Gary Quehl and William Bergquist
[Note: The complete book (Caring Deeply: Engaging the Four Roles of Life-Fulfilling Generativity) is available for purchase. Use the following link: Caring Deeply.]
We are now ready to explore the fourth set of generative roles—those that relate to civic engagement. It was our study of Sage leadership in Western Nevada County, California, that led to an unanticipated and important finding about generativity and served as the primary motivator for us to prepare this book on deep caring. We found repeatedly that both Emerging and Senior Sage Leaders in Western Nevada County were energized by a form of generativity that didn’t fit Erik Erikson’s model of generativity; nor with the more recent model offered by George Vaillant. Once we began to broaden our understanding of generativity, we came to realize that generativity might also extend “backwards” to the extraordinary energizing experience of raising a child or creating and sustaining a project. As a result of these reconsiderations, we arrived at a fourth role model that is presented in this series of essays.
In setting the stage for the fourth and final set of generativity roles, we begin by briefly reviewing the first three sets of roles: Level One Generativity primarily involves the raising of children and is usually associated with motives to provide for their care during our early adulthood—a variant on this parenting role is the creation and maintenance of a treasured project. Level Two Generativity, which is the principal focus of work done by Erikson, is concerned with the deep caring motivations that are manifest during mid-life—teaching others, mentoring, witnessing the growth of a colleague. Level Three Generativity seems to be about guardianship (as George Vaillant notes) and the preservation of existing or historical values, land and legacy. This third set of generativity roles concern the extension in time; that is, bringing the past into the present and ensuring that this past is sustained into the future. We are generative guardians of the past as it is sustained in the present and future.
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