The 33 Marks of Maturity

This is the title of a new e-book from The Art of Manliness. I thought it sounded interesting. I know a lot of guys, myself included, that could probably use some help in the maturity department. I haven't read the book yet...I'll probably order it in the next few days, but here's an excerpt from it:

It will mean much to our confused and hostility ridden world if and when the conviction begins to dawn that the people we call ‘bad’ are people we should call immature. This conviction would bring us to the realization of what needs to be done if our world is to be rescued from its many defeats. The chief job of our culture is, then, to help all people to grow up. —The Mature Mind by H. A. Overstreet

That's an interesting viewpoint. And I can see that idea in how immature men in general have gotten over the years.

And here's more from the same author:

In The Mature Mind (1949), psychologist Harry Allen Overstreet argued that “the most dangerous members of our society are those grownups whose powers of influence are adult but whose motives and responses are infantile.” Such individuals have stumbled into roles in which their decisions impact wide swaths of people, and yet lack the psychological resources and steady character to make those choices soundly.

The introduction then continues:

Even if not always existentially fraught, immaturity of mind makes for poor teachers, unethical businessmen, impetuous police officers, ineffective politicians, and brain-explodingly bad customer service reps — a reality easily observed today, where so many domains in life resemble a circus staffed by clowns. Yet, ironically enough, those who roundly lament the state of society are often the same people who seem rather childlike in their own orientation; they want to remain a little immature themselves, while being led, protected, served, and tended to by mature adults. They wish to remain children, in a world of grown-ups. 

But the world of children is only made possible by the world of adults. 

As the story of the Little Red Hen taught us, you cannot eat the bread, unless you’re willing to help make the bread. It takes everyone committing to developing a mature mind in order to create a culture that is safe, healthy, sane, and fulfilling. 

Individually, while the easy path of remaining childlike may seem desirable, the more challenging journey to personal maturity ultimately carries the greatest rewards. An immature approach to life may seem to promise the most freedom, but it invariably restricts our autonomy, as we end up the slaves of our emotions, circumstances, and minds, rather than their masters. Ignorance may sometimes appear to be bliss, but incompetence invariably constricts our choices, closing the number of pathways open to us. Undirected groping may sometimes feel like liberation, but a lack of progress towards an aim ultimately ends in stifling stagnation. Humans are meant to be on a trajectory of continuous, upward growth, and it is thus our destiny, and our joy, to grow to full “stature” in every aspect of who we are. 

So, maturation is essential for societal and personal betterment, but what does it mean to be mature, anyway? 

Maturity is difficult to define, though we instinctively recognize it when we encounter it embodied in another. It is best understood as a constellation of many traits, behaviors, actions, and mindsets which move an individual from the inward-focused egocentricity of childhood to the outward-directed stance of adulthood — from dependence to independence, incompetence to efficacy, bewilderment to wisdom. 

In this book, we draw on insights from Overstreet’s The Mature Mind, the follow-up he wrote with his wife Bonaro, The Mind Alive (1954), and many other sources of second and firsthand experience and observation, to list and describe the 33 marks of maturity that together compose this way of being in the world.

After I get the book, I'll have a follow-up post, probably in the next week or two.

 Interesting days

Today - Global Handwashing Day, World Students’ Day, White Cane Safety Day and Chicken Cacciatore Day

Tomorrow - World Food Day, Dictionary Day, Boss’ Day, Hagfish Day, Steve Jobs Day, Feral Cat Day, Global Dignity Day, Take Your Parents To Lunch Day and Department Store Day

Week long celebrations:

October 13 - 19: Healthcare Foodservice Workers Week 

Month long celebrations:

September 15 - October 15: Hispanic Heritage Month

Next Tuesday - Caps Lock Day, Smart is Cool Day, Nut Day and International Stuttering Awareness Day

November 15 - Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day, Spicy Hermit Cookie Day, America Recycles Day, Philanthropy Day, I Love to Write Day and Bundt Cake Day

Week long celebrations:

November 11 - 17: Human-Animal Relationship Awareness Week

November 12 - 18: Talk Money Week