Maturity
(taken from a talk by Swami
Kriyananda)
What we’re really talking about is preparing everyone,
not just children, for true maturity. This is a much bigger concept
than just coming of age. As I’ve defined it in my book,
Education for Life,
maturity is the ability to relate appropriately to other realities
than one’s own. You’ll find that even people of advanced
years are often childish and immature with regard to this definition,
yet this ability to relate to others’ realities is what
education should accomplish.
You can see this ability to relate to other realities
reflected in people’s conversation. Many times someone will
try to discuss a topic from different points of view, but all
they’re really doing is hammering on their own position.
It’s like people living on two distant islands shouting
at each other. No matter how long they shout, the islands remain
separated, and they can’t hear each other. When a person
has achieved the kind of maturity we’re talking about, he
is able to listen to others, to absorb what they’re saying,
and to relate it to what he already understands in order to come
up with new insights. In this way, a discussion can build new
understandings for everyone involved.
The Education for Life system tries to point the
way to maturity. It doesn’t presume to give maturity, but
it creates a mind-set that will endure for the whole of life.
It provides a direction of growth that people can take all the
way into old age and still keep growing so that they find things
to marvel at in the world around them.
"My daughter has learned
at school that she has the power within herself to make herself
feel better... This is very impressive for a child of six. When
I tell other parents whose children don't go to Living Wisdom
School , they are amazed that there is a school that teaches such
valuable lessons."(parent)
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