Human Development – Critical Essay
Human development covers the entire lifespan of an individual. It starts from birth and continues right up to death. This is a continuous and active process of learning. The basic or prominent element of human development is life itself. From birth, one realises the need for food and water, the need for nourishment. This is an instinct that we have in order to sustain life on the planet and to make sure that we exist.
Everything in our life, during the entire course of it, revolves around this basic element. As we grow, we learn that there is more to life. In childhood it is the parents and school that is the most important. We understand that it is important to study and to play. When we reach adolescence friendship becomes are sole reason to live.
Early adulthood prepares us for a life of work and the necessary tools to make sure we can survive in the world. We find jobs in order to focus on the enhancement of our well- being and to reduce poverty. We then find partners and settle down. By middle age, life is about giving back to the society.
We have children and teach them morals and values and we take active part in social activities. It is around this time that spirituality also sets in strongly. There is a deep search for man’s meaning and a lot of people find relief in religion. We carry this on to our death and find consolation in leaving behind children to carry on the legacy of mankind.
The key indicator of human development is experience and change. Throughout our life, we constantly learn new things and integrate them into our existing knowledge of the world. If we don’t change, there is no growth.
The world is filled with new information and new people and new ideas. These have to be acknowledged and added to our filtering system so that development occurs. We cannot stay as children all our life. There are also constantly evolving moral values. What we saw as black-and-white when kids, become grey matter when we grow older.
I think experiences create personalities. In being born as humans, we are provided opportunities that no other animal is. No animal experiences the kind of life that human beings do. The kind of experiences a human being is exposed to in his entire life are unique. They are unmatched.
It is the Bhuddhist philosophy that takes precedence in my way of looking at human development. Although Buddha found enlightenment in meditation, he also said that every human being has their own way of finding one’s own path to finding oneself. Experiences become a part of this conquest. In Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, Hesse mentions the same philosophy of finding one’s route to self attainment.
Although this does not reflect my culture, it gives light on my personal beliefs. My ideas on human or personal development have been changing over time. All the reading that I have done has helped me to reach this conclusion in the ideas of development. Earlier I believed that human development was God’s plan. Over time, I came to learn about the various schools of thought that were discussed by my peers and family. I was gullible, and kept changing my beliefs according to the latest idea I had heard. Those flimsy beliefs that I once had helped me to come down to this one belief where experiences create life out of the changes that it incorporates into our psyche.
Erikson’s theory of identity and psychosocial development makes the most sense to me since it involves changing experiences that leads to the development. All the stages of development that he has mentioned can be looked at from a spiritual angle. It includes hope (infancy- trust vs. mistrust), will (toddler- autonomy vs. Shame), purpose (preschooler- initiative vs. Guilt), competence (school age child- industry vs. Inferiority), fidelity (adolescence- identity vs. Identity diffusion), love (young adult- intimacy vs. Isolation), care (middle aged adult- generativity vs. Self absorption) and wisdom (old age- integrity vs. Despair).
This theory of psychosocial development aligns with my theory since it involves active participation of the individual in his/ her growth. She is not idle and she creates situations for herself where she is aware of the decisions she makes and that she is the person that has to bear the consequences of it.
Another aspect of development is feeling everything that the individual comes across. Even if it is a negative experience, feeling and understanding that situation can help a person grow. Life is the sum total of the experiences that we take part in. Unlike Erikson, I believe that the negative experiences will add to the growth of the person and not hinder his/ her developmental processes.
One should focus on converting every experience into a positive one through reflection.
If we make sure we focus on the positives, we can definitely make our worth living and develop into better human beings.
References
Alkire, Sabina. (2002). Dimensions of human development. Retrieved from http://www.observacoop.org.mx/docs/Nov2009/Nov2009-0024.pdf
Erikson’s stages of development. Retrieved from http://www.learning-theories.com/eriksons-stages-of-development.html
