What does it mean to be mature? Across cultures specific traits have been attached to the idea of what becoming and being an adult is, some of these are more stark than others, yet all require individuals to follow customary action. The behaviour a person displays in their community frequently reflects their standing within it, and most often it’s those the society holds in high regard people intend to mirror. Since the development of agriculture and economics paragons held in greatest esteem were those with the most capital and/or power, operating with impunity as long as their material can stitch any inflicted gash.
As people have tried to emulate the wealthy integrity neglect is recurrent, the notion of maturity not centred on morality but the gravity invoked by acquisition. To combat this, a character inside is chanting a rectitude refresher – seeing the world with inquisitive eyes, our inner child veers towards curiosity and intuition, realigning us with our quieted youthful self.
Who’s Really Mature
What do children desire above all else? Becoming a “grown-up”. Even though majority of the day is taken up by play and everything is provided for them, this illustrious concept implants the idea of utter liberty – from being a firefighter to flying with superman, anything is possible. Unfortunately this childish propensity for imagination comes to a standstill as age ticks upward.
An individual must learn to operate in society and their family, friends, schooling, and experiences decipher this. Humans are social creatures and we look towards others for guidance, using reverenced advice and action as the blueprint for our own personal construction. There’s a reason why parent-teacher interviews always have a box questioning, “Does student ask for assistance when needed?”.
The most common traits of maturity as seen by contemporary society is someone who is employed and living out of their parents grasp with their own place, possessions and relationships. What’s rarely contemplated is these are merely signs of growing older and not of maturation, and in different communities there are better barometers of being a mature human.
One may have ample material and satisfies the societal notion of successful, but have they been able to cultivate self-control? Can they not stand the thought of spending any time alone? Do they need to gossip to make themselves feel adequate? Do they boast to others of their achievements? Can they take responsibility when choice is erroneous? What’s their age in emotional intelligence?
In communities people look towards the heroes celebrated by the collective, currently those hoarding the most have domineering clout and people strive to replicate tangible rewards at the unknown expense of actual maturation. Our societies have dispensed with the elderly and the only ones remaining loiter in positions of power looting whatever they can. They may look like old men yet these are no elders, they are adolescence in body suits.
Reigniting the Wonder of Existence
In order to learn from one’s past it cannot be forgotten, rather examined and taken onward as a backdrop for future endeavours. A lot of the idea of maturity in modern society means one is encouraged to drop all their tendencies toward behaviours considered childish, unless they are comparable to those auspicious for material acquisition such as greed and stubbornness.
Instead of buying into this banal version of an adult, perhaps the most mature among us are those who act immature when applicable and become astute when required. A human functioning this way exhibits unison between the inner-child and the adult self, the union reflected in a gregarious and capable disposition. No-one embodies this character more than Wim Hoff – the man teaches how to do incredible feats like his own, talks of psychology, Sharmans and the central nervous system, yet he is also the crazy guy playing tag with kids at birthday parties and howling at the moon at midnight.
What’s beautiful about acting appropriately immature is the impulse towards intuition, to feel and act on whims and let the thought and instinct of the inner world be performed outwardly. Take the example of people observing an adult climbing a tree – most will see this as an inappropriate and puerile activity but to the individual in the tree the experience is engaging, they are partaking in life and feel themselves literally intertwined with nature.
Being close with our inner child helps us grasp the times when we should lose ourselves to emotion and when to keep it together, it enables us to feel content about expressing sentiments rather than allowing them to fester our inner sanctum.
Without being in contact with the youthful self one’s emotional intelligence will remain underdeveloped. If they unable to recognize and get the inner child in check it will create capricious circumstances where control of the self is overridden by anger and despair. Emotional intelligence is crafted through tiring situations and observation – lessons are always present to those wanting to enhance themselves.
Being able to suitably flirt between maturity and immaturity invokes a sense of novelty to life, to see the world with the awe-inspired eyes of a child allows one to temporarily drop the intensity and expectation of adult life and reignite with wonder of existence.
What really makes a capable “grown-up” in the modern world? Is it the job one has, the material they retain, the people they command? Or is it reaching an equanimous state of kinship with the inner child? Objection! Subjective! Fair fair, the question can only be answered from the angle of one’s attitude, however it is true that those stopping communication with the inner child lose a sense of marvel in the human experience.
As we age we adapt and change to the circumstances bestowed on our path, each new obstacle peeling away a layer of our personality giving us deeper observation of ourselves. Remembering the many layers of the former self retains recollection of how we’ve developed; understanding how we got to our current position is propitious to helping us arrive fittingly at our next.
Image Source: Digital synopsis
The Contemporary Human 