THE

HUMANBECOMING
THEORY
ROSEMARIE RIZZO PARSE
ROSEMARIE RIZZO PARSE
• Is a graduate of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh

• Received her master’s and doctorate degrees from

the University of Pittsburgh

• She was a fellow in the American Academy of

Nursing
MAJOR CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
Three principles constitute the HUMANBECOMING Theory:

01 02 03
MEANING RHYTHMICITY TRANSCENDENCE
Three Principles which constitute the Human
Becoming Theory:
PRINCIPLE I: STRUCTURING

● The way people see the world

● The image of their reality and how they create this reality with others

● They show their expressed reality through language in ways of their

speaking, movement or silence.

This principle has three concepts: IMAGING, VALUING, LANGUAGING

 IMAGING

01 •

•
The shaping of personal knowledge
explicitly-tacitly

People are inherently curious and seek to

find answers and figure things out

• A personal interpretation of meaning,

possibility, and consequence
 VALUING
• Confirming-not con firming of cherished

02 •
beliefs in light of personal worldview

Persons are continuously making choices

about how to think, act, and feel and
these choices or they may be radically
different and require a shifting of value
priorities.

• Values reflect what is important in life

to a person or a family.
 LANGUAGING

03
• A concept that relates to how human
beings symbolize and express their imaged
realities and their value priorities.

• Often expressed in patterns that are

shared with those who are close

• People disclose things about themselves

through language.

• Nurses must ask people what their words,

actions, and gestures mean.
PRINCIPLE II: CONFIGURING RHYTHMICAL
PATTERNS (COCREATING)
● Human beings create patterns in day-to-day life and these patterns tell
about personal meanings and values.
 REVEALING-
CONCEALING
01 •

•
The notion of mystery as central to
understanding this paradoxical concept

Mystery is also relevant because there is

always more for people to know about
themselves and others.

• Patterns of revealing-concealing are

cocreated and intimately linked to the
mutual process of the moment and the
intentions of those persons present.
 ENABLING-
LIMITING
02
• Represents the freedom and opportunities
that surface with the restrictions and
obstacles of everyday living.

• It is not possible to know all the

consequences of any given choice; therefore
people make choices amid the reality of
ambiguity.

• This is about choosing from the possibilities

and living with the consequences of those
choices.
 CONNECTING-
SEPARATING
03 • This relates to the ways persons create
patterns of connecting and separating with
people and objects.

• Explains the way two people can be very

close and yet maintain separateness between
the two.
PRINCIPLE III. CONTRANSCENDING
● Powering unique ways of originating in the process of transforming.
● Persons are always engaging with and choosing from infinite
possibilities.
● The choices reflect the person’s way of moving and changing in the
process of becoming.
 POWERING
• Powering is the pushing-resisting process of affirming-not
affirming being in light of nonbeing.

01
• Nonbeing is about loss and risk of death and rejection.

• Powering is the force exerted; that is, the pushing to

act and live with the purpose amid possibilities for
affirming and holding what is cherished, while
simultaneously living with loss and threat of nonbeing.

• There is always resistance with the pushing force of

powering because persons live with others who are also
powering toward different possibilities.
 ORIGINATING
1. The concept about human uniqueness
2. Each person defines and lives originating in light of their
worldview and values.

02
TWO PARADOXES
- Conforming-Not conforming
- People strive to be like others and yet they strive to be
unique
- Certainty-Uncertainty
- It is not possible to know all that may come from
choosing to be different or from choosing to be like
others.
 TRANSFORMING
• People are always struggling to integrate the

03
unfamiliar with the familiar in living the
everyday life.

• The ongoing change characteristic of mutual

process and human ingenuity as people find
ways to change in the direction of their
cherished hopes and dreams.
Three Themes linked with the Human Becoming
Theory:
1. MEANING
• Borne in the messages individual’s give and take with others is
speaking, acting, silence and stillness.
• Personal meanings are shared with others when people express their
views, concerns, hopes and dreams.
Three Themes linked with the Human Becoming
Theory:
2. RHYTHMICITY
A. People live unrepeatable patterns that their priorities and that these
patterns are constantly changing as people engage new experiences
and ideas.
B. People are recognized by their unique patterns that signify a
consistency and change.
Three Themes linked with the Human Becoming
Theory:
3. TRANSCENDENCE
A. The infinite possibility that is human becoming
B. To believe one thing or another, to go in one direction or another, to
be persistent or to let go, to struggle or acquiesce, to hope or despair-
all these options surface in day to day living.
 METAPARADIGM
• NURSING
It is hope of many nurses that nursing as a discipline will
enjoy the recognition of having a unique knowledge base
and the profession will be sufficiently distinct from medicine
that people will actually seek nurses for nursing care, not
medical diagnoses.

-Nursing is a unique service to humankind

-Nursing is a learned discipline and nursing theories guide
practice and research.
-Nursing is a science and the performing art is practiced in
relationships with persons in their processes of becoming.
Set of fundamentals for practicing the art of
nursing
● Know and use nursing frameworks and theories.
● Be available to others.
● Value the other as a human presence.
● Respect differences in view.
● Own what you believe and be accountable for your actions.
● Move on to the new untested.
Set of fundamentals for practicing the art of
nursing
● Connect with others.
● Take pride in self.
● Like what you do.
● Recognize the moments of joy in the struggles of living.
● Appreciate mystery and be open to new discoveries.
● Be competent in your chosen area.
● Rest and begin anew.
PERSON, ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH VIEWED
AS HUMANUNIVERSE, HUMANBECOMING,
AND LIVING QUALITY
● Human and universe is inseparable
● To emphasize this inseparability, she specified humanuniverse and
humanbecoming as one word.
● LIVING QUALITY refers to person’s core whatness, the stuff of a
life. What is whatness? It is the living community that each
individual’s august presence is- the humanuniverse cocreation with
predecessors, contemporaries, and successors.
Humanuniverse, Humanbecoming and Living
Quality
● LIVING QUALITY has three core knowings:

1. LIVING FORTIFYING WISDOM – persons choose ways of being

according to their value priorities
2. LIVING DISCERNING WITNESS – person chooses certain
pattern preferences that create both opportunities and restrictions
all-at-once.
3. LIVING PENETRATING SILENCE- an individual ponders in
silence the illimitable opportunities available to him or her for
creating anew.
 Human-Universe-Health Process
● The concepts human, universe, and health as inseparable and
irreducible

- Health as a personal commitment

- Health as an individual, incarnating his or her own values priorities
- Health as a personal creation, and personal responsibility.
- Persons change and are changed with the universe.