“… we extend our collective central nervous system to encompass greater swaths of existence. We do so in order to find meaning in belonging to ever richer and deeper realms of reality. Hungarian polymath Michael Polanyi sees man as ‘the innovator and explorer, passionately pouring himself into an existence closer to reality.’”
Rifkin J. “The Empathic Civilization. The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis.” Penguin, NY, 2009.
“implicit in developmental theory is the perception that each succeeding stage, era, or form of consciousness is better in that each represents a capacity to account for more, to handle greater complexity, and thereby provide the potential for greater inclusivity. … a sober assessment of the competencies of mind and soul that social-environmental justice requires. In other words, if justice is a matter of who and what is included or excluded, then just as complex perspective taking is essential to adequate moral reasoning so too the character of one’s composition of the whole of reality (one’s meaning-making) determines what one finds tolerable and intolerable.
… human beings develop ‘because we need to.’ We recompose purpose, meaning, and (meaning-making) when we encounter the other (other people, other knowledge, other experience) in such a way that ‘we are left with no other choice, short of blocking out what we can no longer block out with any degree of honesty.’ When human development happens well, we embrace a new way of interpreting the world because it can account for things that the old way no longer could. We can acknowledge considerations previously ignored, take more facts into account, and extend hospitality to questions that earlier we could not entertain.
… requires incessant recomposing of what is true for the self in relationship to a world of others.”
Parks SD. Big questions, worthy dreams. Mentoring young adults in their search for meaning, purpose, and faith. John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco, 2000.
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