Who’s got kids? Some of you do, some don’t. For those who don’t, are you at least familiar with the general concept of children? You know, they start very small and, over the course of several years, get bigger and amass more knowledge and eventually become adults.

Well that’s a grand arch, isn’t it? We’re definitely glossing over some details here.

Not accounting for biology, what happens in between childhood and adulthood? Most of it could be characterized as choices and learning.

For those of you with kids, particularly toddlers, you’ve probably noticed that they periodically regress or disintegrate or fall apart. It could be an illness or temper tantrums or moodiness or withdrawal. It’s perfectly natural. Kids grow fast, so fast that you can watch this phenomenon unfold. An attitude or biological attribute or mental state no longer serves the child and they naturally shed it for a more appropriate form. Whatever inner structure was propping them up previously simply goes away and with no support, things fall apart. This passes and parents are relieved at the return of their little bundle of joy.

This concept is applicable to so many things--political maturation, families, organizations and businesses, governments and societies, etc. This is the basis for spirals (this link can take you to a few different spiral examples). Check out THEE’s version of this metaphor if you like.

Most period-->transition-->period-->transition-->period cycles don’t happen as fast as they do in children so they aren’t as directly observable. And of course, there are differences. When a society falls apart, there is no parent figure to catch it and coax it to a state of stability. That’s up to the members of that society.

But THEE doesn’t begin with spirals. Actually, spirals are quite deep in THEE and a lot has to be discovered before any spirals can be formulated. This blog, you, and I got started somewhere in the middle of THEE--or maybe even closer to the end. You see, I started this blog talking about The Spiral of Political Maturation because I, personally, am interested in this stuff and like many, many people, I am quite flabbergasted at the current political/social paradigm. Essentially, I thought I could hook some readers while exploring my own interests. And if that isn’t enough for you, please feel free to send me an email or post a comment and we can discuss anything posted in the blog in more detail. And who knows? Maybe I’ll make my way back to the Spiral of Political Maturation (and there is actually quite a bit before and after the Spiral of Political Maturation in the Politics framework).

Starting next week, we’re starting from the very beginning--you. We’re going back to childhood, if you will, so we can break ourselves down and see what’s at the core. What happens to you when you decide to do something? What happens to the world around you when you decide to do something? How do you make the best possible decision? Are you free, constrained, or both?

If you follow long enough, hopefully, I’ll be able to illustrate how the answers to these questions are connected to the social and political events that seem so much larger than our individual selves. There is a connection, and not a metaphorical one--a real-world connection. I’ll give you one clue: at the origin and destination of any society and any government, there lies the individual. A group doesn’t choose. A lot of individuals choose.

But I have to stop there.

Tune in next week for a blog about you.