Lifetime Montessori: Self-Development Through the Stages Beyond Childhood and Youth

7/24/2019 Lifetime Montessori: Self-Development Through the Stages Beyond Childhood and Youth

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Lifetime Montessori:

Self-Development Through the Stages

Beyond Childhood and Youth

by Kaya Jacolev

Core Faculty: Philip Gang and Marsha Morgan

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of ReuirementsFor the !egree of Master of "ducation

#he $nstitute for "ducational Studies %#$"S&

"ndicott College

January' ())*


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+bstract

#his paper theori,es that Montessori education at all levels

is based on the principle of self-creation or autopoiesis.

#his Culminating Pro/ect considers the implications arisingout of a convergence of attachment theory and recent

research in neuroscience that has reversed the previously-

held vie0 that neural organi,ation is virtually 1hard-0ired2

during the earliest years of human development. 3hile

recogni,ing the critical importance of early e4perience indetermining 0hich genetic potentials 0ill be e4pressed'

current research suggests that neural integration issupported by both interpersonal attunement %in human

relationships& and intrapersonal attunement %in mindful

a0areness& through all stages of life. #he current studyalso considers Montessori principles' Roberto +ssagioli5s

psychosynthesis' process psychology' and

phenomenological inuiry as possible sources of insight

into 0ays of 0or6ing 0ith ourselves and one another tosupport ongoing self-development. #he research practicum

dra0s upon elements from each of these approaches in anattempt to formulate a replicable model for co-creativegroup 0or6 in 0hich all participants are both teachers and

learners' or 1co-researchers'2 in a process of mutual

discovery. #raditional forms of education and sociali,ationhave not supported this 6ind of self-directed learning. +ll

of the pressing problems facing us in the 0orld today

demand that 0e turn around and ta6e a different approach7one that empo0ers individuals to 0or6 1from the inside

out2 rather than 1from the outside in.2 Preliminary

evidence from this initial effort suggests that it may be an

effective means to support authentic personal presence'enhanced intersub/ectivity' and restoration of a sense of

participation in the dynamic unfolding of the Cosmos.

i


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+c6no0ledgements

$ 0ish to e4press my deep appreciation for the 0illingness of the

participants' my co-researchers in this e4periment' the 8rcas Po!. 9ou have

sho0n me 0hat can happen 0hen 0e come together in a partnership of discovery'open to an emerging process of development' engaging in the practice of

dialogue' e4ploring the parado4 of duality' finding ne0 po0ers of discernment'

and the presence of divinity embedded in the perception of dynamism inherent in

our everyday living.

$ o0e a special debt of gratitude to !eborah Martyn' 0ho generously

opened her home to us' providing a 0onderfully 0arm and nurturing atmospherefor our meetings. She demonstrated daily the three elements 0hich Roberto

+ssagioli %*;;& suggested 1modern people must learn in order to become sane

and complete beings: the art of resting, the art of contemplation, the art oflaughing and smiling.2

$ am grateful also to the dear friends 0ho provided refuge over these past

t0o years during periods of study and 0riting: Robert ". Kragen %


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?otes on Style and


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!edicated to the life'

0or6' and memory of

Maria Montessori

%;A*-*B(&

Roberto +ssagioli%;;;-*A&

Druno @uber

%*E)-***&

+le4ander =o0en

%*)-());&

iv


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#+D=" 8F C8?#"?#S

+bstract.....i

+c6no0ledgments...ii

?otes on Style and


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)A&T $

Listening to "ur ",n Stories:

+rom Attahment to Attunement

. . . as people engage together to learn more abouttheir collective identity' it affects them as

individuals in a surprising 0ay. #hey are able to

see ho0 their personal patterns and behaviorscontribute to the 0hole. #he surprise is that they

then ta6e responsibility for changing themselves.

Margaret 3heatley

Leadership and the New Science:Discovering Order in a Chaotic World


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A Ba..le of (oies

$ remember a certain moment' nearly ten years ago' 0hen $ began to notice

that 0herever $ 0ent the voices around me' 0hile engaged 0ith many different

topics of conversation' seemed to be e4pressing a common theme: #he educational

system is failing. !iseases and degenerative conditions are reaching epidemic

proportions %0ith rising rates of obesity' diabetes' depression' alcoholism and

substance abuse' +l,heimer5s' autism' autoimmune disorders' and cancer&' 0hile

the health care system is gro0ing li6e a cancer. 3e can5t afford health insurance.

Social Security is going to run out of money by the year ()*. Marriage is being

replaced by 1serial monogamy2 and same-se4 1unions2. Families are brea6ing

do0n. . . . Suddenly the babble of voices seemed to resolve into a single' repeated

refrain: 1Its ust not wor!ing an"more#2

$n the face of such 0idespread dysfunction in our human institutions' not

6no0ing 0hat else to do' 0e continue on as best 0e can' 0ith increasing levels of

stress and an4iety. Sometimes it seems to me that our problems seem to be

multiplying in proportion to the sophistication of our attempts at 1problem

solving.2 9et' 0e have only to turn the focus of our attention a0ay from the realm

of human culture and civili,ation to find a seemingly endless variety of life

functioning around us and 0ithin us' literally under our feet and 0ithin the cells of

our o0n bodies' 0ithout the benefit of conscious human direction or a0areness.

Christopher +le4ander %*A*& 0rites

+ll those things 0hich 0e loosely call nature7the grass' the trees' the0inter 0ind' deep blue 0ater' the yello0 crocuses' fo4es' and the rain7in

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short the things 0hich man has not made7are /ust those things 0hich are

true to their o0n nature. #hey are /ust those things 0hich are perfectly

reconciled 0ith their o0n inner forces. +nd the things 0hich are not

1nature2 are /ust those things 0hich are at odds 0ith their o0n inner forces%p. ;&.

@o0 is it that our human nature has come to be considered something so

apart%meaning separate& from the rest of nature' rather than being a part$for us'

admittedly the most important part7of itI 3hy do 3estern people of the (st

century e4perience such inner distressI 8ur shared collective reality is often

characteri,ed as 1the struggle for survival25 on a planet 0ith 1shrin6ing resources.2

@ave 0e reached a bifurcation point from 0hich the human species' habituated to a

competitive dynamic' is moving in a limit-cycle pattern to0ards e4tinctionI 8r' is

it possible that 0e might be in transition to a ne0 phase in 0hich the balance tips in

the direction of cooperationI "lisabet Sahtouris %()))& 0rites:

3hen 0e loo6 ane0 at evolution' 0e see not only that other species have

been as troublesome as ours' but that many a fiercely competitive situation

resolved itself in a cooperative scheme. . . . $n fact' those ancient bacteriainvented technologies of energy production' transportation and

communications' including a 3orld3ide3eb still in e4istence today'during their competitive phase and then used those very technologies tobind themselves into the cooperative ventures that made our o0n e4istence

possible. $n the same 0ay' 0e are no0 using essentially the same

technologies' in our o0n invented versions' to unite ourselves into a singlebody of humanity that may ma6e yet another ne0 step in "arths evolution

possible. %p. *&

#he spread of digital technology is generally hailed as the driving force

behind an emerging ne0 paradigm of connectivity. @o0ever' the use of such terms

as intelligence' memor"' and languagein the conte4t of computers fosters'

according to Frit/of Capra %**&' 1a serious misunderstanding2 %p. (AB&. #hese

terms previously denoted human characteristics that' as recent advances in

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neuroscience demonstrate' are ine4tricably lin6ed 0ith emotions and embodied

sensing. #he price paid for this ne0 ease in e4changing information seems to be a

lessening of immediate contact' a moving a0ay from the sort of face-to-face

communication that formed the original conte4t for the evolution of the human

brain' language and society %Fouts' **A&. Remember the telephone advertising

slogan: 1Reach out and touch5 someoneI2 from some years bac6I ?o0 0e tal6 on

our cell phones' from 0herever 0e happen to be' often in a public place surrounded

by others doing the same thing7tal6ing over the air 0aves rather than to the

person right ne4t to us. 8r' 0e reach out to friends and family across cyberspace'

only a fe0 mouse clic6s or 6eystro6es a0ayL

#here is' ho0ever' another gift brought to us by technology 0hich' $

believe' may be eually important in forming a ne0 paradigm7the image of our

planet "arth as seen from space. Perhaps the old saying that 1+ picture is 0orth a

thousand 0ords2 0as never so trueL


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#he beautiful ?+S+ satellite Dlue Marble %http:000.earthball.com&

imagery seems to touch people' from small children to the elderly' in a very deep

0ay. $t conveys a message that is nonverbal and even visceral in its effect. $t

seems to confirm a reality that many aboriginal and traditional spiritual teachings

have communicated through the ages: a


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flo0 of information. 3hile this may not al0ays allo0 for a rapid discrimination of

information from dis-information' it is nevertheless a democrati,ing factor' 0ith the

effect of some0hat leveling the playing field. $t allo0s at least 1one man' one

voice'2 if not 1one man' one vote.2 More importantly' perhaps' it seems to be

facilitating cooperative organi,ation along local and regional lines to act directly on

immediate concerns. 3hen "lisabet Sahtouris %()))& spo6e hopefully of humanity

learning to 1adopt cooperation in favor of competition'2 she 0ent on further to say'

1#he necessary systems have already been invented and developedN 0e lac6 only

the understanding' motive' and 0ill to use them consciously in achieving a

cooperative species maturity2 %p. *&.

$t seems that 0e are rapidly coming to understand that a catastrophic future

a0aits us if human6ind is unable to change its current course. =ogic dictates that'

surely' the necessary motivation and resolve 0ould follo0 uic6ly upon such a

reali,ation. Systems theory and the Gaia theory have given us a ne0 conception of

the self-organi,ing nature of planetary life' as 0ell as a more humbling vie0 of our

participatory role in it %Driggs O Peat' ***N Capra' **&. +t the same time' the

combined application of systems theory and ne0 imaging technologies used to

study the human brain are continuing to e4pand the understanding of our o0n inner

0or6ings.

Recent findings in the field of neuroscience cast light on some of the

reasons 0hy logic freuently fails us and 0hy maturity' at least on a mass level' has

been so difficult to attain. +t the same time' a dramatic reappraisal of


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neuroplastiity' the human brain5s capacity for 1re0iring2 itself' suggests that it

may be possible to find ne0 0ays to change our minds %Ratey' ())(&.

+orgetting "ur Mother Tongue

@o0 did humannature come to be removed from natureI $f 0e loo6 at the

more than si4 billion people on the planet today' 0e can see that there are human

beings representing many different stages in the continuum of human cultural

development. #here are still small populations living in the manner of Stone +ge

man in remote areas of ?e0 Guinea' the +ma,on basin' and %perhaps still' though

close to disappearing'& southern +frica. +t the other end of the spectrum 0e find

large populations of city d0ellers 0ho live in environments that are almost entirely

composed of human artifacts' rarely see a night s6y free of artificial light' and may

have never e4perienced a 0ilderness or unspoiled nature.

$n recent decades there has been a gro0ing interest in shamanic studies' not

only among academics' but also on the part of ordinary people see6ing to use

aboriginal 0isdom for self-development and healing arts practitioners attempting to

apply aboriginal healing techniues in alternative therapy. #his seems to reflect

recognition of the e4tent to 0hich modern 3estern culture has become removed

from sources of 0isdom and healing in the natural 0orld. $n %he Spell of the

Sensuous: &erception and Language in a 'ore(%hen()uman World' !avid +bram

%**& points out that:

Mimic6ing the indigenous shamans curative methods 0ithout his intimate6no0ledge of the 0ider natural community cannot' if $ am correct' do

anything more than trade certain symptoms for others' or shift the locus of

dis-ease from place to place 0ithin the human community. For the source

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of stress lies in the relation *etweenthe human community and the natural

landscape. %p. (&

@is vie0 that the alienation of human consciousness from the natural 0orld

is related to the rise of literacy is shared by other researchers. $n %he Origin of

Consciousness in the +rea!down of the +icameral 'ind' Julian Jaynes %*A& also

lin6s this 0ith a 1neurological reorgani,ation of hemispheric relations2 %p. EA&.

Similarly' in %he lpha*et -ersus the .oddess: %he Conflict +etween Word and

Image' =eonard Shlain %**;& traces a historical transition from an image-based

form of a0areness to a literacy-driven one' bringing along 0ith it a linear

perception of time and an assumed mandate to ta6e control of the natural 0orld.

#he burning alive of tens of thousands of 0omen %most of them herbalistsand mid0ives from peasant bac6grounds& as 0itches during the si4teenth

and seventeenth centuries may usefully be understood as the attempted' and

nearly successful' e4termination of the last orally preserved traditions of"urope--the last traditions rooted in the direct' participatory e4perience of

plants' animals' and elements--in order to clear the 0ay for the domination

of alphabetic reason over a natural 0orld increasingly construed as a

passive and mechanical set of ob/ects. %+bram **' p.**&

3ith those famous three 0ords' 1Cogito ergo sum'2 !escartes announced the

ascendancy of reflective thought over all bodily-mediated e4perience in the

discourse of educated men %#arnas' ())' p. E&. $n the conte4t of such a 0orld-

vie0' 0omen' generally 6no0n to be unduly sensible to physical states' 0ould

obviously have little to contribute to the uest for 6no0ledgeL

$t is interesting to consider the fact that the languages used for the

transmission of 6no0ledge' ancient Gree6 and =atin' had not been anyone5s mother

tongue since the classical period of Greece and Rome. #hey 0ere the languages

spo6en by the Church Fathers and' through the agency of this undeniably

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patriarchalinstitution' remnants of classical culture 0ere preserved through the

period 6no0n as the !ar6 +ges and passed on to the nascent universities 0hich

sprang up in the t0elfth and thirteenth centuries. #he dogma of the Roman

Catholic Church held out the e4ample of the mother of Jesus as a model of

1redeemed2 femininity: through the miracle of the virgin birth' Mary transcended

the taint of physicality. 8rdinary 0omen could hardly hope to emulate this

remar6able featL

$t is impossible not to notice the close connection bet0een matterand the

=atin mater' meaning mother. Spirit and matter' in principle' came to be considered

separate realms. +s long as they did not challenge the primacy of ecclesiastical

authority in spiritual matters' scholars could no0 pursue 6no0ledge of the physical

0orld 0ith impunity. #he alchemists' forerunners of modern scientists' had

pursued their e4periments 0ith some sense of a0e and trembling before the

mysterious nature of the processes in 0hich they 0ere participating. Perhaps they

0ere trembling' as 0ell' at the threat posed by $nuisitors at the door. Francis

Dacon e4pressed' rather indelicately' the emboldened attitude of this ne0ly

liberated endeavor: 1Science' he said' 0ould flourish 0hen men gre0 up and

stopped e4pecting her to unveil herself at their reuest' but instead hounded nature

and tortured her secrets from her2 %Sahtouris' ()))' pp. (EB-(E&.

3illis @arman %**;& ma6es the point that in modern times the pursuit and

dissemination of 6no0ledge became a top-do0n affair. #he logic of the mind and

analy,able dataare presumed to be the only reliable indices of reality. $n

accordance 0ith this vie0 the sensing of a human sub/ect is suspect unless it can be

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uantified in some 0ay. @o0ever' the irreducibleparticularit" of individual

human e4perience is an ongoing affront to the conceit that Science can ultimately

unloc6 all the secrets of the


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economy %Gang *;*' p. ;&. #he salient feature of such a system is its

instrumentality. #he student is sub/ected to a process of compulsory molding to

meet e4ternal reuirements 0ith little regard for his intrinsic value or individuality.

#he proffered re0ards are also e4ternal71success2 measured in terms of money

and status.

#hese depersonali,ing factors 0hich are characteristic of the traditional

educational environment obscure an even more potent internal effect that seems to

be entailed in the process of gaining literacy.

$n contact 0ith the 0ritten 0ord a ne0' apparently autonomous' sensibility

emerges into e4perience' a ne0 self that can enter into relation 0ith its o0nverbal traces' can vie0 and ponder its o0n statements even as it is

formulating them' and can thus refle4ively interact 0ith itself in isolationQitalicsadded from other persons and from the surrounding' animate earth.

%+bram **' p. (BB&

$t could be argued that this effect has been 0ith us for as long as humans have been

using a pen' uill' stylus' or 6eyboard to record their thoughts. @o0ever' could it

also be that the sense of isolation e4perienced by the individual refle4ive self is

increasingly amplified as it becomes more 0idespread on the planetI

Living 'ords

Pondering the uestion of literacy and the role of education in shaping our

relation to our environment and to one another' $ 0as reminded of something $ read

many years ago. + teacher in ?e0 ealand' Sylvia +shton-3arner %*(' *A&

0rote t0o boo6s describing her very different e4periences 0ith children in t0o

very different cultural conte4ts. She had developed a teaching method centered on

0hat she called 18rganic =anguage.2 3or6ing 0ith a group of predominantly


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Maori children 0ho had not been faring very 0ell 0ith more traditional educational

techniues' she used their o0n personal language' rather than the usual primers' to

initiate them into 0ritten language.

@aving set up various activities to 6eep a large group of children occupied'

she then too6 the children one-by-one. She 0ould engage a child in conversation

and elicit one or a fe0 0ords that represented something of personal interest. She

0ould 0rite each 0ord slo0ly and carefully on a card' sho0 it to the child'

pronouncing it clearly' and then put it a0ay. #he ne4t day she 0ould sho0 it

again. $f the child remembered it' it 0ould go into a pile to be retained as 1his o0n

0ords2N if not' it 0as uietly removed and the procedure 0as continued. #he

children 0ould practice tracing the letters 0ith their fingers' pronouncing their

0ords to themselves and then copying them. #hese 0ere the first steps in a process

that 0ent on to sharing each other5s 0ords' follo0ed by 0riting and reading their

o0n illustrated stories.

Many of these ideas 0ould be familiar to a Montessori-trained educator. $n

the first decade of the () thCentury' Maria Montessori' an $talian physician' had also

departed from traditional educational practices by instituting an approach based on

observing the interests and capacities of children as individuals. @er 1method2

eventually spread throughout the 0orld and 0as e4tended to secondary education.

$n both approaches' 6ey elements 0ere lin6ing the spo6en language the children

already possessed %their o0n 0ords&' movement %tracing the seuence of letter

shapes representing the sounds&' and images %dra0ing&' to create a narrative

%stories&. +shton-3arner emphasi,ed that she avoided critici,ing the content of the

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children5s e4pression' correcting only the mechanics' grammar and spelling. 3hile

the ferocity of their e4pression sometimes unsettled her' she noted that the children

most prone to pic6ing fights 0ould often dramatically calm do0n after e4pressing

their feelings in 0ords and pictures.

Such a simple uestion to as6: 13hat is your 0ord todayI2L 3hat she 0as

doing 0as' in effect' as6ing the same uestion that Marshall Rosenberg %())E& has

identified as fundamental to his approach' 0hich is variously 6no0n as ?onviolent

Communication' Compassionate Communication' or 1Giraffe =anguage.2 @e

0ould freuently as6'13hat is alive for you todayI2 #his simple uestion and'

more importantly the attitude framing it %0hich he calls empathi listening&'

creates a space' provides an opening' and invites the 0hole person7body' mind'

and feelings7to step through. $n other 0ords' it supports and empo0ers a sense of

personal integration.

+fter her initial success 0ith the Maori children' +shton-3arner 0ent on to

other teaching situations in ?e0 ealand. Dased on her reputation' eventually she

received an invitation to teach in a private school in Colorado. $t 0as an innovative

school serving children from professional or other0ise financially 0ell-off families.

+nd here her method' based on touching a chord of emotional significance in the

personal 0orld of each child' struc6 a 1dumb2 note. Some of the children 0ere

hyperactive and seemed unable to focus' others seemed completely passive and

apathetic' and most of the remainder 0ere tractable to direct approach but did not

seem to develop a sustained interest. She professed to being at a loss. #hese

children 0ere simply not responsive to her approach and she didn5t 6no0 0hat to

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ma6e of it. $t seemed to her as if they had come from a different planet7one 0ith

a technologically advanced civili,ation' but 0hose relational landscape seemed

curiously barren %+shton-3arner' *A&.

8n the one hand' the children in ?e0 ealand had come from families beset

by many of the problems that often go along 0ith economic disadvantage' such as

underemployment' chronic illness' and alcoholism. 8n the other' these +merican

children seemed privileged 0ith every material advantage. #hey had parents 0ho

sought out' and 0ere able to pay for' the best education available. #hey didn5t

seem lac6ing in intelligenceN they only seemed to be ine4plicably lac6ing in affectL

3hat could account for the differenceI

Listening for the Story Behind the 'ords

+lthough the main focus of my concern is 0ith adults' $ have ta6en this

e4cursion into +shton-3arner5s story because $ sense that it goes to the heart of the

difficulty 0hich $ am attempting to identify and address. Montessori5s pioneering

0or6 on behalf of children 0as fired by her belief that a ne0 0orld' a peaceful

0orld' could only be built by a ne0 human being' freed from the 1poisonous

pedagogy2 %Miller' *;E& and pre/udices of the past %Montessori' **b/*A(&.

She believed that the inherently spiritual nature of the child' allo0ed to pursue the

0or6 of self-construction 0ithout misguided interference' could sho0 the 0ay to a

better future.

$n the past century her vision has materiali,ed in the spread of Montessori

education 0orld-0ide on the primary' elementary' high school' and even toddler-


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age levels. +dditionally' many of her insights into the true nature of children and

specific pedagogical materials and techniues' originally considered radical' have

been 0idely corroborated and have found their 0ay' often piecemeal' into

mainstream education. $n/ducation for a New World %*&/*;*& Montessori

spo6e hopefully of the 1ne0 human2 0ho 0ould appear as a result of this 0or6' yet

0e are still a0aiting its appearance in sufficient strength to impact the 0orld5s

burgeoning social' political' and ecological problems. 8ur marvelous human

capacity for adaptation' so strongly emphasi,ed by Montessori' seems increasingly

challenged by a rapidly changing 0orld. +nd the rate of change seems to be

ine4orably accelerating 0ith each ne0 generation.

Parado4ically' 0hile the e4ternal 0orld seems to be changing faster and

faster' our individual sub/ective e4perience seems to move in the opposite direction

0ith the passing of the years. +fter the rapid personality formation 0hich ta6es

place during the first fe0 years of life' the effects of familial' educational' and

social conditioning7the necessary adaptation to a given environment7

seem to increasingly define 0ho 0e are as development proceeds through the

school years and into young adulthood.

My o0n e4perience 0or6ing in the Montessori primary %t0o and one half

through si4 yrs.& conte4t has reaffirmed the importance of protecting the child5s

self-development during those crucial early years. Dy optimi,ing conditions during

this time' 0e potentiate the strength and resiliency of the true natureof children as

they face increasing pressures in the years to come. $mbued 0ith a confidence in

their o0n capacity to learn directly through their o0n e4perience' children have a

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stronger foundation for further education and a positive e4pectancy that can serve

to inoculate them against %0hat $ 0ill unapologetically call& the heritable disease of

received 6no0ledge. 8ur tendency to privilege 6no0ledge received from outside

authority over our o0n sensory and bodily-derived inner 6no0ing is absorbed

initially from our parents' 0ho learned this 0ay of being from theirparents.

Montessori training focuses mainly on the three-pronged activity of

observing the needs of each child' preparing an appropriate environment' and

inducing the child5s self-directed activity in the environment. +bsorbed by the

challenge of forging a lin6age bet0een these three' it is not surprising that 0e can

forget that these hours spent in the Casa dei +am*ini %Children5s @ouse&' as

significant as they may be' are still the smaller portion of the child5s current life

e4perience. For the young child especially' the relationship 0ith parents and the

home environment are still strongly determinative. 9et' in the usual 0ay of things'

teachers and parents rarely have much opportunity to communicate beyond the

admissions intervie0' the brief e4changes of arrival and departure' sharing practical

information' and t0ice-yearly conferences.

Many times $ have been perple4ed to hear teachers say ho0 they 1dread2

parent conferences and regret having to spend time %0hich' of course' al0ays seems

to be in short supply& 1dealing 0ith the parents instead of the children.2 #his has

been hard for me to understand because' in my e4perience' these times spent

communicating 0ith parents have often seemed absolutely invaluable7for me' for

the parents' and also for the children themselves. 8ftentimes' the child as seen

through the eyes of the parent sounds li6e a different child from the one $ have


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come to 6no0 in the classroom. "4changing these vie0s of the child is often eye-

opening all aroundN heorshe is often seen in a fuller dimensionality. 8ften $ 0ould

hear that the little girl 0ho is such a chatterbo4 at school is the uiet one among her

siblings at home or that the boy 0ho tries to snea6 e4tra turns at the snac6 table is a

1resistant2 eater at home. @mmm' ho0 interestingL

For all concerned' these shared observations serve to heighten our

appreciation of the comple4ity' individuality' and adaptability of these little people.

#hey also ma6e us more a0are of the transparency %invisibility to us as adults& of

our o0n e4pectations' assumptions' and pro/ections. #his is both humbling and

heartening. Parents' learning of the different aspects and behaviors manifested by

their child in the classroom' sometimes sho0 a relief from %over&concern and a ne0

curiosity about this person that they thought they 6ne0 so 0ellL 8n the other hand'

as a teacher' items about the parent or family situation that pop out often give

insight into the inner 0orld of the child that no amount of observation in the

classroom could reveal.

From this sharing of observations that gives rise to a 0ider vie0 of the life

of the child' 0e get an in6ling of ho0 the child is part of a family system that has

mutually interdependent effects. Perhaps 0e have seen parent and child together

regularly' in passing' and have some sense of the tone of their interactions or typical

0ays of relatingN unfortunately not' if another caregiver provides daily

transportation. 8ften parent-teacher conversations are initiated by some inuiry

regarding observed changes in a child5s mood or behavior' 0hether ma/or or minor.

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Something going on at home7a ne0 baby' ill sibling' parental discord' an

approaching move7al0ays affects the child5s sense of security.

More and more $ found myself listening for the story behind the 0ords. $

came to reali,e that listening to parents describing their situation often seems to

reveal much more than the immediate facts' feelings' and reactions. $t also gives

insight into ho0 the particular parent and child construct their vie0 of the 0orld.

8nly recently' as $ have become acuainted 0ith the area of research 6no0n as

attahment theory' have $ begun to reali,e the full significance of these

observations' not only for young children' but for adults as 0ell.

"ut of My Mother0s Mouth

3e 6no0 that the human personality and perceptual apparatus undergo

formation from the earliest days of life. #he 1absorbent mind'2 as Montessori

%**a/*A& called it' is formed in relation to 0hat it e4periences. She

emphasi,ed ho0 the infant sensitively responds to the wholeof his environment.

$n the last one hundred years' since the inception of Montessori5s pioneering 0or6

0ith young children' psychologists and researchers have mapped out ho0 much of

this process of development ta6es place in minute detail.

Drain development occurs during periods of e4uberant neural gro0th and

connectivity calledsensitive periods%traditionally called critical periods&

that greatly facilitate learning. . . . Decause of the timing of e4tremely active

periods of neural gro0th' learning during sensitive periods has a greaterimpact on neural structure and behavioral functioning than e4periences

during non-sensitive periods. %Co,olino' ())(' pp. A;-A*&

$n recent decades the understanding of ho0 various mental processes are

functionally carried out via the brain and nervous system has gro0n enormously. +

;


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number of the resulting reali,ations have important ramifications for the field of

education. 8lder theories' based largely on research 0ith patients suffering damage

due to in/ury and disease' and resultant surgical interventions' attempted to

associate specific areas of the brain 0ith specific functions. #his 0as dramatically

demonstrated by the famous e4periments in 0hich the surgeon 3ilder Penfield

repeatedly sho0ed ho0 stimulation of specific locations in the brain could produce

the recollection of vivid memories. $n addition to identifying the particular

structures involved' this entailed actually tagging pac6ets of information to specific

locations in the brain %Sch0art, O Degley' ())(' p. *&.

?e0er theories' based on non-invasive imaging technologies that allo0 the

e4amination of a living brain functioning nonpathologicall"' build on these

previous theories to present a much more comple4 picture. #he emphasis has no0

shifted to understanding ho0 0idely distributed neural net0or6s function as

integrated circuits. #he e4perience of a memory arising' for instance' is no0

understood to be the result of activation of a cascade of neural events distributed

0idely across different areas and structures 0ithin the brain' rather than the

stimulation of discrete locations 0here information is stored. #he shaping of these

net0or6s in an individual occurs as a result of specific e4perience:

Genes contain the information for the general organi,ation of the brains

structure' but e4perience determines 0hich genes become e4pressed' ho0'

and 0hen. #he e4pression of genes leads to the production of proteins that

enable neuronal gro0n and the formation of ne0 synapses. "4perience7the activation of specific neural path0ays7therefore directly shapes gene

e4pression and leads to the maintenance' creation' and strengthening of the

connections that form the neural substrate of the mind %Siegel' ***' p. &.

*


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Some0here in every discussion of this sub/ect' it seems' homage must be

paid to @ebb5s =a0' 0hich sums it up 0ith elegant simplicity as:Neurons that fire

together, wire together %=e!ou4' ())(' p. A*&0 #his process of structural

differentiation %also called arbori,ation&' 0hich is referred to as activit"(dependent'

helps to e4plain' in biological terms' the clinical observations of many researchers

in early child development during the last century' notably Do0lby' Fairbairn'

3innicott' and Mahler. $t helps us to understand 0hy the first care-giving

relationship plays such a critical role in the development of human personality.

$t may be precisely because there is so much neural gro0th and organi,ation

during sensitive periods that early interpersonal e4periences are far moreinfluential than those occurring later in life. #he fact that they are visceral

and preverbal ma6e them even more resistant to change. Decause ournet0or6s are unconsciously sculpted during early interactions' 0e all

emerge into self-a0areness preprogrammed by unconsciously organi,ed

neural net0or6s %Co,olino' ())(' p. ;)&.

#hese visceral and preverbal e4periences are encoded in 0hat is termed

impliitmemory. 1pliitmemory includes semantic %factual& and episodic

%narrative& forms of recall' 0hose encoding reuires attentional focus' that is' the

ability to focus on /ust those elements of a situation that are relevant to the tas6 at

hand. #he operation of implicit memory does not re1uire conscious attentionN the

remar6able fact is that 0e are not even a0are that something is being recalled. $t is

transparent to us' forming a scaffolding of mental models through 0hich 0e

unconsciously vie0 the 0orld. #he templates formed by these mental models

actually filter our perceptions so that' out of the massive array of sensory input that

bombards us at every 0a6ing moment' our attentional focus is dra0n to /ust those

()


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elements that are most relevant to us according to our personal e4perience as

encoded in implicit memory.

@o0' then' do 0e uncover the implicit or unconscious beliefs molding our

uniuely personal sense of ho0 the 0orld 0or6sI 3hat 0e thin!may be less

important in this case than ho0 0efeel0 #he neuroscientist +ntonio !amasio

%***&describes this as 1the feeling of 0hat happens.2 +ccording to his theory'

representations of prototypical interactions of self and other form the cognitive

structures 0e use to ma6e sense of the 0orld. +s 0e have seen' the implicit level

of our mental processes is' by its very nature' not accessible to direct conscious

approach. 9et 0e are' at times' brought face-to-face 0ith an uncomfortable

disparity bet0een 0hat 0e have thought and 0hat 0e find ourselves actually doing.

Might inuiry at these points provide a means of entry into this hidden area of our

beingI

#hrough many years of raising my o0n three children' as 0ell as 0or6ing

0ith adults as a counseling astrologer' $ have come to appreciate the dilemma

universally encountered by parents. 3e enter upon raising children as an

opportunity to begin the 0orld ane0 only to discover 0ith dismay that 0e are

inadvertently passing on many patterns' often associated 0ith our family of origin'

that 0e had consciousl"determined to avoid. Sometimes all of the self-6no0ledge

gained through hard-0on e4perience and our heartfelt best intentions seem to fall

painfully short. $n certain timeless moments 0e are shoc6ed to hear ourselves

spea6ing 0ords that seem right out of the mouth of our mother or feel a 0ave of

shame as our child innocently spouts a 1bad2 0ord. Momentarily' 0e may feel

(


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frighteningly out-of-control and 0e may also notice a confused e4pression in the

eyes of the child loo6ing bac6 at us. Siegel %***& comments on this distressing

situation as follo0s:

#here is a direct connection bet0een ho0 past e4periences have shapedimplicit memory and ho0 they are reactivated in the setting of being 0ith a

child. $f parents do not recogni,e this lin6' then they are at ris6 of enacting'

0ithout conscious a0areness' learned behaviors and emotional responsesthat 0ill dominate their actions and create their children5s attachment

e4periences. %p. )&.

8ftentimes 0e only become a0are of the rough spots in our o0n adaptation 0hen

0e encounter them in the process of parenting our children. #rying to fulfill our

role as a parent at the same time that 0e find ourselves e4periencing an up0elling

from 0ithin of painful' unresolved feelings from our o0n childhood can seem li6e

the proverbial 1Catch-((.2

Mothers and "ther Strangers

3e have seen ho0 implicit memory subconsciously molds our perceptionsN

it is operating on a much deeper level than our conscious a0areness. +s the Polish

philosopher @enry6 S6olimos6i %*;& says' 1#he structure of our mind

continuously impresses itself on the order of reality. #he order of reality is really

the order of the mind2 %p. )&. $n other 0ords' our perception of reality is really

/ust that7ourperception of reality.


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0ith other human beings helps to 6eep us honest 0ith ourselves and 0ith the

actualities of the 0orld around us.

@o0ever' the relationship bet0een parent and infant ta6es place in a conte4t

mar6ed by particular constraints. $n this situation' as a parent' 0e are relating to

another human being 0ho shares half of our genetic ma6eup' as 0ell as the

immediate past %the prenatal period& of our e4periential timeline' and 0ho is

developmentally onl" able to relate on visceral and preverbal levels' the domain of

implicit memory. From this perspective' it is not surprising that unresolved and'

freuently' unanticipated issues can be triggered in the parent by the care-giving

situation itself.

#raditional conceptions of the parenting role are of little use here and may

even be harmful. #here are the ideas of the baby as a 1blan6 slate2 or a 1vessel to

be filled.2 #here is also the notion that' for a 0oman' becoming a mother and' for a

man' becoming a father confer legitimacy on their status as adults. $n addition to

this' it is universally understood that the survival and 0ell-being of children largely

depends upon the good 0ill' s6ill' and material situation of their parents. +ll of

these time-honored notions have come do0n to us from traditional societies 0here

circumstances 0ere often uite different from those confronting the contemporary

nuclear family. Regardless of the particular configuration %conventional t0o-

parent' single-parent' blended' etc.&' today5s family unit is often functioning in

isolation from the familial and societal frame0or6s that may have given greater

meaning and support to these assumptions in the past.

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8n the other hand' changing gender roles and economic pressures have

combined to ma6e infant daycare' 0hich in previous eras 0as confined to

e4ceptional situations %parental death or incapacity' a prerogative of the very rich'

or necessity of the 0or6ing poor&' appear to be an option of choice. #he findings

of many researchers suggest that the personal and social costs that may be entailed

in the future by this choice may be catastrophically high %Schore' ())E&.

+ddressing this issue' +llan Schore' one of the most elouent contemporary voices

in the field of attachment theory 0rites:

#he advances in developmental psychoanalytic and neuropsychoanalytic

regulation theory suggest that early nonoptimal social environments andinsecure attachments impact not /ust later behavior' cognition' and affect but

more fundamentally' the evolution of the brain structural systems that 0illcome to regulate these functions. . . . the 0holeof child development can be

considered to be 1the enhancement of self-regulation2' and that 1attachment

relations are formative because they facilitate the development of the brain5sma/or self-regulatory mechanisms.2 %p. (AB&

+ttachment theory provides a dynamic model of the stream of development

from birth through maturity. $ts tributaries include neurobiology' infant research'

developmental psychology' psychotherapy' and social theory %Carroll' ())N Siegel'

());&. Perhaps its greatest usefulness lies in the fact that it is able to integrate

many separate lines of research into a single comprehensive frame0or6' creating a

common conceptual language' a lingua francathat facilitates collaboration across

disciplinary boundaries.

#he core idea of this theory' 0hich 0as first put forth by the Dritish

psychiatrist John Do0lby %*;;&' around the middle of the t0entieth century' 0as

that the nature of an infant5s attachment to the primary caregiver becomes

internali,ed as a 0or6ing model of relationship. $n a seureattachment the parent

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responds 0ith a degree of sensitivity to the changing states of the child' soothing

negative reactions and amplifying positive ones. #his enables the child both to

freely e4plore the environment and to see6 pro4imity 0hen danger threatens.

3hen disruptions of attunement occur' as they inevitably do' the attachment bond

is repaired by rene0ed e4periences of attunement' enabling the development of

psychological resilience.

#o investigate these ideas' Mary +ins0orth' an +merican psychologist 0ho

0or6ed 0ith Do0lby in the *B)s' developed a research format called the $nfant

Strange Situation %$SS& %Dretherton' **(&. $t studied the interactions of infants

and mothers at home over a period of time and then too6 them into a laboratory'

0here they 0ere separated and reunited under observation. #he $SS 0as conducted

over a period of t0enty minutes. First the child 0as placed in a room 0ith the

mother' then the t0o 0ere /oined by a stranger' the mother e4ited leaving the child

alone 0ith the stranger' the stranger then e4ited also leaving the child alone for

several minutes' and finally the mother 0as returned to the room. #he observed

responses of the infants fell into three distinct patterns %seure2 avoidant2 and

am.ivalent& that strongly corresponded 0ith independently performed in-home

observations

$n %he Developing 'ind:)ow 2elationships and the +rain Interact to

Shape Who We re' !aniel Siegel %***& described these patterns of infant

behavior and their ramifications in early development and throughout the lifespan.

=ouis Co,olino %())(& and +llan Schore %())E& have also e4amined parent-infant

interactions and their later implications in adulthood. $n the follo0ing paragraphs $

(B


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0ill outline some of the 6ey elements of attachment theory as described by these

researchers.

Mar/orie Main' a student of +ins0orth' subseuently pursued the uestion

of 0hat produced different parental behaviors through a research instrument 6no0n

as the +dult +ttachment $ntervie0 %++$&. $n it respondents 0ere as6ed uestions

about 0hat their e4perience of gro0ing up 0ith their o0n parents 0as li6e70hat

happened' ho0 did they feel about it' and 0hat impact did they perceive presently

in their o0n approach to relationship and parenting. 8ne of the results of this study

0as the addition of a fourth classification of 1state of mind 0ith respect to

attachment'2 disorgani3ed' to the three identified earlier in the $nfant Strange

Situation parent-child study.

+ meta-analysis of E( studies conducted in eight different countries in

various parts of the 0orld suggested that global results for the $SS 0ere similar to

those found in the


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@aving different attachment statuses dependent on the state of mind 0ith

respect to attachment of each parent %or other caregiver& is an important

factor in understanding the development of those attachment patterns. +lso'

the four prebirth research studies supports the idea that the ++$ ismeasuring some variable of a parent' not /ust some reaction of the parents to

a feature of the child5s inborn characteristics' such as temperament. %p. ;(&

=ongitudinal studies have follo0ed sub/ects across decadesN their results

suggest a persistence of attachment styles through the stages of adult life %Co,olino'

())(' ())N Schore' ())EN Siegel' ***&. $f 0e loo6 at the classifications side-by-

side' it loo6s li6e this:

1Secure2 child 1Secure /+utonomous2 adult

1+voidant2 child 1!ismissing2 adult

1+mbivalent2 child 1Preoccupied2 adult

1!isorgani,ed2 child 1


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distress upon separation and tend to ignore or avoid their parents 0hen they return.

#ypically the recollection of these parents may contain many contradictions. #here

may be a paucity of memories and they tend to be generali,ed rather than specific.

#hey may ideali,e their o0n parents at the same time that the importance of

relational e4periences is generally do0nplayed.

3hen parents are overly preoccupied 0ith their o0n concerns' they are

unable' in emotional terms' to be consistently available to their child. $n this case'

parental behavior may be inconsistent7sometimes neglecting' at other times'

intrusive. $n the Strange Situation' the child may be angry or passive and sho0

an4iety even before separation. @e or she continues to display preoccupation 0ith

the parent after the return has ta6en place and seems unable to focus on play or

e4ploration. #hese parents5 narratives evidence preoccupation 0ith relationship

issues %past and/or present& and are often rambling' lac6ing in coherence' and

emotionally tinged 0ith anger' fear' or passivity.

Doth secure attachment and the t0o classifications of insecure attachment

that have /ust been described' avoidant child-dismissive adult and ambivalent child-

preoccupied adult' are organi3ed forms of attachment in the sense that the

individual develops defensive patterns that enable him to function effectively

0ithin his relational environment. #he last of the four classifications represents a

disorgani3ed form of attachment in 0hich the infant sho0s disoriented behavior in

the presence of the parent. @e may free,e' go to0ard the parent and then turn

around and 0al6 a0ay' or cry and cling to the parent 0hile avoiding eye contact.

(;


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#he narrative of the disorgani,ed/unresolved parent typically discloses

e4periences of unresolved trauma or loss. #his is reflected in a disorgani,ed style

of discourse in 0hich there may be abrupt shifts bet0een past' present' and future

as 0ell as rapid changes in emotion or stoppages in speech. $n this parent-child

pair' the unresolved distress of the parent is unavoidably transmitted to the child'

0ho is unable to e4perience a state of repair because' parado4ically' the parent is

also the very source of his or her fear and disorientationL From his investigation of

the neurological substrate of affect regulation' +lan Schore concluded that:

Secure attachments represent the optimal balance of sympathetic and

parasympathetic arousal' 0hereas their imbalance correlates 0ith insecureattachment patterns %Schore' **&. #he balance of these t0o systems

becomes established early in life and translates into enduring patterns ofarousal' reactivity to stress' and possible vulnerability to adolescent and

adult psychopathology. %Co,olino' ())(' p. ()*&

#he disorgani,ed child and adult as described in the $SS and ++$ are clearly at ris6

for such difficulties. 8ne of the most interesting things about the ++$' ho0ever' is

that' apparently' it is not the e4perience of trauma' loss' or separation that is

indicative per se' but rather the coherence or lac6 of coherence of the narrative

response. #he significance of this fact can hardly be overmphasi,ed' as Co,olino

%())(& e4plains:

#his strongly suggests that the processing' 0or6ing through' and integrationof childhood e4periences is the relevant variable in a parent5s ability to be a

safe haven for his or her children. #his earned autonom"' through a

parent5s o0n healing of childhood 0ounds' appears able to interrupt the

transmission of negative attachment patterns from one generation to thene4t %Siegel' ***&. %p. ()&

(*


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$n My ",n (oie

#he insights derived from the convergence of neuroscience5s 1mapping2 of

mental processes in the brain and attachment research' the study of ho0

relationship e4periences affect mental processes' are contributing to a dynamic

surge of research in many related areas. =ouis Co,,olino %())(' ())' ());& and

+lan Schore %())E& have been investigating parallels bet0een the role of the first

care-giving relationship in the development of self-regulation in childhood and the

role of the therapeutic alliance' the relationship bet0een therapist and client' in

clinical psychotherapy for adults. Medical researchers have been studying

applications relating to stress-reduction' immunological response' and 0ell-being

%Kabat-inn' **&. Child psychiatrist and researcher !aniel Siegel and early

childhood educator Mary @art,ell have 0ritten a boo6 for parents' &arenting from

the Inside Out: )ow a Deeper 4nderstanding Can )elp 5ou 2aise Children Who

%hrive' 0hich gives practical guidance on parenting in the light of these

understandings.

Siegel and @art,ell %())E& suggest that 13e don5t need to have had great

parents in order to parent our o0n children 0ell. Deing a parent gives us the

opportunity to reparent ourselves by ma6ing sense of our o0n early e4periences2

%p. (;&. Dut ho0 might 0e do thisI Certainly fe0 busy parents of young children

have the time or financial resources to ta6e up psychotherapy. ?evertheless' in the

conte4t of recently revised vie0s of neural plasticity' certain aspects of attachment

theory itself suggest possible lines of approach.

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Doth Siegel %***' ())E' ())A& and Co,olino %())(' ())& have discussed

ho0 theprocessof constructing a personal narrative seems to play a role in

re0iring the brain by creating and reinforcing ne0 synaptic connections that

involve right-left' top-do0n' and bottom-up integration. $t is important to note that'

0hile attachment patterns have a tendency to persist' they also undergo

modification through ne0 e4periences. @ealing may occur as a result of later

e4periences in therapy or a love relationship' for e4ample' resulting in earned

securityN but it is also possible for unhealed traumatic e4periences to cause a short-

or long-term loss of security and coherence during any phase of life.

Psychotherapy can provide an opportunity to remember traumatic

e4periences in the presence of a supportive' empathically attuned other' integrating

past' present' and future-oriented images' and putting into 0ords 0hat could not be

spo6en of in the past. #his process seems to aid in the development of a capacity

for autonoetic thought or mindsight' the ability to reflect on one5s o0n mind and to

recogni,e the minds of others. Physicist !avid Dohm %**& referred to this as

1proprioception of thought2 and sa0 the practice of the processof dialogue as a

0ay to develop it.

+lthough they do not share the special features related to the dyadic

structure that is common to parent-child' therapeutic partnership' and romantic

relationships' some peer group situations' including t0elve-step programs' may

also provide safe and supportive opportunities for 0or6ing 0ith personal narratives.

Journal 0riting and the Japanese practice of ?ai6an %Co,olino' ())N Krech' ())(&'

in 0hich 0e 0rite letters 1from the heart2 to all of the people in our lives' are other

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0ays in 0hich 0e can engage in self-reflective communication that can help us

re0rite the stories of our lives' promoting ongoing neural integration. $t has also

been 0idely recogni,ed that e4pressive activities such as art' music' movement and

dance can have therapeutic effects' helping to free the flo0 of energy and

information in our bodies and minds in order to restore balance and integration.

#hey also provide 0ays of re-creating our stories. =ouis Co,olino %())& 0rites'

1?arratives serve neural net0or6 integration and the health of the persons 0ho tell

them and hear them2 %p. EEB&. 3hen 0e are able to tell our story in our o0n voice'

hear ourselves' and be heard by another' a form of healing ta6es place and our sense

of belonging to the human family is reaffirmed.

Conlusion to )art "ne

Might it be possible to develop effective means of supporting the lifelong

process of neural integration in the conte4t of school communitiesI +ccording to

Maria Montessori5s vie0 of the human being' the child constructs the adult'

assimilating the culture into 0hich he is born in the process. @e' in turn' helps to

build the culture that 0ill be transmitted to future generations. She vie0ed this as a

cosmic tas6 in 0hich each individual has the potential to ma6e a uniue

contribution' 0hich he alone can discover.

#his radical assertion of the absolute value of individual personhood is

aligned 0ith many revered spiritual teachings that have overshado0ed the past t0o

thousand years and more. #he Dible reads' 1Judgment is God5s'2 suggesting that

0e should not ta6e it upon ourselves to /udge others %!euteronomy' :A King

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James >ersion&. $n one of the 1lost gospels2 ne0ly rediscovered in the t0entieth

century' Jesus is uoted as saying' 1$f you bring forth 0hat is 0ithin you' 0hat you

bring forth 0ill save you. $f you do not bring forth 0hat is 0ithin you' 0hat you do

not bring forth 0ill destroy you2 %Pagels' *A*/*;*' p. (&. #his is a strong

statement' but it ma6es the point that there is definitely something 0ithin us that 0e

may bring for0ard or not' for good or for ill. #he gentler admonishment of the

Duddha Sha6yamuni' 0ho suggested that there are more than eighty thousand %a

conventional e4pression meaning unlimited& 0ays to enlightenment because there

are as many different 0ays as there are people 0ho need them' may be summari,ed

simply as the message to: 1=oo6 0ithinL2 %#ul6u


40/262

8ne of the most significant effects of mindfulness is the lessening of

automatic top(down processes that subliminally invo6e conceptions based on past

e4perience and survival mechanisms' 0ith a resultant reduction in our capacity to

directly e4perience the present. +dditionally' mindfulness has been observed to

produce a left shiftin frontal activation' 0hich is associated 0ith positive'

approachbehaviors %Siegel' ())A' p. (()&. #his is significant because an

imbalance in the direction of right hemispheric activation has been associated 0ith

negatively-charged affects' shyness' depression' and 0ithdra0al.

#his paper began 0ith a litany of the ills of the present-day 0orld. #he

suggestion 0as made that many of these problems could be traced to the top-do0n

mentality associated 0ith rationalist science and economic materialism' 0hich both

contribute to the human sense of alienation from nature and from one another.

Sylvia +shton-3arner5s pondering of the difference bet0een the economically

impoverished Maori children of ?e0 ealand and the affect-impoverished children

of +merica spurred my o0n reflection. $' too' have seen the contrast bet0een some

children 0hose seem to be brimming 0ith life and feelings and others 0ho seem

more li6e old people in young bodies' as if dulled by the pressure of nameless

an4ieties. 3hile becoming acuainted 0ith the $SS-++$ attachment

classifications' $ 0as suddenly struc6 0ith the reali,ation that +shton-3arner5s

baffled description of the children in Colorado uncannily fit the profiles associated

0ith the three forms of insecure attachmentL

$ considered 0hat cultural differences bet0een ?e0 ealand and +merica

might figure into the euation. +shton-3arner mentioned that the children in ?e0

E


41/262

ealand' 0hen not cared for by their o0n parents' 0ere being raised by relatives in

an e4tended family. She noted that many of the +merican children had been in

childcare from infancy and further remar6ed on ho0 accustomed they seemed to

the highly technological environment that she found herself struggling to adapt to.

$t occurred to me that although the Maoris' li6e many other aboriginal

peoples' had undergone "uropean coloni,ation' they had not been completely

uprooted from their native land. #heir vital connection 0ith the earth remained

relatively intact. #his is could not be said of the +merican people' 0ith the

e4ception of ?ative +mericans' many of 0hom remain notably dispossessed of

their original cultures and homelands.

#he


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been remar6ed upon as typically +merican' such as our e4treme mobility' our

eagerness to embrace anything ne0' and even our stubborn tendency to assign

value in strictly material termsI Could the 0idely-recogni,ed tendency to

addictions %Firman O Gila' **AN Jensen' ())N Schaef' *;AN S0imme' ())B& of

all sorts be related to thisI Peter Senge %**)& has described the 1general dynamics

of addiction2 %p. )& this 0ay:

+n underlying problem generates symptoms. Dut the underlying problemis difficult for people to address. So people 1shift the burden2 of their

problem to other solutions70ell-intentioned' easy fi4es 0hich seem

e4tremely efficient.


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clearly definedI @as our e4troverted 0ay of life habituated us to such a fren,ied

level of doingthat 0e are losing our human capacity for *eing$for being alone

0ith ourselves and present 0ith one anotherI #hese are very large uestions and

obviously this is not an appropriate place to try to see6 all the ans0ers' but some of

the ideas arising out of the previous discussion of attachment theory suggest

hopeful possibilities that 0e might begin to see6 needed changes on a person-by-

person basis.

!an Siegel %())A& advocates education on the nature of the mind and brain

itself as a crucial first step. @e 0rites:

3hen people7children' teens' or adults7learn about the correlations

bet0een brain function and structure' neural development and the impact ofe4perience' and ho0 their mental lives unfold' a 6ind of discernment

develops in 0hich people come to see their o0n minds in a ne0 light. #he

activity of the mind is something that can be seen on the rim from their hubof a0areness as they envision ho0 the mind uses parts of the brain to create

itself. %p. (A&

+llan Schore %())E& goes so far as to suggest that 1#he psychoneurobiological

perspective . . . clearly implies that early brain-based intervention programs'

applied on societal scales' can have far-reaching effects on not only individuals but

also on cultures2 %p. (A&. 3hile he is particularly addressing the crucial

importance of early development' there is gro0ing evidence that the principle of

1brain-based intervention2 may be applicable to all stages of life.

Siegel %***' ())E' ())A& has pointed out the common neurological basis of

interpersonalaffect regulation through relationship and intrapersonalself-

regulation through a0areness practicesN the same 6ey neural structures are activated

in both situations. 3e can e4perience attunement 0ithin ourselves and 0e can

EA


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e4perience attunement 0ith others. #hese t0o are li6e the front and bac6 of your

handN they are not really separable. "ach reuires' supports' and enhances the

other. #he original mother tongue of all human beings is the preverbal language of

embodied touch and feeling mediated through attunement' through being fully

present in consciousness to 0hat is.

$f these capacities have become compromised in us as adults' ho0 can 0e

e4pect to raise children 0ho are not similarly compromisedI $t has al0ays seemed

to me that the Montessori environment provided for young children' 0ith its array

of possibilities for self-directed activity' is therapeutic in natureN it fosters

integration. $ have been touched by the eagerness 0ith 0hich parents embrace the

brief opportunity offered on parent nights to e4plore it 1as a child2. 3hat might a

Montessori environment supporting the continued self-construction of the adult

loo6 li6eI Could such an endeavor provide a means of fostering the species-0ide

maturity envisioned by "lisabet Sahtouris %()))&I

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)A&T $$:

Ars (esta

Suddenly $ understood ho0 psychosomatic patterns come into

being and are fi4ed in tissue. + rip occurs in the social andpsychological fabric' and the body creates 6inesthetic material

to occupy it--no doubt something innocent and idle at first--

0hich then ta6es on its o0n life and creates its o0n inflatedtopology' 0hich then steals space from mobility and natural

function' 0hich then ossifies and institutionali,es itself. +ll of

these generate iconography and ego structure over a lifetime.

Richard Grossinger in

%he +od" in &s"chotherap":

In1uiries in Somatic &s"cholog"'!on @anlon Johnson and $an J. Grand %"ds.&

#he empty shell results 0hen the consciousness disavo0s the

core of the self and identifies 0ith the surface of 0ho it is.

+. @. +lmaas%he &oint of /6istence

$t is less disturbing even to theorists to thin6 in terms ofmastering instinctive drives or reconditioning behaviour

patterns rather than of helping a frightened infant inside to

gro0 up. For one thing' if this latter emphasis is correct' the

therapeutic problem cannot be solved only by analysis.

@arry Guntrip

Schi3oid &henomena, O*ect 2elations and the Self

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Perhaps a clue may be found in the remnants of a temple dedicated to >esta

0hich can still be seen in the Roman forum today. $t 0as built facing the "ast' on a

circular ground plan 0ith () Corinthian columns supporting a dome and

surrounding a simple marble platform' thefocus' 0here the sacred fire continuously

burned. #he Goddess' 0hose presence 0as identified 0ith the flame itself'

represented the irreducible ualities of life' light' and love. +n ancient @omeric

hymn proclaims:

to her 0as given to sit in the centre of the mansion' receiving the first and

choicest portions of all offeringsN she is honored in all the temples of theGods' and she is to mortals the most venerable of the goddesses. %8dhner'

*(A&

She 0as the first-born daughter among the 8lympian siblings. 9et' because

of her father Cronos5 peculiar habit of s0allo0ing his offspring' she 0as also the

last-born among them' being the last to emerge 0hen they 0ere freed by her

youngest brother eus. Choosing to remain a virgin' she remained free of the

bonds of relationship that normally defined the lives of 0omen. >esta 0as

identified 0ith purity' innocence' and single-minded devotion.

Rene0ed on the first day of each year by rubbing together t0o stic6s' her

sacred fire 0as never allo0ed to die. #he Gree6s carried it to each ne0 colony. $n

Rome the cult of >esta became identified 0ith the 0elfare of the state and her

priestesses held a uniuely privileged position commensurate 0ith the critical

importance of their duties.

8ver the centuries many household hearths have been tended by maiden

aunts and spinster sisters 0hose humble contribution to the common 0elfare has


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passed largely unnoticed. $n contrast' Christian 6ings and clerics 0ere invested

0ith robes of office to signify their status. $n the modern 0orld 0e spea6 of

investments' 0hich have become synonymous 0ith abstract' monetary values.

$t is a commonplace of conventional 0isdom that 0hatever 0e invest in

grows. 3e 6no0 that money invested in a sound business is li6ely to produce a

good return. 3hen resources are distractedly scattered about' 0ithout careful

attention to 0hat is actually going on' the result may be 0hat is sometimes

described as 1thro0ing good money after bad.2 8ur modern 0ay of life can easily

lead in the direction of a fren,ied concern 0ith having insurance coverage for every

possible eventuality. 9et 0e can forget that life insurance affords no protection

against death and medical insurance does little to actually create healthL

3e may as6 ourselves: 0here are 0e investing our most precious resources'

our time' energy and attentionI +re 0e investing them in 0ays that are increasing

our life' vitality' and present-time beingI

The Montessori Approah: 4Man the #n5no,n6

$ 0ill not recount here the story of Maria Montessori5s discovery of

previously un6no0n capacities for learning in young children and the subseuent

development of a methodology that fosters this. #he proliferation of schools

around the 0orld in the century since the initial brea6through' 0hich too6 place in

the San =oren,o uarter in Rome in *)A' and the ongoing Montessori Movement'

as it has come to be called' remain as her living legacy. 9et' it still surprises me

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ho0 many people have either never heard of Montessori at all or have very little

idea of 0hat it is about' even in her native country of $taly.

?evertheless' 0henever $ describe the Montessori approach in terms that

relate to the people $5m spea6ing 0ith and their o0n e4perience' the response is

invariably a positive one. Maria Montessori %;A)-*B(& seems to have put her

finger right on the pulse of our essential humanity. $ believe that this confirms the

e4tent to 0hich she effectively combined the dual roles of scientific researcher and

spiritual visionary in an age 0hen metaphysics %idealism& and materialist science

%positivism& had become almost completely polari,ed. #he results of that schism

are 0ith us today. #he mind-.odyproblem is not only a philosophical one' but

affects each of us personally because it is a split that is reflected in virtually every

aspect of our society and culture. $t is reflected in the language 0e use and the 0ay

0e thin6 about ourselves and one another.

$t seems to me that the potency of Montessori5s integrative vision lies in its

very simplicity. She herself 0as uncomfortable 0ith the designation Montessori

'ethod' preferring to frame it instead simply as 1a help to life'2 consistently

demonstrating an attitude of a0e and respect for the irreducible mystery of 0hat 0e

call 1=ife2 %Stephenson' ()))' p. A&. #he bedroc6 of this attitude is a basic trust

that life unfolds as a natural process' at once creative and intelligent. Montessori

herself often used the term hormeto designate this apparently innate impetus of

life to continually unfold itself. $n other conte4ts this idea is described similarly as

the 1inner teacher2 %in many spiritual traditions&' 1optimi,ing thrust of Deing2

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%Guenther O =ongchenpa' *ABN +lmaas' ())&' or evolutionary tendency to0ard

more comple4 forms of organi,ation %biology&.

$n the late *A)s t0o biologists in Chile' @umberto Maturana and Francisco

>arela' coined a ne0 term relating to this idea' autopoiesis. $t combines the Gree6

auto' meaning 1self'2 0ithpoiesis' 1ma6ing.2 #his concept arose from their /oint

contemplation of t0o uestions: 3hat is the organi,ation of the livingI and

3hat ta6es place in the phenomenon of perceptionI #he human nervous system

served as prime e4ample of the sort of dynamic organi,ation described by the ne0

field of systems theory. Pursuing this line of thought' they reached t0o

fundamental conclusions. $n ans0er to the first uestion' they determined that:

this net0or6 pattern' in 0hich the function of each component is to help

produce and transform other components 0hile maintaining the overall

circularity of the net0or6' is the basic organi,ation of the living.5 %Capra'**' p. *&

#his description could be applied /ust as 0ell to the functioning of the liver' as an

organ' as to the 0hole body' of 0hich it is merely a part. $t could be used to

describe a family' a society' or a forest ecosystem. $n each case it is the circularity

of the net0or6 pattern that conserves the system as an entity.

$n ans0er to the second uestion' regarding perception' they concluded that:

the nervous system is not only self-organi,ing but also continually self-referring' so that perception cannot be vie0ed as the representation of an

e4ternal reality but must be understood as the continual creation of ne0

relationships 0ithin the neural net0or6. %Capra' **' p. *&

$t is a nonlinear system' characteri,ed by feedbac6 mechanisms and recursive

processes.


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$n summari,ing these t0o conclusions' they proceeded to ma6e a claim that

has startling ramifications: =iving systems are cognitive systems' and living as a

process is a process of cognition. #his statement is valid for all organisms' 0ith and

0ithout a nervous system %Capra' **' p. *A&. Reduced to the simplest terms:

living euates 0ith learning.

#his challenges the entire Cartesian order of causation by suggesting that'

outside of the mental 0orld of the isolated thin6er' in the physical 0orld of nature

observed effects are the result of comple4 interactions' rather than neat linear

chains of events. $nstead of agents acting upon ob/ects 0ithout themselves being

changed' as in ?e0tonian physics' change is recogni,ed as bi-directional' 0ith both

the actorand the acted uponundergoing change as a result of their encounter. #his

also seems to accord 0ith the principle of indeterminacy proposed by the uantum

physicist 3erner @eisenberg. +s popularly understood by non-physicists' it

suggests that the act of observation itself has an unavoidable effect on the

phenomenon being observed. $n other 0ords' the very possibility of pure

ob/ectivity is called into uestion.

#he principle of autopoiesis also implied a bridging of the gulf created

bet0een humanity' endo0ed 0ith God-li6e po0ers of thought' and a natural 0orld

deemed to be insentient. 3ithout disputing the possibly uniue capacity for auto-

noetic thought' or a0areness of consciousness itself' that human beings possess' the

concept of autopoiesis placed human6ind once again in a relationship of 6inship

0ith the rest of life. $n their boo6' %he 4niverse Stor"' Drian S0imme and #homas

Derry %**(& point to a number of features of autopoiesis that serve to situate

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human beings' along 0ith plants' animals' and elements 0hich are ordinarily

considered 1inanimate2 %such as soil and 0ater' and even stars and gala4ies& 0ithin

a cosmological conte4t:

#he self that is referred to by autopoiesis is not visible to the eye. 8nly itseffects can be discerned. #he self or identity of a tree or an elephant or ahuman is a reality immediately recogni,ed by intelligence' even if invisible

to the senses. #he unifying principle of an organism as a mode of being of

the organism is integral but distinct from the entire range of physicalcomponents of the organism. $t is the source of its spontaneity' its self-

manifesting po0er.

+utopoiesis refers to the po0er each thing has to participate directly in the

cosmos-creating endeavor. Qe.g.' a star

3ith such an understanding of the term' 0e can see that an atom is a self-organi,ing system as 0ell. "ach atom is a storm of ordered activity. #his

invisible po0er assembling the energy into a particular constellation is the

atoms identity.

+utopoiesis points to the interior dimension of things %p. AB&.

#he principle of autopoiesis' or self-ma6ing' accords 0ith Montessori5s

vie0 that human development is essentially a process of self-construction %see

+ppendi4 +: =earning Proposal&. She 0rote: 1%he *asis of reform of education

and societ", which is a necessit" of our times must *e *uilt upon the scientific stud"

of 'an the 4n!nown7%*BB' p. B&. 3ith this statement' employing italics and

capital letters for emphasis' she stressed the dynamic and open-ended nature of

human development. She 0ent on to say:

Finally' the problems of education must be solved on the basis of la0s ofcosmic order. #hese la0s reach from the eternal la0s governing the psychic

construction of human life to the changing la0s 0hich lead society along

the road of evolution on earth %p. A&.


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$n her vie0 both humanity and the 16ingdoms of nature2 are governed by the same

cosmic la0s and the proper role of science is to see6 to discover them.

#he principle of autopoiesis lends scientific support to this cosmological

emphasis' 0hich emerged strongly in her 0or6 during the last years of her life. @er

son' Mario M. Montessori' continued to develop curricula to support this theme

after her death in *B(. Frit/of Capra %**& has suggested that 0e are seeing an

historic paradigm shift in the 0orld of science' a0ay from the emphasis on physics'

0hich has been in the ascendancy from the time of ?e0ton5s mechanics to

t0entieth-century uantum theory' and to0ards the life sciences. #here can be little

doubt that the threat of impending environmental catastrophe on a global scale is

finally getting our collective attentionL Perhaps 0e are beginning to recogni,e that'

as #homas Derry %***& 0rote: 1?atural selection can no longer function as it has

functioned in the past. Cultural selection is no0 a decisive force in determining the

future of the biosystems of the "arth2 %p. &.

#he huge shift of human populations from villages and countryside to urban

environments during the t0entieth century has created a situation in 0hich many

human beings are living out their lives in an environment that is largely a product

of human artifact' devoid of nature and reminders of our 6inship 0ith other forms

of life. Montessori %**a/*A& spo6e elouently of the absorbent mindof the

young child that' in the earliest years of life' enabled him to acuire the language

and adapt to the reuirements of a specific cultural conte4t. 3hat is the result of

this forming of our human nature in unprecedented isolation from the 0ider conte4t

of life that informed the previous generations of our speciesI

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Montessori e4plained the 0or6ings of the absorbent mind of the young

child in terms of three factors: the mneme' a conservative po0er to fi4 0hatever

there is in unconscious memoryN the horme' a guiding force to0ards development

inherent in lifeN and engrams' 0hich unconsciously encode the connectivity of the

mnemes. %Montessori' ())(& Contemporary neuroscience describes this in terms of

functional patterns of neural connectivity called neuronal group assem.lies'

%"delman O #ononi' ()))&. From a standpoint that vie0s the human being as a

part of nature rather than apartfrom nature' they may be seen as evidence of a

human tendency that is shared' perhaps in less comple4 form' 0ith all living things.

#homas Derry and Drian S0imme %**(& spea6 of this as

the tendency in all things to0ard fulfillment of their inner nature. $n physics

this is referred to as the uantum tendencies that hover 0ithin any physical

situation. $n cybernetics this is referred to as the autopoiesis of a coherentsystem' such as a developing star or a mature ecosystem. $n biology' this is

referred to as the epigenetic path0ays folded into a particular ontogeny.

"ach acorn has layered into it the future destinies of the oa6 tree. 3hen the

branches are not getting the sunlight so deeply desired they 0ill spread out0ider' they 0ill reach up higher in a struggle to find 0hat they need.


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Montessori proposed %*E/*A(& that each human being begins life as a

1spiritual embryo2 that' bet0een birth and three years of age' undergoes a

formation of personality that is analogous in scope to the physical formation of the

fetus in utero during the period of gestation. +lthough they may employ language

that sounds much more scientific' during the last century researchers in the fields of

psychology and child development have largely confirmed her observations. +s 0e

have seen' more recently attachment theory and neuroscience have clearly

demonstrated ho0 environmental impingements affect rapidly-forming neural

structures from the earliest days of life.

+s a human being' each individual has basic needs 0hich he or she shares

in common 0ith every other member of the human species: food' clothing' shelter'

and perhaps transportation and defense. $n addition to this list of material needs'

Montessori recogni,ed non-material needs that reflect the creative aspects of the

human spirit e4pressed as culture: art' architecture' adornment' stories and song'

ritual and religion. For Montessori' the universality of the 1?eeds of Man2 points

to the fact that' in our human nature' 0e are fundamentally more ali6e than 0e are

different' regardless of the variations produced by historical and geographical

factors.

3e also share a number of universal human tendencies that have been

developed in the process of meeting these needs. Deginning 0ith the necessity of

finding food' human6ind has learned to e4plore' move about' share 0ith a group'

ma6e decisions' develop self-control' concentrate' and learn from e4perience.

"very child' unless impeded by developmental difficulties' manifests these in his

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o0n 0or6 of self-construction. Mario M. Montessori %())E& came to particularly

emphasi,e three human tendencies that are particularly related to the fulfillment of

non-material' or spiritual' needs: e4ploring' creating and imagining.

+ ma4im from evolutionary biology' 1ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny2

%Gould' *;B&' suggests that each individual' in the course

Documents

Lifetime Montessori: Self-Development Through the Stages Beyond Childhood and Youth