“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”  Maya Angelo 

Maya Angelo made me think about how I’ve changed over the past one hundred and ten active years (I wish).

The Beauty of a Butterfly

Developmental psychologists have differing ideas about of the number and kind of transformations human beings experience in a life time.  In the mid-1900s, German-American Psychoanalyst, Erik Erikson, coined the word identity crisis which brought about changes that occurred in childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. And, he spoke of eight stages of virtues people acquire throughout their lives.

Dr. Thomas Armstrong, Executive Director of the American Institute for Learning and Human Development, says their are twelve developmental stages.  Developmental psychologist, Piaget, noted four childhood stages.  Rudolf Steiner extended Piaget’s thinking into adulthood and added three more. My head whirls with competing ideas of how often transformation takes place, but in, general they, they all focus on cycles of learning, changing, and transforming to attain beauty. 

A question raised by psychologists is whether human development is a continuous or discontinuous process.  Most agree that failure to successfully complete a stage can result in an unhealthy personality and unrealistic sense of self, but they disagree about the stages need to be completed in an age order progression. I happen to believe that there is no set age for a transformation to be complete. 

Dr. Armstrong writes, “Since each stage of life has its own unique gift to give, humanity needs to do whatever we can to support each stage and to protect each stage from attempts to suppress its individual contribution to the human life cycle.” What does this mean? It means we need to be careful not to apply undo pressure to preschoolers to achieve academic success, that parents need to be taught to support and recognize their child’s developmental stages, and that the wisdom of seniors needs to be acknowledged and protected from elder abuse. It also means giving everyone the care and assistance needed to blossom to the fullest degree possible.. 

I like the way Armstrong discusses the stages and why completing each one successfully is important in later life. A synopsis follows.

1. Prebirth:  Potential – Parents dream. The child who has not yet been born could become anything – a Michelangelo, a Shakespeare, a Martin Luther King.
2. Birth:  Hope – A newborn instills a sense of optimism that this new life may bring something new and special into the world.  
3. Infancy (Ages 0-3):   Vitality – The infant is a vibrant and seemingly unlimited source of energy.  
4. Early Childhood (Ages 3-6):  Playfulness, innovation, transformation – Young children at play recreate the world anew to combine what is possible with what has never been seen before. 
5. Middle Childhood (Ages 6-8): Imagination – The sense of an inner subjective self developing for the first time serves as a source of creative inspiration in later years.
6. Late Childhood (Ages 9-11): Ingenuity – Acquiring social and technical skills enables children to develop strategies and inventive solutions for dealing with the pressures society places on them. Ingenuity lives on, helping adults seek ways to solve practical problems and cope with responsibilities.
7. Adolescence (Ages 12-20):  Passion –  Puberty unleashes powerful changes reflecting sexual, emotional, cultural, and/or spiritual passion. It remains a touchstone for adults seeking to reconnect with their inner zeal for life.
8. Early Adulthood (Ages 20-35):  Enterprise – Young adults become entrepreneurial in order to find a home and mate, establish a family and/or circle of friends, and get a good job.  Enterprise helps young adults go out into the world to make their mark.
9. Midlife (Ages 35-50):  Contemplation – People in midlife commonly take a break from worldly responsibilities to reflect upon the deeper meaning of their lives. Contemplation is a resource to draw upon for enrichment at any age.
10. Mature Adulthood (Ages 50-80): Benevolence – Mature adults contribute to the betterment of society through volunteerism, mentorships, and philanthropy.  Humanity benefits from their benevolence. 
11. Late Adulthood (Age 80+): Wisdom – Elders can help younger people avoid the mistakes of the past while reaping the benefits of lessons learned throughout life.
12. Death & Dying:  Life – Those who are dying, or who have died, teach us about the value of living and remind us not to take our lives for granted.

Where I am? Did I complete each stage successfully or do I still have some work to do to transform fully. I do wonder if the wisdom I believe I acquired is relevant. The world is not the same as it was when I was a child. Technology, population increases, methods of communication, and environmental degradation add dimensions to my childhood experiences.  

Young adults aren’t interested in listening to dinosaurs who live in the past. They want to explore life on their own. The enjoyable challenge of being alive is partaking in the process of discovery. They willingly risk making mistakes in order to learn on their own. This is why historians find missteps in governance, war and social order are repeated many times over. 

China’s dynastic tradition presents a good, though oversimplified, example. Enlightened rulers were followed by generations who inherited positions of power. Successive rulers became lazy and greedy, causing ordinary citizens to suffer until the leadership was overthrown, bringing about dynastic change which started the process again. Through the past 5000 years, China watched numerous dynasties collapse and new ones gain in strength. Yet, societal transformation was slow, falling into five major stages— Primitive, Slave, Feudal, Semi-feudal and semi-colonial, and Socialist. 

The wisest thing this butterfly can do before flying away, is to hold her tongue and not tell people how to live their lives, but help them learn to think so that they will grasp nuances and changes in the social and physical environment. Youth needs to know how to gather a range of information, to consider it honestly and critically before making decisions. They need to listen to the news and dig for the truth on their own rather than rely on others to tell them what to believe. Instead of answers, elders should spread their wings over the next generation while they question preconceived values and ideas and integrate their findings with the world as it is today and the way they want it to be tomorrow.  

References:

Armstrong, T. ( 20201 )The Human Odyssey: Navigating the Twelve Stages of Life. American Institute for Learning and Human Development. retrieved from website at https://www.institute4learning.com/resources/articles/the-12-stages-of-life/

McLeod,S. (2018)Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. Simply Psychology. retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

History of China, Travel China Guide. retrieved from their web site at https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/

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