Our journeys often originate within
WHY WE GET THE JOURNEYS WE NEED
“Thought of the Week” for July 8, 2002
Gestalt theory also tells us how ultimately we formulate our conceptions. “We do not look at the world as though our eyes were the lenses of a photographic camera. We select objects according to our interests, and these objects appear as prominent figures against a dim background”(1) In other terms, this means that we have a whole body of prejudices and predilections that somehow determine what we observe as the data of our experience. (p. 54)
…Further, if an element is noticed, it is only because it is in accord with our interests, which is to say that if we grant meaning to some thing (i.e., if we take note of it) it is relevant to our interests. Now, if we want to disregard the importance of affective elements, it necessarily entails a denial of the existence of our operative educational theory. This is so because we would never have noticed these elements if we were not operating out of a reference to a whole conception (a gestalt) which itself rendered the elements meaningful. (p. 35)
George Isaac Brown. 1975. The Live Classroom. New York:Viking.
Comment:
Where do journeys come from?
by Reg Harris
Copyright © 2007 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. Revised July 23, 2009. All rights reserved. Apart from properly cited quotes and short excerpts, no part of this article can be copied or used in any form without written permission from the author. For permission to use, please contact me.
Years ago I did an in-service presentation in which I mentioned that we tend to get the journeys we need or are ready for. After the meeting, a teacher approached me and told me that if I really believed that, I must also believe in a God who arranges those journeys for us. How else would we get the journey we’re ready to take?
There are a number of explanations, but this view from gestalt theory is one of the best.
Based on the ideas Brown is explaining, when we reach a new level of awareness, our sense of self (the gestalt of “whole” of our being) grows, opening to us greater awareness and potentials in our lives. Greater awareness disrupts our gestalt of self (we realize that we are not what we thought we were or our world is not what we thought it was). This disruption creates the necessity to form a new gestalt to incorporate the new awareness.
That disruption is resolved when we have a new personal gestalt or sense of self or gestalt of being which has assimilated the new awareness and given it meaning within our lives. Unfortunately, the new gestalt once again opens us to still greater awareness, triggering another round of growth and exploration.
In other words, each time we grow, our horizon of what is possible grows, opening us to possibilities and understandings could not have considered before. These new elements enter our awareness (become our journey) because we are ready for them, our gestalt of self is ready to deal with them. To ignore these elements is to stifle growth.
Perhaps more important is the truth that once we are aware of something outside our understanding, we can’t really ignore it. Once we have notice it, it is part of our awareness and exposes our gestalt as incomplete. We must deal with it in some way, which calls us to the journey.
And this journey, which is the result of our own growing awareness, is the journey we need. It is a journey dictated by a our own lack of understanding our own process of self discovery. The journey comes, then, from within, which is why (if we look carefully enough) we will find that we are called to the journeys that we need.
Citation information:
Author: Reg Harris
Publication Date: 2007, revised July 23, 2009
Title: Where do journeys come from?
Website: Harris Communications: Educational home of the Hero’s Journey
ULR: http://www.yourheroicjourney.com/Reading Room/ArticlesEssays/ From whence the journey.htm
From whence the Journey?
Our journeys often originate within
WHY WE GET THE JOURNEYS WE NEED
“Thought of the Week” for July 8, 2002
Gestalt theory also tells us how ultimately we formulate our conceptions. “We do not look at the world as though our eyes were the lenses of a photographic camera. We select objects according to our interests, and these objects appear as prominent figures against a dim background”(1) In other terms, this means that we have a whole body of prejudices and predilections that somehow determine what we observe as the data of our experience. (p. 54)
…Further, if an element is noticed, it is only because it is in accord with our interests, which is to say that if we grant meaning to some thing (i.e., if we take note of it) it is relevant to our interests. Now, if we want to disregard the importance of affective elements, it necessarily entails a denial of the existence of our operative educational theory. This is so because we would never have noticed these elements if we were not operating out of a reference to a whole conception (a gestalt) which itself rendered the elements meaningful. (p. 35)
George Isaac Brown. 1975. The Live Classroom. New York:Viking.
Comment:
Where do journeys come from?
by Reg Harris
Copyright © 2007 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. Revised July 23, 2009. All rights reserved. Apart from properly cited quotes and short excerpts, no part of this article can be copied or used in any form without written permission from the author. For permission to use, please contact me.
Years ago I did an in-service presentation in which I mentioned that we tend to get the journeys we need or are ready for. After the meeting, a teacher approached me and told me that if I really believed that, I must also believe in a God who arranges those journeys for us. How else would we get the journey we’re ready to take?
There are a number of explanations, but this view from gestalt theory is one of the best.
Based on the ideas Brown is explaining, when we reach a new level of awareness, our sense of self (the gestalt of “whole” of our being) grows, opening to us greater awareness and potentials in our lives. Greater awareness disrupts our gestalt of self (we realize that we are not what we thought we were or our world is not what we thought it was). This disruption creates the necessity to form a new gestalt to incorporate the new awareness.
That disruption is resolved when we have a new personal gestalt or sense of self or gestalt of being which has assimilated the new awareness and given it meaning within our lives. Unfortunately, the new gestalt once again opens us to still greater awareness, triggering another round of growth and exploration.
In other words, each time we grow, our horizon of what is possible grows, opening us to possibilities and understandings could not have considered before. These new elements enter our awareness (become our journey) because we are ready for them, our gestalt of self is ready to deal with them. To ignore these elements is to stifle growth.
Perhaps more important is the truth that once we are aware of something outside our understanding, we can’t really ignore it. Once we have notice it, it is part of our awareness and exposes our gestalt as incomplete. We must deal with it in some way, which calls us to the journey.
And this journey, which is the result of our own growing awareness, is the journey we need. It is a journey dictated by a our own lack of understanding our own process of self discovery. The journey comes, then, from within, which is why (if we look carefully enough) we will find that we are called to the journeys that we need.
Citation information:
Author: Reg Harris
Publication Date: 2007, revised July 23, 2009
Title: Where do journeys come from?
Website: Harris Communications: Educational home of the Hero’s Journey
ULR: http://www.yourheroicjourney.com/Reading Room/ArticlesEssays/ From whence the journey.htm