Adult Leaning and Development

¶ … Hudson's phrase, "in over our heads?' In what ways? What do you think Hudson means by this phrase?

Conventional wisdom holds that one is in over one's head, simply when one has more than one can cope with in one's life. Adults are frequently beset with numerous responsibilities, especially during the years of change and transition from one life phase in work and professional development. However the phrase can also connote the sense that an individual has more than he or she can deal with mentally, and must grow more in touch with his or her emotional as well as mental resources.

Hudson makes several references to the "containers" of our lives (pp.9, 17, 18, 27). In what sense is he using this metaphor to describe adult living? What are some examples of containers?

Modern life is often relegated to a series of developmental phases, bracketed by transitions, rather than a seamless context of development. By viewing modern life as such, we fail to learn the lessons of our individual and collective past, or to use our mistakes to help us -- and our children -- in the future. Thus we create containers of the self and developmental containers. These are containers that box us in, rather than open up our lives, and use the aging process in a fulfilling way.

Hudson mentions five ways in which he sees decline in confidence and hope by many adults today. Do you agree with his view? Why/why not? In what ways could his qualities of self-renewing adults offset this decline?

An overemphasis on materialism, a lack of societal commitment and a turning inward, a sense of 'nothing is meaningful,' combined with a loss of childhood spontaneity and drive to learn is characteristic of the generation Hudson chronicles, many of whom are members of the educated elite, who seem to have everything going for them, professionally and socially. However, rather than seeing this sense of emptiness and a lack of personal confidence as a symptom of an overly adult oriented culture, it is equally possible to see this as part of a child-focused culture, with a stress upon the self and rigid ideals of self perfection and definition rather than responsibility, which is actively achieved. In the current conception of the adolescent self provided by our culture, group identification is largely provided by materialism, by what one buys and who one is by school and profession, rather than according to what one does for one's community and family.

This excessive childhood and adolescent emphasis about finding one's true self (which often results in dilettantism of jobs, religion, and regions) and a lack of cohesive commitment to a larger ideal leads to a kind of regressive form of adulthood -- either one must put away one's search for self entirely, or remain a child. Hence the lack of confidence and confusion in so many of the individual's lives chronicled by Hudson. But this alternative interpretation does not discount Hudson's view entirely, as it might be argued that the act of rigidly and cyclically (in a container like fashion), separating children from responsibilities to family, work, and community as a part of an 'ideal childhood' is partly to blame for the infantilization of adults. By isolating children from future responsibilities, adults cannot or refuse to move on in a linear fashion from their childhoods and use what they have learned anew.

How can thinking about your life (and the lives of people who are significant to you) in cyclical ways instead of linear ways make a difference? What does your team see as the two-three key differences Hudson is making between these two approaches to adult living?