Definition of Maturity
What is maturity?
Statements describing or referring to a mature person:
1. If an individual is going to grow toward
the kind of maturity we are talking about,
he will find it helpful to have secure development,
pre-adult underpinnings - he should not have to deflect
his energies into "refighting" childhood battles or nursing old hurts.
Maturity can only be built on sound foundations.
2. When a person can live with his past
without being bogged down by it,
he remains adaptable,
capable of continued change.
3. Another characteristic of becoming
mature is the development of wisdom.
4. The mature individual can be ribald or genteel,
sweet or acid, jolly or glum. The important point
is that he be alive, with vigorous interests
that make him interesting to be with.
He should have a sense of humor.
5. An important characteristic of the individual
who becomes mature is that he is at home with reality.
6. The mature individual cannot look outer reality
in the face unless he is prepared to look himself
in the face, too. He is at home with himself.
7. It follows that the mature individual has to be able
to love comfortably with his own body, whether it be
strong or weak, handsome or ugly, healthy or failing.
8. If the individual's growth toward maturity is rooted
in the positive emotional bonds of early infancy,
human relationships are going to have a high priority for him.
9. The person equipped with the human sensitivities
that make for maturity will usually have powerful concern
with social problems and ways of alleviating them.
10. For all his social-mindedness, for all his savoring
of human relationships, the maturing individual is not
dependent on always having company.
11. It is apparent that the person who is becoming
mature does not accept values readymade.
12. The mature individual has to learn when
to conform and when not to conform,
when to speak out and when to remain silent.
His values must be so structured and scaled
that he can distinguish between what is
central and inviolable and what is peripheral and expendable -
or at least can be postponed.
13. To live realistically (which by no means forbids
the conscious exploitation and employment of fantasy)
means to live in consciousness of one's own mortality.
14. The mature person knows that he has to go
on choosing alternatives, that each alternative
costs him something, and there are things he will
never be able to do and experience.
He also knows that there are things he will
never be able to do again, that he can never
recapture his youth or relive his first encounters
with certain experiences. He knows that his integrity
is continually threatened by practical demands,
by seductive temptations, by concessions and compromises,
by conflicting values, and can only be preserved
at the cost of some psychic strain.
15. He knows that the only real rewards in life
come with continued growth, and that there is no room
in the one material life he has for major regrets.
This individual who has approached maturity
can know that he has loved, had done his work,
has made his mark on people and, although he wishes
there were more time, that he has made
the most of what there was
In Summary: The adult with a capacity for true maturity
is one who has grown out of childhood experiences
without losing childhood's best traits. He has retained
the basic emotional strengths of infancy,
the stubborn autonomy of "toddlerhood",
the capacity for wonder and pleasure
and playfulness of the preschool years,
the capacity for affiliation and intellectual curiosity
of the school years, and the idealism and passion of adolescence.
He has incorporated these into a new pattern
of simplicity dominated by adult stability,
wisdom, knowledge, sensitivity to other people,
responsibility, strength, and purposefulness.
What is maturity?
Statements describing or referring to a mature person:
1. If an individual is going to grow toward
the kind of maturity we are talking about,
he will find it helpful to have secure development,
pre-adult underpinnings - he should not have to deflect
his energies into "refighting" childhood battles or nursing old hurts.
Maturity can only be built on sound foundations.
2. When a person can live with his past
without being bogged down by it,
he remains adaptable,
capable of continued change.
3. Another characteristic of becoming
mature is the development of wisdom.
4. The mature individual can be ribald or genteel,
sweet or acid, jolly or glum. The important point
is that he be alive, with vigorous interests
that make him interesting to be with.
He should have a sense of humor.
5. An important characteristic of the individual
who becomes mature is that he is at home with reality.
6. The mature individual cannot look outer reality
in the face unless he is prepared to look himself
in the face, too. He is at home with himself.
7. It follows that the mature individual has to be able
to love comfortably with his own body, whether it be
strong or weak, handsome or ugly, healthy or failing.
8. If the individual's growth toward maturity is rooted
in the positive emotional bonds of early infancy,
human relationships are going to have a high priority for him.
9. The person equipped with the human sensitivities
that make for maturity will usually have powerful concern
with social problems and ways of alleviating them.
10. For all his social-mindedness, for all his savoring
of human relationships, the maturing individual is not
dependent on always having company.
11. It is apparent that the person who is becoming
mature does not accept values readymade.
12. The mature individual has to learn when
to conform and when not to conform,
when to speak out and when to remain silent.
His values must be so structured and scaled
that he can distinguish between what is
central and inviolable and what is peripheral and expendable -
or at least can be postponed.
13. To live realistically (which by no means forbids
the conscious exploitation and employment of fantasy)
means to live in consciousness of one's own mortality.
14. The mature person knows that he has to go
on choosing alternatives, that each alternative
costs him something, and there are things he will
never be able to do and experience.
He also knows that there are things he will
never be able to do again, that he can never
recapture his youth or relive his first encounters
with certain experiences. He knows that his integrity
is continually threatened by practical demands,
by seductive temptations, by concessions and compromises,
by conflicting values, and can only be preserved
at the cost of some psychic strain.
15. He knows that the only real rewards in life
come with continued growth, and that there is no room
in the one material life he has for major regrets.
This individual who has approached maturity
can know that he has loved, had done his work,
has made his mark on people and, although he wishes
there were more time, that he has made
the most of what there was
In Summary: The adult with a capacity for true maturity
is one who has grown out of childhood experiences
without losing childhood's best traits. He has retained
the basic emotional strengths of infancy,
the stubborn autonomy of "toddlerhood",
the capacity for wonder and pleasure
and playfulness of the preschool years,
the capacity for affiliation and intellectual curiosity
of the school years, and the idealism and passion of adolescence.
He has incorporated these into a new pattern
of simplicity dominated by adult stability,
wisdom, knowledge, sensitivity to other people,
responsibility, strength, and purposefulness.
hey i dont know what happened to that post that was about me. but i read it this morning, and i just wanted to say that im not all grr about it.. you dident say anything wrong.. so chill LOL..^.^ ttyl... ooo when are you off next?
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