consideration I decided that:
Wisdom is more a function of growth, rather than a phenomenon that is fundamental to growth, like love, relationship, emergence etc. In fact, as our root foundations are allowed, we increase in wisdom.
Spirituality is, like physicality (or mentality) intrinsic to humanity. Just like physical growth is dependent on nutrition, or mental growth on stimulation, spiritual growth is dependent on the root foundations, but is not one in itself. (I discuss spirituality at some length in this Sub-Chapter).
Intelligence is a bit like spirituality, and I offer some views on it here.
Energy is an interesting one. I believe that we have a life-force from conception that, a bit like wisdom, is nurtured by the root foundations. Because of that I decided that energy itself was not a primary root foundation. (The energy that we have also depends on external factors as I point out here).