Currently, two trends are converging that will shape the future of communication theory. One is "the new narcissism"--a phenomenon characterized by prescriptions for personal fulfillment such as those reflected in popular psychologies and religions. The second trend is the scientific revolution concerned with exchanging static models of reality for process models of interaction. Using some basic tools of structuralism and communication theory, this discussion presents a prototype of a process-oriented theory of the acquisition and development of new communication behaviors. This theory revolves around three principles: the principle of obliqueness, which suggests that no single person or occurrence can teach communication; the principle of exchange, which asserts that for every personal security that is gained some alienation results; and the principle of dying, in which the security of familiar levels of understanding is replaced by new ideas or a "new identity." (KS)