William Bergquist and Gary Quehl
[Note: The complete book (Caring Deeply: Engaging the Four Roles of Life-Fulfilling Generativity) is available for purchase. Use the following link: Caring Deeply.]
Welcome to this digital magazine that addresses the important issue in our contemporary world about what “caring deeply” really means – and how an understanding of the caring process, in all of its dimensions, can be of great value to anyone involved in the professional coaching enterprise.
Five Reasons to Read the Essays in This Digital Magazine .
First, deep caring is about a psychological process called “generativity” what was first identified by the prominent psychologist and psychoanalyst, Erik Erikson. Unfortunately, the literature on generativity is scarce (even though it is one of the eight stages of Erikson’s fundamental stage theory – and is relevant to many adults living in the Western World at the present time.) We introduce you to the existing literature as well as contribute our own findings and thoughts on this topic.
Second, the literature on generativity primarily focuses on what we identify as the “second act” of generativity and only George Vaillant expands on this focus (identifying what we label the “third act” of generativity. We propose that generativity is engaged through four acts.
Third, our four-act generativity analysis enriches and provides clarity regarding the nature of “deep caring” in Western societies (and perhaps other cultures in our world).
Fourth our four acts of generativity provide valuable guidance for those who wish to increase civic engagement in their community (our analysis being based on an extensive study of civic engagement in two communities).
Finally, our four-act analysis offers a way in which to view how generativity and deep caring are manifest in many different ways – ways that are linked together through the comparable dynamics of generative caring.
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