I will refer once again to the circular development that I mentioned earlier, where historical or even ancient wisdom is identified within the new development by a keen observer, and/or the new development is embedded in old wisdom and folk knowledge.
This description of emotional development fits in very well with our root foundations that we identified in the Chapter on the Universal Theories of Change. After all, like gravity, time etc., in the physical world, the root foundations, with their high impact – low noticeability characteristics are central to our being in our emotional world, and have been as long as we have been human.
In fact, I believe that knowledge of them (whether conscious or unconscious) was the basis for the wisdom, stories, legends, parables etc. in ancient texts and the same knowledge always has been and still is hugely influential in art, music, drama, songs and folk memory in general.
So how do we research the extent to which emergence is nurtured, identity is honoured and fostered, the centrality or otherwise of relationship, the extent that affect is thought to be important, whether or not integration is modelled in an agency, and/or whether or not there is awareness of and thought put into phenomena such as how relationship, love and time are important, all of which we have identified as root foundations in our Universal Theory of Change.
When I am evaluating a new initiative or programme – and when I say evaluating I could mean forming an opinion from a quick visit and savouring the atmosphere or conducting a more forensic examination of all its aspects – I try and look at it through the eyes of not only the most distressed person that I know, but a person who, in the opinion of the vast majority of practitioners, is making no progress.
If I feel that the organisation will really make a difference in that person’s life, I might consider it as something that if I won the lottery (after paying off everyone I owe money to) I might consider investing in.
I will describe what I might see in the next post.