You are invited to read the previous three blogs before proceeding to read this blog - this in case you have not read them already. Their links are (1) Introducing Cycle of Human Development and (2) Cycle of Development - 1 and (3) Cycle of Human Development 2.
The 'Cycle of Human Development' can be studied from three perspectives. We have already covered the first perspective presenting the stages through which a growing child develops into adulthood. In this blog we are covering the second perspective. It explains how the stages affect our life generally, and our perceiving, assessing, evaluating and responding to the same reality in different ways as we proceed in our life through the stages. The third perspective is being covered in the next blog. It would explain the challenges we face, if we have not cleared tasks of any particular stage successfully during our growing years.
Cycle of Development - Wheel of Life
Imagine that the wheel represents a person who has just completed 38 years of age. He is moving on the line representing life. The person is entering the Being Stage (B) of the third 19 year cycle. The wheel is moving clockwise as indicated by the arrow. The person will then move through Doing Stage (D), Thinking Stage (T), Identity Stage (I), Skills Stage (S), and then through five sub-stages of the 'Integration Stage' that is BI - Being in Integration Stage, DI - Doing in Integration, TI - Thinking in Integration, II - Identity in Integration, and SI - Skills in Integration Stages to his age of 57 years. The wheel keeps moving as we move on in life. He will contact life as a consequence with the stage domianance relevant to his age as shown in the diagrams below.
If this person has cleared the stages of the first cycle i.e. 0 - 19 years and second cycle i.e. 20 - 38 years successfully, he will not face any challenges in the current cycle. However, if he has failed to clear tasks of any one or some of the stages, of the previous two cycles, his life will be affected adversely. How will this happen. He will be urged on the one one hand to deal with situations of life effectively. However, he will face a handicap relevant to the stage.
Picture of Vinegar Tasters
from Vinie the Pooh (Tao of Pooh)
A slight diversion to understand this. The three vinegar tasters in the picture above experience the taste of vinegar distinctly different from each other though the vinegar is the same. So also with people from Being, Doing, Thinking, Identity, Skills, Being in Integration, Doing in Integration, Thinking in Integration, Identity in Integration, and Skills in Integration stages of the 19 year cycle who are facing the same life in different ways. Their understanding, interpretation and assessment is distinctly different.
In Being stage his comfort will affect him. In Doing stage his capacity to deal with things concrete and subtle will affect him. In Thinking stage his capacity to think freely will be affected. In Identity stage he will have adverse thoughts about people and events in the world which he is encountering, and how he deals with others around and the world at large. In Skills stage his handicap will relate to displaying his talents, skills and capacity to incorporate others intimately. So also in the five stages of the Integration Stage he will face challenges relevant those stages. These handicaps show up as deficit of Self Concept (Self Concept means capacity for value, worth, dignity, respect and esteem) in the nature of beliefs about self, beliefs about others, beliefs about life, beliefs about capacities, and beliefs about natural endowments all of us possess. In this manner his perception, evaluation, assessment and response to people, situations, problems, difficulties, challenges, conditions of life and conflict situations will be impaired. Such a person will be at his wits end to make sense why he faces apparently unsurmountable problems or difficulties in particular spheres of life. These are in personal, couple, siblings, family, friends, neighbourhood, work place, people at large, peers and so on.
I will put forth the challenges we generally face when we are moving through life in different stages and how to remedy them in the next blog.
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