Maturity
From personal experience in life we learn what maturity is about. In our own life cycle we know that it takes many years, many seasons of growing to become mature. An apple, on the other hand, takes only a single season to form, grow and mature (ripen).
Maturity like reality has two aspects, the physical-material and the psychical-spiritual. Our understanding of “What is real” helps us understand what maturity is. Maturity is a physical/ spiritual process of advancing in wisdom, age, and grace. Growth into maturity is growth in interactive relationships and personal change, what transforms from less implicated to more implicated thinking-being.
Moment by moment, at the deep particle level of every molecule in every cell of our bodies, we are changing and being transformed, physically, psychically. Implicated growth is a process of formation, information, reformation, in a word — maturing — what happens from conception, through life, to the eventual dissolution of our substance “dots” — what is death.
Maturing is nature’s programmatic processing of enduring relationships, structures and mindful purpose that progress from less mature complexes to more mature ones.
Human consciousness is highly self-reflective, what is “introspection”, the ability to look within ourselves and see personal maturity in context of other life. We discern the causes and effects of choices that bear on us and on others. We sense the need of conforming our choices and actions to what serves wellbeing, the wellbeing of others as well as our own. Being purposely mindful and acting sensitively, sensibly, is characteristic of maturity.
Maturity is the habit of discerning authentic relationships, due diligence in being faithful to them, and advancing sustainable relationships. A mature person is a person who is trustworthy, who is as sensitive to the wellbeing of others as to self. Such manner and attitude of relating facilitate personal/ social responsibility with respect to resource usage, and preservation of resources.
Maturity is about purpose and process; purpose that mindfully advances life’s open potentials, and process that engages trains of interactions that endure and advance the commonweal.
Need, not greed. Main-street, not Wall-street.
James Edward, do not sell
James Edward, do not sell yourself short — I have almost ten years on you. Growth in wisdom, age and grace can and should continue throughout a person's lifetime. Your comment reveals common sense and wisdom. Thank you, and God bless you.
Sylvester! You are not
Sylvester! You are not "hard" for me to read! You are, however, hard for me to understand. I simply do not posess your intellect, education or insight! I don't feel too bad about it, I figure, not many of us do. Us being, old men with only one live brain cell functioning!
Initially, I suspected that you were telling me to "grow up"! I knew that this was a personal attack! You touched areas in which I feel total failure. I think I understand the physical-material, psychical-spiritual aspects, but "what is real" to me, seems slightly out of kilter with most of the rest of the world. I have steadily advanced in age, but wisdom is ghostly and fleeting at this level of comprehension. I can be, even at this ripe age, 67,physically graceful. I'm a dancer! Personally, I work at being "gracious". But spiritually graceful? I don't understand.
I also don't understand, "growth in interactive relationships and personal change," or, " less implicated to more implicated thinking-being." Implicated in what?
When the guilt and paranoia abated slightly, I kind of got the idea that you were saying that the church leadership exhibits a decided lack of maturity!
If, in fact, my assumption is correct,(fat chance of that!, I must, most respectfully, disagree. From this, admittedly myopic, vantage point, I see less immaturity than sociopathy.
I guess the more mature leadership would reply, "Takes one to know one!"
I ask Gods blessigs on you and yours!
Respectfully
James Edward