HUMAN MATURITY

TOWARDS A "UNIFIED SELF"

Sr. Felistus, CM
 Formation
• Religious formation could be compared to the growing process of a tree or
the process of constructing a house. As everything is vital in the growing
process of a tree, so also the different aspects of formation is very important.
Having the good seed at hand, sowing the seed in the right place, watering it
regularly and protecting it from all sorts of dangers occupy paramount
importance for the healthy growth and consequent fruit bearing of a tree.
• In the same way, identifying a genuine vocation and helping it to grow,
constitute a great responsibility. The stability and authenticity of a religious
congregation is very much related to the genuine process of formation in the
congregation. Whatever one has gained in formation will accompany him/her
always.
• If the choice to consecrate oneself to God has to be
free and responsible, formation must be directed
towards the ‘’whole’’ person. Its complexity is to
coaxed into converging towards a single end; the
maturation of the person-believer-consecrated into
one without dividing the journey into rigidly
separated steps one after the other.
MATURITY
• When talking about maturity, it is very common
to associate it with age and assume that the
older, the greater the maturity. Although it is
true that age has something to do with maturity
(our psychological, intellectual, physical, social
and spiritual development consolidates over
time), age is not the determining factor. It is
very easy to see irresponsible octogenarians as
mature fifteen-year-olds. We only have to look
at our society to realize that not everyone over
the age of 25 is truly mature.
What, then, is maturity?
• If we look for a definition, the Dictionary of the
Royal Spanish Academy says: "Condition or state of
maturity (Mature: That which has reached the
mental capacity of an adult person. That it has ceased
to be young, but has not reached old age). Period of
life in which vital plenitude has been reached and old
age has not yet been reached. Good judgment or
prudence, good sense".
• With this definition we have, on the one hand, the
chronological stage of age (when one stops being
young without having reached old age) and on the
other hand, when adult mental capacity is reached,
vital plenitude. This last point is somewhat
ambiguous, so we see the need to go a little deeper.
• It can be said that maturity is the highest point of a process of
growth and development; the fulfillment or perfection of our
nature. It is a process, a journey that culminates in the acquisition
of everything that should be. Hence the expression "in the prime
of life"; Fullness is the culminating point of a person's physical
development. But, unlike apples or dogs, man also has a spiritual
nature, and here maturity acquires its properly human dimension,
entirely unique.
• For humans, maturity is not a strictly physical phenomenon,
it is also emotional, psychological, social and spiritual.
 MATURITY
• is to achieve the greatest harmony between the different aspects that
form us: physical, emotional. Intellectual, moral and spiritual.
• All this will lead us to a balance between our reason and our emotion.
• Maturity is something that with effort, we are achieving and leads us
to constant improvement.
• Maturity is the point at which the parts come together to try to
achieve the greatest possible perfection
 The different aspects that the human being must develop
to reach maturity are:
• Physical aspect
• Emotional aspect
• Intellectual aspect
• Moral aspect
• Spiritual aspect
• This development must seek to overcome all aspects. It must be reflected in
behavior
 The physical aspect

• Everything related to the person's

body.
• The basic elements to reach maturity
are: age and health.
• Our body system grows and develops
continuously and progressively from
conception to the age of 20 when it can
be considered that maximum physical
development has been achieved.

Health will be better; the

better the diet,
oxygenation and exercise
 The emotional aspect……

• it can be said that maturity has been reached when it has been possible to
eliminate and control instinctive reactions.
• Feelings are neither good nor bad; They exist, it is the way of acting on them, that
is, what I do after feeling them, what is right or wrong. This is the only thing we
can control and therefore judge.
It is not to stop feeling, but to try to have the best possible reaction to my emotions
or impulses. (Mature way of acting).
 Intellectual aspect………
……ability of people to assimilate, understand and use the information they
receive.
To mature in this aspect we must work on three points:
• Stimuli: feed our brain with an abundance of shapes, sounds,
movements, experiences and knowledge.
• Attention: Train our attention to learn from all situations; Not only to
look but to see and not only to hear but to listen.
• Reasoning: Do not accept things lightly, but reason them and know how
to relate them
 Moral aspect…….
• becoming aware that we are sociable beings, that
we do not live for ourselves alone, that our
emotions affect others and vice versa.
• It is this aspect that leads us to act responsibly
and justly, which allows us to surrender and not
be selfish. It makes us understand our dignity as
human beings and respect that of others.
 The spiritual aspect…….

……..implies the existence of an ideal. An

ideal that attracts us, stimulates us and moves
us to achieve it. It is to comply with the
religion we have in the best possible way.
 Maturity is the art of living in peace with
what we cannot change, it is having the
courage to change what can be changed
and the intelligence to know the difference
 THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN MATURITY
TODAY
This dynamic conception of maturity confronts us with new questions:
• What is it to be mature and what is it not to be?
• How should the concept of maturity be understood in each of the moments of life?
• Are there characteristics that allow us to discern the degree of maturity at each moment?
• What are the dynamics that make it possible for men to reach maturity and which ones
prevent or hinder it?
• And brought to the end of religiosity: What does maturation in faith consist of? What are
their characteristics?
• What relationship exists between human maturity and Christian maturity?
These questions have been illuminated
throughout history from different
fields, and recently by different
schools of psychology. Let us
summarize these contributions
 CONTRIBUTIONS OF DIFFERENT PERSONS
IN PSYCHOLOGY

……the concept of maturity is closely linked to personal

balance, and fundamentally to the integration of the deepest
dimensions of personality. In a famous phrase in this regard,
Freud identifies maturity with the ability to love and work
freely, or the ability to resolve internal conflicts, mainly
unconscious ones, that prevent love and paralyze or hinder all
productive capacity.
• In short, the concept of maturity must be situated in
the understanding of maturity as a process of
integration of the different dimensions of the
personality, conscious and unconscious, in a balance
that is not always fully achieved. But this contribution,
shared by the different authors, is progressively
enriched by the particular vision of each one of them.
 Another source of contribution….
• . …….for the understanding of the concept of maturity,;…. A better
knowledge of human development, a more precise description of
each of the stages through which man passes throughout his life, and
of the internal dynamics that make his harmonious development
possible, allow us to better understand what we should understand as
mature and what as immature in every moment of life.
• Here, maturity is understood as the ability to face each of the
challenges that are presented to the individual throughout his
life, appropriately to his age and to personal situation.
• ……..but probably the most interesting contribution, as far as maturity is
concerned, is the one made by Erikson.
• Erikson contributes to the development of human person his understanding of life
understood as something dynamic.
• For him, throughout life, man, in his dialogue with reality, finds himself faced with
eight great challenges or crises of growth.
• These challenges are what, according to Erikson's scheme, constitute the eight stages of
development, each of which is characterized by the specific development of
psychosocial crisis, which must be resolved in due time for the individual to move on to
the next stage.
• Successful resolution increases human maturity. The explanation of each of the
stages and their corresponding tensions, which he went on to detail, is described by
Erikson in his book Childhood and Society.
 Erik Erikson’s Stages Of
Psychosocial Development
 Basic trust-basic distrust
In this stage, which occupies the first months of life, the mouth develops as the
erotic zone and first zone of interaction. Through it, the experience of pleasure in
parenting is achieved and the main sensations of well-being are provided daily.
The child gradually develops a feeling that the world around him is good, and that
it is worth living and being in it, and as a consequence, he progressively acquires
the basic confidence in himself, which will be a source of security and
sustenance for his life future growth.
On the contrary, if he does not find arms that cradle him, a person with whom to
interact affectively, a source of pleasure and security, he will acquire an awareness
that what surrounds him is bad, and his own security and confidence will
progressively deteriorate.
 Autonomy-shame and doubt

The second stage, anal-urethral and muscular, reaches up to two-three years of age.
It is the time in which the child progressively acquires autonomy in his actions and movements, in
which his activities reach or do not reach a sufficient degree of control and autonomy.
At this stage, the anal area becomes the shock site of two ways of acting: retention and elimination.
These two forms are also expressed by muscular development in actions such as grasping or throwing
things. The child wavers often, sometimes violently, between the two opposites, and loses control of it;
but he has to learn to control these two impulses to reach, without fear of risking, his own autonomy.
If the child is subjected to repeated and excessive parental restraint, the result can be a lasting
feeling of doubt and shame.
In short, at this stage the child is faced with the dilemma between being and feeling autonomous, self-
confident, capable of controlling his own corporality and character, or insecurity regarding himself and
his self-control, and the fear of what surrounds him.
 Initiative-guilt
Freud called this stage, which he occupies up to 5-6 years of age, phallic, and in it he
located the Oedipus complex with its constellation of sensations, desires and fears.
Erikson places this constellation of feelings in the larger context of the child's new
abilities: independence and vigorous movement, understanding of language, wild and
sometimes scared imagination.
In this period, the intentionality of actions and feelings is internalized, being the time in
which moral intention and feelings of guilt emerge, which can have a positive function
by redirecting their curiosity and energy beyond the family, towards the world of facts, of
ideals and practical goals; but the danger at this stage is that the existence of a deep and
permanent feeling of guilt in the face of forbidden desires and jealousy, perhaps
expressed in acts of fear of unruly aggression, will block the child's growth.
 Industry-inferiority

This period, called the latency period, has a new meaning for Erikson.
It is the time that goes until the arrival of puberty and adolescence. It is
the time of systematic instruction, under the guidance of adults or
older children. The child goes beyond the immediate family circle and
explores his ways and abilities in relating to other children and adults.
At this stage he learns to use the tools and utensils of the adult world,
and thus develops a feeling of industry. When he does not achieve
success in this effort, or when the goals that adults propose to him are
contradictory, a feeling of inferiority is achieved.
 Identity-confused identity

This confrontation occurs at the time of puberty and adolescence.

In this time of accelerated bodily changes and genital maturation, the question of
equality and continuity arises with what one was in the preceding years.
Pubescent youth is faced with the problem of connecting the qualities of their self
and what they experienced in their childhood with the adult role they are called to
be.
This identity is gradually structured from what he is deep down inside himself,
from the roles he performs, from how he is perceived by others, from his
individual constitutional endowment, from his capacities. It is common for the
adolescent in this process to seek a temporary solution through identification with
a popular hero, or joining a gang that gives him his identity, through the
separation between the insiders and the strangers, based on and stereotypes.
Being part of such groups avoids the feeling of identity
confusion, and allows you to prove your capacity for fidelity;
but this is only a first step to achieve a personal identity that
differentiates you from the rest of your peers and that makes
you feel like the author and protagonist of your life.
Otherwise, he is doomed to let himself be carried away by the
environment or by others without knowing very well the
meaning of what he lives and what he does, or even to fall
into more or less serious pathologies of identity confusion.
 Privacy-isolation
With the achievement of identity, the young person is finally ready to
share and merge his identity with the identity of others, in an intimate
relationship. Although Erikson develops this concept mainly in
orgasmic mutuality heterosexual relationships that, according to his
thought, can only be fully developed in permanent relationships,
intimacy is also present in other situations such as friendship,
camaraderie(comradeship). When, on the contrary, there is an absence
of a firm identity and/or fear of the loss of the self, the person avoids
such experiences at all costs, establishing only a superficial
relationship, and a deep feeling of isolation results from all of this.
 Generativity-stagnation
• It is the challenge of adulthood itself. Given the enormous role of
learning and cultural transmission in human lives, generativity plays a
fundamental role. Adults, for the meaning of their existence to say
something to someone, need to be necessary; where they verify this
maturation process is precisely when transmitting it to the new
generations.
• Those who, absorbed in other concerns and interests, close in on
themselves are likely to become personally impoverished and experience
a deep sense of stagnation.
 Integrity-desperation
When the achievements of each of the previous seven stages are successfully reached and, therefore,
maturity in each of the stages of life, the harvest in old age is a feeling of plenitude, integrity, and
personality.
It is adorned with multiple qualities. The integrity of the mature self is adorned by a feeling of
coherence(consistenscy/unity) and wholeness. In this time of plenitude there is a feeling of communion
with the world, with society and with life, and of spiritual meaning.
Love towards one's own parents and towards the rest of the significant people in one's life is accepted in a
new way. The person feels solidarity with distant peoples and with the men who have worked for human
dignity and love. And the Integrity is based on the assumption of the one and only vital cycle, the acceptance
of one's own death.
When this does not happen, one becomes aware that life is over and that it has been lost; the lack of
integration of the self is marked by despair, by the non-acceptance of the excessive transience of time and
the impossibility of starting over.
 A third contribution ………

…….. attempts to addresses maturity from the perspective of personal

growth, motivation and self-esteem. Abraham Maslow , in his theory
of motivations, makes us realize that beyond the basic motivations,
which are characterized by their ability to be satisfied, there are others
that he calls higher motivations, which are specific to the human
species and they are characterized by their feedback capacity: the more
they are cultivated, the more we need to live and practice them. Among
them we find the ethical and aesthetic needs and, mainly, the need
for meaning.
• Man, therefore, for Maslow is the being that, beyond
covering his basic needs —food, sex, gregariousness,
etc.— and the biological development that makes
him an adult, is called to personal fulfillment, to give
meaning to his existence in dialogue with his
environment, and to walk in a process of personal
fulfillment, which will allow him to be a healthy,
mature and happy individual.
 Maturity as integration of the person
What can we collect as contributions from the different psychological schools? By way of synthesis, it seems
appropriate to describe what we understand by maturity and what are the necessary conditions to achieve it:
1) First of all, it is necessary to point out again the dynamic nature of the concept of maturity , which is no
longer understood as a stage reached at a moment in life (adulthood), but as a process that is present in
different ways throughout each of its stages.
2) Maturity, thus, is understood as the balance reached at each moment of existence between the different
dimensions of the personality (conscious and unconscious, affective, rational, volitional and social). Always
provisional and unstable balance.
3) This balance is not only made between the different dimensions of the personality, but is generated in
dialogue and communication with others, adequately assuming the different roles and roles that the person
is called to play; and in overcoming the challenges that the environment and society cause him and to which
he has to respond.
4) These social challenges are not the same at each of the ages of life, but there is
a progression, due, on the one hand, to the abilities of age and, on the other, to the
social context in which the subject lives. is involved (social class, culture, etc).
5) The achievement of balance and maturity has to do not only with self-esteem,
which is consolidated in the subject throughout his life, but with the vision that he
has of the world and of the society that surrounds him. Or what is the same, the
achievement of maturity is closely related to psychological health..
6)Finally , the achievement of maturity in each of the stages, also has a dynamic
character, as it is the engine of growth and change in the subject's personality,
which is driven, from what it is at each moment, to a process of personal growth
and enrichment, which will allow you to adequately face the new challenges that
life throws at you.
What are we saying?
• The concept of maturity is closely linked to personal
balance and, fundamentally, to the integration of the deepest
dimensions of personality.
• Freud identifies maturity with the ability to love and work
freely, or the ability to resolve internal conflicts that prevent
love and paralyze or hinder all productive capacity. One
speaks, then, of a process of integration of the different
dimensions of the personality, in a balance that is not always
fully achieved.
• Human maturity, in its full sense, consists in the harmony of the person.
More than an isolated quality, it is a state that consists of the integration of
many and very diverse qualities; it is a compendium of values ​rather than a
single value. It is the combination and integration of very diverse human
qualities in an organic whole:
will, intellect, emotions, memory and imagination; all the faculties of a
human person. But it is not enough that all these elements are present; there
must be an order and a harmony between them. This harmony is translated
into the perfect correspondence between what one is and what one professes
to be, and its most convincing expression is fidelity to one's own
commitments.
In a mature person there is no place for hypocrisy or dishonesty, nor for lack
of authenticity.
• Unlike what happens with apples and other creatures, man is
capable of reflecting on his nature and freely choosing whether
or not to live according to what he should be as a human
person. In this way, maturity consists in the conformity
between the way we live and our true nature. Among other
things. This implies accepting one's own state of life and acting
coherently. Maturity means accepting the joys and difficulties
that come with one's own decisions; mature people are capable
of committing themselves without fear, because they are their
own masters and not slaves to circumstances.
 The path of maturity
…..the movement from
dependence to independent and
free being………………
To reach this fullness of human maturity, it will be
necessary to have achieved the adult mental capacity .
This capacity will only be achieved if the person
becomes an independent and free being.
It takes us approximately 25 years to go from
dependence to independence. This is also a
complicated (and often painful) process that, especially
nowadays, not many are willing to go through.
 Emotional development…..
Affective bonding……………
Affective bonding is essential for the healthy development of the baby. The
strong relationship that is formed between mother and child provides the
child with feelings of security and confidence, necessary for his proper
development, which will allow him to become a self-confident adult,
capable of establishing satisfactory and healthy interpersonal
relationships. And each person has their own evolution in terms of
emotional development, according to their early and successive affective
bonds.
It is about the journey from the dependency of the baby to the
independence of the adult.
The path of maturity is a process of differentiation and
psychological individuation; In order to grow and mature as true
free and integral beings, it is necessary to separate emotionally
from the parents. And it is not only the children who must "leave
the father and the mother", but above all it is the parents who must
let the children go. Some parents (very few) allow growth and
openness to life, but the vast majority, due to rigid family
structures and their own emotional deficiencies, slow down the
process of separation and differentiation that all healthy growth
needs.
It is in adolescence where the most important personality
movement occurs, the transition from dependence to
independence. Entering the world of adults (desired and
feared) means for the adolescent the definitive loss of his
condition as a child. It is a crucial moment in life and
constitutes the decisive stage of a detachment process.
And only when biological maturity is accompanied by
emotional and intellectual maturity will he gain entry into
the world of mature adulthood.
maturity does not mean being immune to all temptation or
evil………
……….. as if good and bad were things for children.
• Adults often believe that they are already "beyond good and evil."
An adult is mature precisely because he does not need to be told
that he must do good and avoid evil. He acts according to his
personal convictions and his right conscience.
• A mature person recognizes his weaknesses; avoid occasions that
can lead to evil and look for opportunities to do good.
• Maturity does not mean having all the answers. The more mature a
person is, the more humbly he recognizes his limits. The mature person
recognizes his weaknesses and does not rush into his judgments; ponder,
study, consult and decide prudently. The truly mature person does not lead
his life superficially, but guided by clear principles.
• Being truly an adult is being responsible for yourself and your actions
before others. One is all the more adult when one is aware of one's own
contradictions and accepts them. Mature people are responsible, active,
with a critical spirit, they defend their rights, but respect others, they have
a life project and also an ethical sense of life, a perception in accordance
with reality, good management of their emotions and good education of
the will. Immature people are the complete opposite.
 Maturity and socialization
• As mentioned above, the adult mental capacity necessary to achieve full maturity,
part of the achievement of independence (emotional, physical, psychological).
However, it is necessary to clarify that independence is never absolute. Winnicott
said: "The healthy individual is not isolated, but is related to the environment in
such a way that it can be said that he and his environment are interdependent."
• Therefore, maturity is not only related to the personal aspect, but also with respect
to socialization. "Let's say that, in health, which is almost synonymous with
maturity, the adult can identify with the society without too great a sacrifice of
personal spontaneity, or, conversely, that the adult can attend to his own personal
needs without being antisocial and without failing to assume some responsibility for
the maintenance or modification of society as it is found.
In this sense, 'health' means both the health of the individual and the health of society, and the full maturity of
the individual is not possible in a sick or immature social setting.
You cannot evolve and grow as a whole human being without developing and maturing emotionally.
There is no mature society without upright individuals. ….
Social immaturity is, then, an expression of the emotional immaturity of the individuals that make it up;
Under the guise of adults, the vast majority are beings that evolutionarily barely exceed early childhood or
puberty.
Psychologically we continue to prolong the early emotional dependence of childhood, and with this mental
state, we face life. Living is complex, but much of what is painful and conflictive is a direct consequence of
the state of immaturity in which we find ourselves and which is not even noticed as such.
Many live so busy to achieve merely external goals such as success, power, money and recognition, that they
never manage to relate their anxieties and deep anxieties with the lack of affective and spiritual growth.
And many others treasure the desire to mature and evolve, but there are so many stumbling blocks that,
confused, frustrated or resigned, they give up on their inner search or consume other people's magical
formulas that, inevitably, distance and deviate from their own vital path.
 MATURE PERSONALITY CONCEPT (GORDON
ALLPORT)

• G.Allport believed that maturation of an individual is an on-going

process lasting all his/her life. He made a distinction between a mature
and immature or a neurotic person. Mature personalities behave
independently and are motivated by conscious processes. Unlike them,
the immature individuals as a rule are unconsciously motivated by
childhood drives. Thus, G.Allport concluded that psychologically
mature personality is characterized by six traits outlined below;
 extended sense of self
• 1. A mature person has an extended sense of self. Mature
individuals can look at themselves from outside. They actively
participate in labor, family and social relationships, have hobbies, and
are interested in political and religious matters, if they consider them
important. Such types of activities require the involvement of the true
self of the person and genuine dedication. G.Allport believed that self-
love is a prominent and inescapable factor in every life but it need not
dominate since only self-extension is the earmark of maturity.
 Emotional relationship with other people.

2. The mature individual is capable of relating warmly to others and

establishing hearty social relations. G.Allport distinguished two types of
warm interpersonal relations: the first is capability for love. The second
kind is compassion. The friendly warm relationships manifest themselves
as the individual's capability of deeply loving his/her family members and
close friends. Meanwhile compassion is demonstrated in the ability of a
person to be tolerant in dealing with people which allows them to be very
respectful and appreciative of individual differences in behavior and
thought (both values and positions).
3. A mature person demonstrates
emotional security and self-acceptance.
• We easily observe the difference that exists between the person with
emotional balance and the one who is emotionally exalted who
presents fits of anger or passion. (Example: alcoholics and those who
have outbursts of profanity and obscenity; the selfish and those who
abandon themselves to his passions).
• Mature individuals have a positive perception of themselves and thus are
capable of tolerantly dealing with frustration or annoyance as well as their own
mistakes, without blaming themselves or overreacting. They are able to
overcome stressful situations and their own negative emotions (e.g. depressive
state, fears, (anger or sense of guilt) so that to avoid hindering the wellbeing of
surrounding people. For instance, if they had a bad day, they do not act
impulsively and take it out on anyone. And moreover, when expressing their
opinions and feelings, they think how it would affect others.

• Emotional security is characterized by a preferably stable behavior, aware of its

limitations and how to manage them so that they do not greatly alter their lives.
 Tolerance and democratic character structure
4. The mature person has realistic perception of life, experience, claims and
ambitions. Psychologically healthy people are accurate in their perception of
events avoiding continual distortion of reality. Besides, they have the relevant
qualification and skills necessary for effective performance and are capable of
casting aside their personal wishes and impulses until an important task is
accomplished. G.Allport quoted the famous brain surgeon Harvey Cushing, on this
point: “The only way to endure life is to have a task to complete.” Thus, mature
individuals are accurate in their perception of other people, things and situations;
they have sufficient expertise and knowledge to deal with the reality, they strive to
achieve substantive and realistic goals.
 Self-objectification

• 5. The mature person has self-insight and a sense of humor. Socrates

taught that the first and foremost rule for a full life is know thyself.
G.Allport called it self-objectification meaning that mature individuals
have clear-cut idea about their own strengths and weaknesses. An
important component of self-insight is humor making it possible to see the
absurdity in their own life and in situations involving other individuals.
Humor as seen by G.Allport is the ability to laugh at things that they love
best (including their own personality) and value it. Correlated with the
self-insight is a sense of humor as both are linked to self-realization [8].
 Unifying philosophy of life
6. Mature individuals have a unifying philosophy of life since they are
able to see the whole picture owing to their ability to regularly and
consistently single out the important things in their own life. G.Allport
believed one need not be Aristotle and try to formulate an intelligible
theory of life’s purpose. Instead, the individual should have a set of values
covering his/her main goal or theme which will make his/her life
important. Different people may formulate individual values underpinning
their way of living. They may choose to strive to the truth, social welfare.
According to Allport, the mature individual has values underpinning
his/her life [10].
 Human maturity and religious maturity

A basic and fundamental question is: What relationship is

there, if any, between human maturity and religious
maturity? In what sense can we extrapolate what has been
said up to now about human maturity to the scope of the
process of growth in faith, …..
which seeks to find an adequate understanding of the growth
and maturation of faith.
• In the first place, and as a starting point, it is convenient to
remember the classic aphorism of theological anthropology:
"Grace does not replace nature." The glory of God is that man
lives, and that he does so in a fully human way, fully developing all
his human potentialities, which make him be in the image of the
Creator (Gen 1:27), a new man in the image of Christ ( Rom 8,29).
• But this human growth is accompanied by the awareness of human
limitation, of one's own finitude, which opens man to the search for
transcendence, making the words of Saint Augustine come true: "I
would not look for you if I had not already found you."
 Religious maturity (the encounter with God)

An accumulation of human experiences such as the awareness of one's own

finiteness, the intersubjective encounter of human love, feeling like a bearer of life
and the joy of fatherhood, the experience of pain and frustration, indignation and
rebellion against injustice, the ability to be ecstatic before the beauty and beauty of
life are probably the ones that, in one way or another, open us up to the search for
the ultimate meaning of our lives and the encounter with God; but not all of
them, nor the way of living each one, are equally ripening.
It is relatively frequent that we project onto God, as we do in the rest of our human
relationships, our desire for security, our fears, our frustrations, our illusions. All
this leads to a critical process of our very image of God, of purification of the idols
that we create daily, or of the idolization process to which we submit to God.
• One of the main traits of religious maturity is
• an attitude of openness before the Mystery,
• of healthy suspicion before what idolatry may exist in our
relationship with God;
• an experience of trust and docility before God and his will,
which results in deep peace and security and
• an attitude of freedom and risk in the face of everything that
surrounds us. "Don't be afraid", "Nothing disturbs you".
 What are the characteristics of a mature person?

• Many people say they are mature enough to face any situation, good or
bad, without it being a stressful time for them. Having this capacity is not
only the manifesto of real maturity, but also adequate personal growth
regardless of how old you are, because the psychological maturity of an
adult does not necessarily depend on chronological age.
• Learning to mature is not an easy path , you will come across situations
that will test you, but it is the best tool you can have for your life, because
after all it will help you achieve your own evolution and personal
fulfillment.
 Characteristics of a mature person

• Growing up in life in all fields (intellectual, emotional, behavioral, psychological, social,

etc.) is not a necessity, but an obligation if you want to fulfill yourself and enjoy a full and
balanced life. Let's see some of the characteristics that mature people possess. In this sense,
mature people tend to be characterized by some elements, including:
• – They have the ability to empathize with others
• Knowing how to understand others is having the ability to understand
yourself . Empathizing means listening and helping, even if it is only moral support. It is the
ability to understand what happens to other people without having a negative impact on your
life. Being empathetic with others will help you get to know yourself better because through
the experiences of others you will learn to better manage new situations that arise in your life.
• They don't waste time criticizing others.
• A person who is constantly criticizing others shows that his life has no incentives and that
he must cover that need by speaking ill of others . Mature people know how to appreciate all
the good they find in others. Who sows charity will always reap the best of each person.
• – They know exactly what they want in their life
• A person with psychological and human maturity is a self-confident person . He knows
exactly what he wants and is heading in the direction he has chosen. He has the ability to make
his own decisions and assumes the consequences that may arise, seeking above all coherence in
life.
• – They know how to control their own emotions and temperament
• Controlling anger and rage in front of others will not only help you have a calmer life, but it will
be the most effective way to live respecting others. Mature people are polite and avoid raising
their voices because they know that if they want to be respected, they first have to respect
themselves.
 Some tips to increase human and psychological maturity
• – Be an observant person. Observe others and you will discover
yourself. Surely the people you have around you have similarities with
your personality.
• – Accept your mistakes. It is normal to make mistakes. The important
thing is to learn from every mistake we make. They are lifelong lessons
if we know how to learn from our own mistakes and those of others.
• – Assume that you can always mature more. Personal maturity does
not imply reaching certain knowledge of oneself. Growing up is
exploring, discovering and learning until the last day of life.
• – Get out of your comfort zone. Without a doubt, the best way to
achieve personal maturity is to get out of your comfort zone
because it is the place where you will test yourself the most. Who
knows how to put themselves in discussion has the best attitude to
always improve in their own lives.
• – Always look for coherence in your life. Maturity does not mean
not having mistakes, because perfection itself is not a human
possibility. We have the possibility to always seek perfection, but
aware of our innumerable limits. Consistency is demonstrated in
the constant defense of our ideals with the facts.
Maturity is reflected above all in knowing
how to love others as we love ourselves. The
mature person knows that his life is a
wonderful gift and each day he lives it as a
gift and with the gratitude of someone who
knows that one must respond with facts in the
face of so many blessings.
Thank you