3.3.4 Universal Theories Of Change

If you have read the rather lengthy series of posts on Knowledge Flow, Protection of the Institution of the Family and Historical And Modern Parallels thanks for sticking with them.

They attempted to highlight aspects of our history of helping that were, it was thought, helpful but often turned out to be the opposite in respect of very vulnerable people.

The theories of change that they employed were based on ‘we know what’s good for you’ and ‘you will have no say in your own destiny’ thinking – based almost exclusively on one-way knowledge flow as was described.

The best-we-can-do is still far off the mark when it comes to inclusion of the voices of people in most distress.

Of course, we have moved on a little since then, but I don’t believe that our thinking has changed substantially. Consider the methods by which the enquiries into historical abuse were carried out, and then the way that survivors were/are treated – right up to late 2021. And apart from our history, I have referred to contemporary trends that I describe here.

In contrast, I’d now like to propose a Universal Theory of Change that will incorporate two-way knowledge flow to alleviate suffering of children and vulnerable adults in our Focus Group.

And in proposing this theory of change the scientist in me was determined that it be derived from first principles – that is, direct observations and experiences – the roots!

At the start of this Chapter I described universal theories of change in the physical world.  Just to recap, in coming up with such theories, (that, remember, must hold true everywhere in the world and at all times past and future), scientists from the ancient world to today focused (and still focus) on phenomena like gravity, energy, time, temperature, light, pressure, mass, volume etc. that are commonly observed and experienced, and we can measure.

These are the building blocks of the theories – i.e. the observable and measurable phenomena on which the theories are built. In the next post we will look at their equivalents in the world of the psyche.

The remaining posts in this Sub-Chapter describe what I think are important elements to consider in building solutions to the (seemingly) intractable problems that we face when we support families within the Focus Group.

This post describes what root foundations are, and how I came up with the term.  The next post will describe the root foundations themselves, with a post on time following. The post after that will posit their relevance in emotional and cognitive learning. I will then identify some challenges that are unique to the theories that I propose, and I’ll finish with a few final words.

To begin, in my considerations on a theory of change I wondered if there were any equivalents of the universal phenomena of the physical world already described in the world of the psyche. To put it another way, what are the feeling or emotional phenomena that are experienced by everyone in the world, every place, and have been since time immemorial, and will be into the future.

That is, we can both observe and sense them (just like gravity, light etc.), we know that they are there, but we take them for granted, so they have the characteristics of our much-quoted high impact-low noticeability.

Now I’d better, in the best traditions of science, offer a definition.

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Root foundations are phenomena that are universal in our emotional and feeling world. They are primary intrinsic processes that happen naturally unless they are inhibited (or blocked) by external forces or influences. Awareness of their importance is helpful for both understanding and describing how we grow and develop, and building theories of change in respect of emotional healing.

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In our case, the theories of change are used to build solutions to problems that humans have always found very difficult and usually cause us a lot of distress.

For example, I will use the root foundations as described in the next post in formulation of universal theories in protecting children (and other vulnerable members) in families that are part of the Focus Group.

Some I have only briefly mentioned (in the next post, that is) because I consider them to be of such importance that I have given them posts on their own in different parts of the website.  (They are the root foundations 1 to 6 inclusive). I have given 7 some attention because it is not given a post of its own, and I have described 8 only briefly because I believe that it is self-evident.

More importantly, you will actually get to know and recognise them as they will be referred to in various ways and in different settings and contexts throughout the website.

This Sub-Chapter is important in respect of the design of solutions that aim to make a positive difference to people in deep distress. 

I believe that if our design takes seriously, and utilises the root foundations we can develop practices that will be a lot different to what are dominant in this important work nowadays.

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You might be interested in how I came up with the term root foundation.

I began with the term building block. But a building block is a static entity from which a static thing is constructed – and it’s very left brain. 

A root foundation implies a dynamic entity that is alive, something very real and identifiable through which something substantial can grow.

And then, Googling, I discovered that I shared the name with a very interesting Children’s Charity in Rwanda. What an appropriate name for a Children’s Charity, methought! And the location of the charity reminded me that even though I am pretty sure that Rwanda and Ireland have many cultural differences, root foundations are culturally independent.

And, in keeping with my commitment to two-way knowledge flow, this is not the last word on the root foundations. I invite you to come up with more.

Finally, like the old song says, You Never Miss Your Mother Till She’s Gone we don’t really notice that we have any (or all) of the root foundations, (or had them) until they are not there anymore.

That is, if one or more of them are not available to us there will probably be negative consequences for us.  They have, as I already said, high impact-low noticeability.

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.

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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).

Time is a most interesting root foundation because it is important in our experience of the natural world, and the study of that world (as anyone who ever studied physics will know).

And time is also of importance in our psychological world, mental (cognitive) and feeling (emotional) world – our psyche.  We do not perceive time to come from anywhere – it just is.

Now, as a root foundation, I am talking about the time that is concerned with being, not the time that is artificially divided up by humans into doing. And often the doing is work.

This is evident in our language as we refer to taking a break from work as time off, as if time is synonymous with work or doing, so when we have it off, we are doing nothing. And when doing nothing, we say that we have time to kill, as if it was something we have to get rid of. When we have to stop doing something, time is up. An expression we use for relaxation – down-time – is interesting too in that we generally associate the word down with negativity. And – I can’t resist it – doing time has another meaning also, i.e. being locked up in prison.

I will describe being-time as a felt time, the now, the wow, the moment, the dawn, dusk, the seasons, growth and decay, the time that we knew before we began to measure it, what we describe, perhaps, as lost-in-time, the time of the natural world…….

I suggest that it is also the at-ease time that, if we are parents, we spend with our children. This is different to the doing-time where our children are involved in organised activities, and very often competitive organised activities.

Now, time is a substantial factor in young people becoming involved in destructive behaviour, whether towards self or others. I believe that the first step on the road to feeling isolated, misunderstood, excluded and abandoned is that a child feels, from his own subjective experience that no-one takes the time to understand him.

This seems an unbelievable thing to say.

If we are parents and we think one of our children is troubled or heading-down-the-wrong-path we usually pour gazillions of time into him. In fact – we may feel that we are neglecting our other children while attending to the troubled one. The same goes if we are teachers, youth club leaders, or other concerned people.

But what we need to ask is what is the time used for? Maybe a lot of the time is spent cajoling, threatening, bribing, getting different experts, advising, arguing, trying to convince our child of the error of his ways, and suchlike behaviour.

Of course …………… that is what parents do!

But I believe that there is a balance to be struck between all the nagging and haggling and being present to the child’s distress, allowing the root foundations to grow, drawing and maintaining common-sense boundaries (in collaboration with the child as much as is possible), trusting the child, with being-time (and being-space) fostering integration and responsibility, from pre-toddler to late teens.

In fact, when we really think of it that might take a lot less time…..

On a final note on time, let us consider the concept of no-time, that is, eternity. In many religious traditions – certainly in the Catholic one that I am familiar with – we are informed that if we are good people we will go to heaven for eternity. (We used to be told all eternity, though I could never figure out the difference between eternity and all-eternity). And in this situation, there will be no time limit on our happiness.

(I often wondered if we were happy all the time would we know what happiness is – because we would have nothing to compare it to. But, of course, my thinking on this is limited by my human, logical brain)!

If time is an important root foundation then we practitioners need to take it seriously in both our day-to-day work and our long term planning. Rushing through quick-fix solutions and/or reintroducing old solutions that didn’t work and calling them something else needs to be resisted.  Above all we need to listen.

This post refers to the power of listening …….. and true listening is done in being-time.

Earlier I said that I had a theory that ‘if a child experiences positive affirmation and praise in the context of a consistent, warm and trusting relationship it will optimise his ability to learn’ and that this theory would hold true at all times and in all places.

This is because of the existence of the root foundations, and their effect on the child’s intrinsic potential in respect of his growth and development.

On the other hand, in the same post, I was sceptical about a theory that stated that ‘sending men who are addicted to drugs and end up in prison for violent crimes on a six-week anger-management course will effect permanent positive change in respect of their addiction and expression of anger’.

The reason why I doubted the validity of this theory is that I believe that the root foundations will not have sufficient time over a short six weeks to build the relationship within which they work.  (Indeed, nurture within loving relationship is central to the entire project of human growth – which is why I included it in the Chapter on Cause, Effect and Nurture).  

Because of the existence of the root foundations, our emotional development is somewhat different to our cognitive.

In good enough conditions our emotions mature in a (mostly) non-linear manner, whereas our cognition develops in a (mostly) stepped, linear manner.

Take, for example, the root foundation of integration, and the very young (say, 3 years of age) child having the temper tantrum we described here.  This involves a disruption of the psyche, a disintegration of sorts, as we lose our sense of control over self – a very frightening thing to happen to us. 

Good enough parenting enables (or facilitates) the root foundation of integration to work at its own pace as the highly charged emotional tide abates and we return to normal.  The good enough parenting is, of course, enabled through love within the relationship – which, as I said above, is central to the process – and time which the wise parent will be aware of.  This process of reintegration, re-experienced time and time again, is a crucial element of human development.

If we are forced, through fear, to return to normal too quickly (because, perhaps, of our parent rushing us) then we will return to a kind of coached normal to please others and the fear that causes us to do this will disrupt the natural integration process. Our coached normal will, of course, be a mask. Having to continually wear a mask will lead us to developing (what therapists might call) a false self that is safe to show to the world.

Time, as a root foundation, is relevant here – in that we need time to process!

So when we are 50 and something happens that makes us angry, our reaction will be influenced by what is buried in our unconscious memory.  It is by reaching back into wisdom acquired (mostly the hard way) and laid down in our unconscious at younger ages that we choose to moderate our emotions so that they don’t cause us undue distress as we grow older – and we don’t dis-integrate every time we get angry.  (We’re reliving something that we have experienced already – we’ve been there before – déjà vu as the saying goes).

Contrast this to learning, say, a new language when we are 50. Every word and grammatical rule that we learn will be new.  We will not know it until we have learned it – and when we learn it we can add it, intentionally, (i.e. deliberately) to words and phrases learned previously.  Even if we have learned other languages we won’t have thorough knowledge of this particular language until we learn it cognitively – step by step.  (I called this kind of learning linear or stepped above)

Most of the solutions that are proposed in mainstream Pillars thinking follow cognitive behavioural and linear paths – and often ignore (or certainly sideline) the power of relationship and the other root foundations so necessary for healthy growth.

We will be examining the relevance of the root foundations a lot more in the rest of the website but in particular Section Five – Practical Applications.

Before we go any further, it is important to mention that there is a certain complication inherent in promoting (or even analysing or investigating) the root foundations that makes it all a little more interesting —– and challenging!

Usually, we are consciously aware, immediately, that there is something awry with our experience of universal phenomena in the physical world. For example, our body can feel temperature falling – we get cold, or we feel unsafe if we are cycling too fast, or we can feel physical pressure if our bedclothes are uncomfortably heavy (gravity).  And we may be able to do something about any of the above. Many of the tricks that magicians do surprise us because they seem to defy physical laws – and we try to figure out, logically or cognitively, how that happens.

However, if there is something awry with our experience of their psychological equivalents, (i.e if we don’t have relationship, or we struggle with identity or our natural emergence is constricted or blocked) we may not be consciously aware of it immediately.  Rather, we may experience:

~ Depression (because our relationships are unfulfilling for us).

~ Sadness/loss (because we don’t have a strong identity).

~ Anger (because our emergence is constricted, that is, our natural gifts are not appreciated or affirmed).

Or many more emotions due to lack of or loss of any of the root foundations.

We may experience all of these emotions and many more besides without really knowing why.

Addressing the not-knowing-why challenge will be the subject of the Chapter on Modalities, and will form much of the content of the remaining Sections. 

For now, it is enough to say that practitioners sharing power and holding people’s suffering, in a non-intrusive but inclusive way, sometimes for years or even over a generation, will optimise creation of the conditions where parents who are very hurt can protect their children by allowing the root foundations to flourish.

This is true no matter what context the work takes place in, i.e. whether or not it is in the community/voluntary, statutory, or private sector.

The little challenge (that’s tongue in cheek – it’s a big challenge really) is in sharing power, which (as I have stated elsewhere) is not for everyone.

Many people go a long way to include very hurt and vulnerable people in a consultative capacity and then make plans based on those consultations – and that is not a bad thing to do.  (It is certainly better than doing something without consultation – a lot of that happens also).

But when we practitioners truly share power, we don’t really do things for people, we do them with people, on as much their terms as our terms.  (When we do things for people, we almost always do it on our terms).  Doing things for people ultimately leads to exclusion rather than the more favoured – in terms of nourishing potential – inclusion.

Now I have observed that when we set out to do things with vulnerable people (with great intentions) there is a temptation to default to a cognitive response when an emotional problem presents.

This is a misinterpretation of the presenting problem – which is emotional.  An emotional response encourages inclusion, whereas a cognitive response often does the opposite.

The big down-side of doing things with people (which, from the practitioner’s point of view – is a big challenge) is that it slows things down as consensus is reached.  (There may be another challenge too, of course, the humility one)!

But (I believe anyway) greater dividends are accrued in the long term.

For example (to use an analogy) I think that you will all agree that good enough parenting involves doing things with children. Doing things for them might speed things up a bit, but is harmful in the long run.

In taking the risk in offering an emotional response to an emotional problem – which often involves holding suffering and journeying – practitioners will trust that the root foundations will work at their own pace within the individuals being helped.

For example, the practitioner will trust:

~ That emergence will manifest, just like the builder of the Pyramid trusted that gravity would pull a big boulder down into its designated place if he raised it above it with a lever.  (The difference of course, is that how emergence manifests may surprise – and challenge us).

~ That love and genuine care will enable integration over time of a true self, gradually restoring and healing the dissociated, false self that may be shown to the world because of difficult experiences in early life.  This also implies that the innate human longing for genuine and congruent relationship will have power to overcome isolation.

~ That increased awareness of consciousness will assist in processing the complex information constantly assailing the mind and body, helping to unravel the mysterious melancholy that might abound in the self.

~ That the processing (see last bullet point) will involve as much being-time as doing-time, and that moving to solution mode too quickly has the potential to leave people out.

~ That formation of a strong identity will foster emotional stability, inculcate pride, and give confidence to fulfil one’s true potential and be.

Finally, love is, of course, one of the universal root foundations which impacts on all the others i.e. being common to all humanity also.