Human Development and the Spiritual Life How Consciousness Grows tow
The author proposes a theory of the development of consciousness in which ego is the central agent of socialization and culture and the driving force behind individual self-control and self-regulation. He reviews the literature on identity and narrative;
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The Plenum Series in Adult Development and Aging SERIES EDITOR: Jack Demick, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts
AGING AND HUMAN MOTIVATION Ernest Furchtgott THE CHANGING NATURE OF PAIN COMPLAINTS OVER THE LIFESPAN Richel R. Thomas and Ranjan Roy THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOGIC IN ADULTHOOD Postformal Thought and Its Applications Jan D. Sinnott HANDBOOK OF AGING AND MENTAL HEALTH An Integrative Approach Edited by Jacob Lomranz HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL GEROPSYCHOLOGY Edited by Michel Hersen and Vincent B. Van Hasselt HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE How Consciousness Grows toward Transformation Ronald R. Irwin HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN ADULTHOOD Lewis R. Aiken PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF OLDER ADULTS An Introductory Text Edited by Michel Hersen and Vincent B. Van Hasselt PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CONSUMER AND ITS DEVELOPMENT An Introduction Robert C. Webb
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Human Development and the Spiritual Life How ConsciOllsness Grows toward Transformation Ronald R. Irwin Brockville, Ontario, Canada
Springer-Science+ Business Media, !Le
ISBN 978-1-4613-5180-1 ISBN 978-1-4615-0657-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-0657-7 ©2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York Originally published by Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers in 2002 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover lst edition 2002
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Preface In this book, I propose a theory of the development of consciousness that at first makes ego appear center stage as the agent of socialization and culture. Ego is defined as what makes self become object to itself so that self-control and self-regulation are enabled. This process builds on representational capacities that are an outcome of natural selection. The gaze of others (a prerequisite to moral behavior) becomes internalized as the self observing the self, the self reflecting on itself, the self making an object of itself, so that the light of moral consciousness dawns. But as ego becomes more substantial, more solid, so does repression and alienation from the sources of our being. But the story of ego is not all that occupies the landscape of consciousness and development. The importance of ego as an agent of self becomes eclipsed with aging, so that the predominance accorded selfcontrol can be attenuated. Ego can be relaxed, and as the executive functions become more automatic, there is more room to breathe. The straitjacket of ego on consciousness is loosened. As ego loosens, so too does much of what is taken for granted by convention as necessary to moral and social behavior. As ego is transcended, we enter the postconventional, the postrep
