This blog will not pretend to have the answers to
these questions. However, the questions must be raised, because we do not seem
to have adequate answers to them currently. Perhaps we are asking the wrong
questions.
The term adolescence is quite recent within our
vocabulary. It was coined by the American psychologist, G Stanley Hall, in his
1904 book Adolescence. Hall recognised that the period of adolescence in
the human species was far longer than for any other primate. He theorised that
there must be a reason for this, and that if we properly understood the purpose
and nature of adolescence then the human race could develop its evolutionary
potential.
Where Hall, however, was steeped in his (European)
culture of the time, later psychologists have come to explore further the basis
of adolescence. In particular, eco-psychologists have recognised that
adolescence is largely wasted on the human race. We are not utilising the great
gift that this period of life is pregnant with.
Instead, adolescent boys and girls are trussed up in a
school environment most of each day, for five days a week. The learning offered
there is primarily geared towards producing “good” adults – adults that will
consume and obey. Adults who have suppressed their imaginative qualities, and are
not longer able to co-create a world in which will live harmoniously as part of
nature.
In such a rigidly controlled adolescence it is little
wonder that the only two, major, possibilities are: conform or rebel.
Sadly, adults (raised in similar systems) will listen
(if any listening is done at all) to those adolescents who conform. Those who
rebel are labelled as non-conformists (at best) or “angry young people who
need to grow up.”
Eco-psychologist Bill Plotkin, however, paints an entirely
different picture of adolescence. Far from adolescence being a training ground
for adulthood, Plotkin says that:
“With
the onset of adolescence, the individual becomes the social explorer who must
learn the art of making his or her way in the world without the shield of their
immediate family… It is time to push the limits, try out new social powers, see
where and how one fits.” 1
Plotkin calls this the time of the Thespian. Today, we
think of a thespian as being a Shakespearian actor. Whilst partially true, the
first Thespian, Thespis, was a Greek dramatist from the 6th century
BC who performed all the parts within his dramas by himself. To do so, he had
to become adept at changing roles, swapping masks, and donning different
costumes.
Plotkin has chosen an excellent archetype for the adolescent
in that of the Thespian. It is a time for acting out different roles, trying on
different masks, and donning different costumes (perhaps the only one of these
three aspects that is reluctantly accepted by adults.)
What sort of adults would emerge from this form of
adolescence were such a Thespian drama be allowed to flow, and furthermore,
actively encouraged by adults and elders alike?
In today’s world we still hear young people venting their
anger at the world of those of so-called adulthood. (Witness the current
expressions of anger and frustration by young people at COP26 in Glasgow.)
Telling young people to stop, to go back to school, to
grow up, is not going to help. Adults and elders need to listen to the fire of
youth.
Socially, we also need to ask deep questions about
what is adolescence, what is it for?
Perhaps, before adults and elders are able to stop and
listen, before we (I place myself in that older age group) can even ask the
questions, we need to go back and experience a true adolescence for
ourselves.
As I indicated at the beginning of this blogpiece,
there are no answers here. Just questions. They are questions that we must ask.
I suspect the answers will not come easily, and they will not be without pain
and surprise.
Let’s all become Thespians for once in our lives – no matter
what age we are.
Notes:
1. Bill Plotkin, Nature and the Human Soul, New
World Library, Novato, California, 2008, p174
No comments:
Post a Comment
This blogsite is dedicated to positive dialoque and a respectful learning environment. Therefore, I retain the right to remove comments that are: profane, personal attacks, hateful, spam, offensive, irrelevant (off-topic) or detract in other ways from these principles.