Click here to read Jim's article, The Agequake Associated with an Aging Population: Lag Effects in Society, Institutions, and Individuals

Every Life is Different

James E. Birren, Ph.D.

No lives are the same. They begin differently, flow differently, and end differently. From the time a single sperm fertilizes a single ova, the environment and circumstances create a unique life. The result is that the story of a person's life is like no other and its telling is a special kind of sharing, the sharing of the inside view of the experiences of living a life.

Guided Autobiography recognizes and works toward evoking and preserving the uniqueness that surrounds all lives. The organizers of Guided Autobiography groups attempt to prime the memories of the past, the thoughts and feelings about the events of growing up and maturing that were experienced in family life, school, work, health and illness, during wars, economic prosperity and depression, and rain and sunshine: The emphasis should be on the unique story and individual has to tell, not upon the general trends which is the business of science.

The tasks of science are to gather information, data, and offer generalizations or theories that explain why the predictable comes about. There is no antagonism between science and the interpretation of an individual life. It is expected that scientific research will increasingly inform us about how most people develop, for example, their average age at puberty and the biological factors that bring it about, the patterns of meeting life's obligations and tasks. Much research on development has contributed to our understanding of the developmental and aging processes that can lead to understanding and minimizing some of the risks and undesirable consequences of our behavior and the environments in which we live.

Current generations know much better than our ancestors about the risks of smoking and over use of alcohol and that low fat high fiber diets lower risks of disease. The developmental theories of Freud, Jung, Rank, Adler, Erikson, Gesell, and countless others have contributed to our understanding of the flow of lives. This information has been useful in solving many of life's problems and we recognize that we need to know more to further improve our health, well being, and quality of life.

We need to avoid the compression into an external theoretical framework, the experiences and interpretations of an individual's life as led. There are always details that are left out of our theories. It is in these details and the chance events that surround lives, that provide the basis for encouraging individuals to write and share their life stories which are unique and may never have been told.

There are two perspectives in understanding life; the general view provided by science and the personal views of individuals. Both are needed and in daily life we alternate between following generalizations of science and the dictates that arise from our personal experience and its interpretation. Perhaps we might create a symbol of Minerva the goddess of wisdom by molding a head with two faces, one focused outward on the knowledge of science and of other persons, and one focused inwards on self knowledge.

The one focused inwards is the wisdom strengthened through Guided Autobiography. It grasps the exceptions the experiences of our lives provide to the rules provided by science.

Guided Autobiography should give primary attention to bringing out the individual's account of life, the experiences and interpretations. It should minimize the encouragement of fitting a life into a pattern created by scientific research. A therapy, for example, is devoted to problem solving and may be very sophisticated and current in its data base and rationale. Yet Guided Autobiography is not directed toward problem solving or crisis management. Insights may be gained en passant in the process of Guided Autobiography that reduce tensions or a developmental problem. That is not unlike solving a problem in daily life by learning or meeting a person who provides some insight.

Guided Autobiography should give its highest priority to encouraging individuals' recall of their life experiences and self-interpretations of their lives, and not to press upon them a mold of theory which cannot embrace the unique features of their lives. In a sense, the organizer of a Guided Autobiography group is a midwife to assist in the delivery of a life, a natural process that should result in the individual's feeling increasingly as the owner of his or her life.