The Peak that Shapes the Path

THE CALL OF BEING

I’m thinking about an interesting image, originally suggested by developmental psychologist Jean Piaget: a pyramid “suspended from its peak” (Structuralism, p. 34). American psychologist and philosopher Carol Gilligan interpreted the image this way: while developmental theory is commonly imagined as a pyramid built upward, it rather “hangs from its vertex of maturity, the point toward which progress is traced” (In a Different Voice, p. 18).

Usually, we think of development from the bottom up: each stage grows out and on top of what came before it. But Piaget’s image suggests that development is also shaped by that toward which it moves. The vertex gives direction and meaning to the trajectory itself.

And what if the vertex is an ever-deepening recognition and embodiment of Being?

Development, from this perspective, would not ultimately be about acquiring something that was previously lacking or absent. It would be a process through which we gradually become capable of recognizing, embodying, and living from what was present all along.

Piaget offers another interesting element to this image. The vertex, he wrote, “is itself unfinished and must be raised endlessly” (Structuralism, p. 34).