Journey process works toward equilibrium
PIAGET'S THEORY OFFERS INSIGHT
INTO THE HERO'S JOURNEY PROCESS
"Thought of the Week" for
March 27,
2000
Note: Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist and philosopher who is famous for his work in pedagogy and mental development.
Piaget has borrowed [the concept of
equilibrium] from physics and has modified it to apply to human
intelligence. The concept of equilibrium...refers to a state of balance or harmony between at least
two elements which have previously been in a stage of
disequilibrium. Freud, for example, makes use of a similar principle
when he states that a person tends toward a release of tension. For
Piaget (unlike Freud) equilibrium does not have the connotation of a
static state of repose between a closed system and its environment.
Rather, equilibrium, when applied to intellectual processes, implies
an active balance or harmony. It involves a system of exchanges
between an open system and its surroundings. The child is always
active. He does not merely receive information from his environment
like a sponge soaking up water. Rather, he attempts to understand
things, to structure his experience, and to bring coherence and
stability to his world. Thus, a cognitive system which has attained
a high degree of equilibrium is not at rest. It interacts with the
environment. The system attempts to deal with environmental events
in terms of its structures (assimilation), and it can modify itself
in line with environmental demands (accommodation). When in
equilibrium, the cognitive system need not distort events to
assimilate them; nor need it change very much to accommodate to new
events. Equilibrium then, involves activity, openness, and a state
of relative harmony with the environment.
Herbert Ginsburg and Sylvia Opper. (1969) Piaget's
theory of intellectual development:
Comment:
Piaget and the Hero's Journey
by Reg Harris
Copyright © 2000 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. Updated October 7, 2007. 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.
Jean Piaget's concept of cognitive equilibrium
closely parallels the fundamental processes in the Heroic Journey
pattern. In fact, when I describe the Journey process at seminars
for teachers, I often use the words "equilibrium" and "harmony" to
describe the Return.
We tend to forget at times that we and our
environment are not two separate, individual things. We really are a
system, a dance where we and our environment are two sides of one
experience, one consciousness. We could apply the concept of
equilibrium to our environment as well as our own cognition. What we
do affects our environment, and the environment adjusts to maintain
equilibrium.
We see the concept of equilibrium in Chinese
philosophy, as well. Taoist thought, for example, includes the
concept of "mutually arising opposites" or "mutually arising order."
Nothing arises in life without its opposite or balance -- that which
maintains equilibrium. Wealth cannot arise without poverty, tall
cannot arise without short, and light cannot arise without dark.
Similarly, problems do not arise without their own harmonic element,
or solution. Because of our bias, we may not see the solution
immediately or like it when we find it, but it is always there. It
must be there, because everything carries its own equilibrium.
In the Heroic Journey, we exist in our known
world, a world of relative balance and equilibrium.
However, when that balance is upset, either by
an internal or external force, we are called to change, called to
accommodate or reorganize our way of seeing and dealing with life.
It is a constant process, and if we shut ourselves from it, as in
the Call Refused, we will experience negative side of growth, which
is emotional withering, along with the defensiveness, paranoia,
bitterness and self hate which accompany it.