Sensibilities

By "sensibilities," we mean the ensemble operation of the many psychological "senses" impacted by our experiences – particularly during the transitions from one environment (and one paradigm) to another. Since we approach the senses by enumerating both their "inner" and "outer" faculties (no, this is not the approach of modern psychology), there are many possible configurations of the human psyche. This inherent human flexibility is often called "plasticity" and it produces a wide variety of "behavior and attitudes."

Grammar means more than sentence structures and can be used to describe the broader structure of the world adolescents experience. This is, more or less, when we figure out how to survive society (or not).

These effects are concentrated in the period before humans become overwhelmed by puberty, preparing the body for reproduction. While the borders of Jean Piaget's developmental psychology can easily be overdrawn, what he termed the "Concrete Operational" phase roughly corresponds to what educators once called "Grammar School." This is appropriate because "grammar" means more than sentence structures and can be used to describe the broader structure of the world adolescents experience. This is, more or less, when we figure out how to survive society (or not).

What some describe as "generation gaps" are, at least in part, the result of underlying structures that change rapidly enough to generate notably different sensibilities in parents and their children. The transition from Radio to Television environments during the 1960s caused a significant enough upheaval to gain the label "counter-culture." Today's transition from Electric to Digital paradigm is even more rapidly moving and more deeply transformational. Sensibilities are clashing in more ways today than perhaps ever before. As a result, understanding how sensibilities are formed and, indeed, trained has become a significant priority in our tumultuous times.