Directionality of Development and the Ryoko Model: Reply to Four Commentaries

Questions about time are fundamentally connected to development. In addition to the Generative Life Cycle Model (GLCM), this article explores a new way of looking at the concept of life-span development. In particular, it examines principal ideas expressed in the Ryoko (Parallel Going) Model, which casts doubts on the Western system of meaning and master narrative of progressivism. For example, Baltes’ multi-dimensional model of life-span development indicates that gain always implies growth and loss implies decline. In contrast, the Ryoko Model is able to handle simultaneous dual changes in opposite and reverse tendencies: a change toward gain implies a change toward loss, and vice versa. This approach allows us to become aware of how opposite meanings can coexist within different perspectives and contexts and to reintroduce the values of ‘loss’ and ‘death’ as positive aspects of human development and the generative cycle of time.