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CHAPTER 24 Rosemarie Rizzo Parse 467

a culture and language, physicality, and potentiality. For example, all humans live paradoxical rhythms
Parse suggests that human freedom means “reflec- of certainty-uncertainty, joy-sorrow, and others,
tively and prereflectively one participates in choosing and they move with the rhythm of their paradoxical
the situations in which one finds oneself as well as experiences—at times focusing on certainty or joy,
one’s attitude toward the situations” (Parse, 1998, for instance, yet always having an awareness of living
p. 17). Humans are always choosing what is important the uncertainty or sorrow inherent in situations.
in their lives. They decide the attention to give to situ- Likewise, freedom, although a cornerstone of Parse’s
ations, projects, and people. In day-to-day living, early thinking, is seen in a new light in her most recent
people choose and act on their value priorities, and thinking. Parse (2007b) stated that freedom is “contex-
value priorities shift as life unfolds. Sometimes acting tually construed liberation” (p. 309). People have
on beliefs is as important as achieving a desired out- freedom with their situations to choose ways of being.
come. Personal integrity is intimately connected to Finally, mystery, the fourth postulate, is presented
situated freedom. in a more specific way as something special that
In 2007 and in 2012, Parse published important transcends the conceivable and as the unfathomable
conceptual refinements for the humanbecoming school and unknowable that always accompanies the “indi-
of thought. First, in 2007, she changed human becom- visible, unpredictable, everchanging humanuniverse”
ing and human-universe to humanbecoming and huma- (p. 309).
nuniverse. These changes, according to Parse (2007b), In 2012, Parse introduced new conceptualiza-
further specify her commitment to the indivisibility of tions that further specify the meaning of the all-
cocreation. Parse’s new concepts of humanbecoming at-onceness of human experience from a humanbe-
and humanuniverse demonstrate through language coming perspective. Her belief system (ontology)
that there is no space for thinking that humans can underpinning humanbecoming “specifies that with
be separated from becoming or the universe—these humanuniverse the human is an august presence, a
notions are irreducible. seamless symphony of becoming, living the emerg-
In addition, Parse (2007b) specified four postulates ing now. Becoming visible–invisible becoming of the
that permeate all principles of humanbecoming. The emerging now is the living moment that brings to
four postulates are illimitability, paradox, freedom, and the fore the idea that meaning changes with each
mystery. The four postulates further specify ideas em- unfolding living experience incarnating the remem-
bedded within Parse’s school of thought. Illimitability bered with the prospected all-at-once” (Parse,
represents Parse’s thinking about the indivisible, un- 2012b, p. 44). The becoming visible–invisible be-
predictable, everchanging nature of humanbecoming. coming of the emerging now is the universe of his-
Parse (2007b) stated, “Illimitability is the ‘unbounded tories and experiences and hopes and dreams that
knowing extended to infinity, the all-at-once remem- cocreate each moment, as humans live and shape
bering and prospecting with the moment’” (p. 308). their lives with their illimitable, unbounded know-
Indivisible, unbounded knowing “is a privileged ing. Human living experiences surface moment to
knowing accessible only to the individual living the moment like waves surfacing from an ocean. What
life” (Parse, 2008e, p. 46). Paradox has always been is becoming visible in human experience is what is
affiliated with humanbecoming, and Parse’s bringing happening in the moment that is explicitly known
it forth as a postulate that permeates all theoretical and described by the person living it. It is like waves
principles emphasizes the importance of paradox with that are swelling to the top of the ocean—visible for
humanuniverse cocreation. She stated, “paradoxes are a moment, yet always shifting and changing and be-
not opposites to be reconciled or dilemmas to be over- ing cocreated with what is happening in the entirety
come but, rather, are lived rhythms . . . expressed as a of the ocean, invisible beneath the surface yet cocre-
pattern preference” (Parse 2007b, p. 309), “incarnating ating the waves that are becoming visible with their
an individual’s choices in day-to-day living” (Parse, invisible becoming.
2008e, p. 46). Humans make choices about how they Based on her latest thinking, Parse (2007b, 2012b)
will be with paradoxical experiences and continuously refined the wording of the three principles of her
make choices about where to focus their attention. theory as indicated in the following.