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Gate Three

people in archway

Stepping through Gate Three, we begin to differentiate between what we, and those around us, perceive. Our world is expanding to include siblings, extended family and teachers. Often, our early learned behavior is judged differently by our extended family and teachers, creating confusion and expansion. This tension creates new learning and new relationships.

We hear prompting and simple rhymes from our elders. We internalize their speech, songs and actions. We practice words and phrases and try to convey our thoughts using language and gestures. We often tell our siblings and playmates that they are wrong based on what we saw and heard, and not necessarily what was said. We dance and sing for our parents, grandparents and teachers.

We add information to our foundation, linking the familiar to the novel, and we hold the blended data up to five minutes in our knowledge bank. Based on our different emotions at the moment, we generalize our experiences. Our judgments, discriminations and generalizations are often rooted in partial reality.

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