FEST Writing Group

Triangles in Evolution and the Family

1. Introduction

Section on Bowen theory and Relevance of Evolution to Understanding Human Dilemmas

1. Emotional Systems in Evolution and the Family

     Patterns of Togetherness/Individuality in Species

     along the Human Phylogenetic Lineage

     Triangles in Phylogenetic Lineage and the Family

1.  Reactivity to Natural and Social Environment                                                       
        Climate and Population: Extinctions and Evolution

Anxiety and Adaptation: Emotional Reactivity and Intellectual Activity

1. Evolution of Nervous Systems and Brains

     (in the context of Emotional Systems)

     Collective Intelligence/Group Brains/Reciprocity

• Human Adaptation, the Multigenerational Family and Future Evolution
• Relevance to Real Life

     Interviews with Scientists, Therapists, People

Triangles in Evolution and the Family

“The (Bowen) theory states that the triangle, a three-person configuration, is the molecule or basic building block of any emotional system..”  (Bowen, 1978)

Although Murray Bowen first observed emotional triangles in human families, he postulated that anything he could observe in the human family had its origins in our phylogenetic history. (Looking for the reference in Making Sense of Human Life.)

 This chapter in The Dance of Life will investigate, and sometimes interpret, what is known about relationships between individuals to see if there is evidence for the formation of triangles.  Dr. David Crews gave me a clue that triangles in other forms of life can be transient and fluid, though triangles non-the-less.  When we walked around my backyard, we saw two green anoles flank a third.  The third turned and scurried away.  I said, “That’s a triangle.”  Dr. Crews said: “That was a coincidence.” 

For earliest life, the triangle formed when two or more formerly independent cells became permanently connected within a larger cell membrane, was not temporary or transient.  This configuration that formed the earliest complex cell provided the ability to survive and eventually to reproduce in the face of rising oxygen and increasing density on earth.

The most fundamental and persistent triangle to evolve is the one that forms at birth, between mother and father and offspring.  TO DO: DESCRIBE THE PATTERNS IN THAT TRIANGLE FOR THE PHYLOGENETIC LINEAGE:  in early marine invertebrate; in marine vertebrate (fish and lobe finned lung fish); in amphibian; in reptile; in early mammals, primates and then the human family.