Life has many faces. Life is a journey with without trials. Everything you do is considered final. Not just like a computer, you can’t go back and edit what you have in your life’s record book. Everything a person experiences from conception to his last breath is automatically recorded and there is no editing that can be done and everything a person experiences plays a vital role in shaping the life of the person.
Several psychologist have tried modeling the development of person – that is physically and psychosocially and placed some label to the maximum level a person can fulfill. Lawrence Kohlberg identified six stages in three levels as the model for a person’s moral development. Kohlberg focuses on the reasoning behind a person’s actions. The ultimate moral development that can be achieved of which is level 6 which is to be able to apply universal ethical principles in the way humans reason out. Based on his model, a person would not be able to successfully come into terms with level six if that person wasn’t able to apply all the previous levels. A person could only achieve level six if he becomes an unjust person. The person must know his moral obligations first before and according to his own ethical principles and the universally accepted principles before he can become level six individual. The golden rule becomes one the major guiding principles a person could implement if he wants to achieve such level. A person should not do anything that can degrade his human dignity and to never use other persons for the individual’s own ulterior motives. A person should always treat a person as a rational person and not just a way of fulfilling the needs of others. Before making decisions, a person must consider first what that affected person feels when he is in his place and ask himself if this is the one he wants if he was there. (Crain, 1985)
Abraham Maslow sees that to be become a fulfilled person that person should be a self-actualized person. A self-actualized person is the state of having brought to life the full potentials of a person’s skills. This is easier to achieve as compared to Kohlbergs level six. A person can achieve the feeling of completeness if a person was able to withstand all the problems he had. It is accepted as a fact that the world is not equal and humans are not free from having problems because they are already part of life. The important thing is to be able to utilize all the skills and potentials a person has to overcome these problems. For example, if a student was able to graduate with honors despite having to work while studying and dealing with a problematic family is becoming a self-actualized person. Self-actualization is the pursuit to happiness.
Eric Erikson sees that the most a person can be is to become an ego-strong person in his 8 stages of psychosocial development. However, person would not be able to become a ego –strong person if he wasn’t able to successfully passed the 7 other stages. Thus, becoming an ego-strong person is a lifelong journey. A person must be able to know the values of trust, independence, must know his identity and must not have the feeling of being useless to have a strong belief in himself. A person could be ego strong today but tomorrow, his view of himself may change, thus there is a need to constantly ensure while journeying through life that satisfy the requirements of the person so as not to have low self-esteem.
Works Cited
Crain, W. S. (1985). “Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development”. faculty.plts.edu. n.d. Web. 12 April 2012
Clifton, Alan (1995). “Psychosocial Theory: Erikson”. haverford.edu/ . n.d. Web. 12 April 2012
