Contrast Stage
The contrast stage gives us the cyclic principle, “Contrast what has happened with something unexpected.” In this stage we add something new or unexpected to the story, something that can break the impasse we’ve explored in the last two stages. We’ve seen the direct approach fail, but with this stage we see something new, different, or unexpected enter the story. We learn something new, gain a different perspective, see the problem obliquely, or introduce some new factor that opens up new possibilities.
After the contract stage, we move on to the resolution stage.
#Mature Adulthood
While civilized societies often see mature adults becoming ever more set in their ways, people in the Fifth World tend to understand power as the ability to see the world from many different points of view. They value maturity as a matter of developing the experience to see the world as others see it. Mature adults can contrast what has happened with something unexpected by offering their experience, including how the community has solved similar problems before, or lessons they’ve learned from their observation of the more-than-human world.