COLLECTION: A DAWN EMERGES

1.

LIFE AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE

2.

LIFE AND SEX

3.

LIFE AND ADULTHOOD

4.

LIFE AND UTOPIA

5.

LIFE AND ALIENATION

6.

LIFE AND SYMBOLIZATION

7.

LIFE AND MYSTICISM

8.

LIFE AND TESTAMENT

MARIA AUXILIADORA DE SOUZA BRASIL

LIFE AND ADULTHOOD

Editorial Coordinator

Sílvia Raquel Amorim Braga

Revision

Márcia Teixeira de Freitas

Translation

Jefferson Wolfe Conboy

Soledade Fonseca da Mota

Collection: A Light on the Path, 3

Belo Horizonte | 2017

Collection: A Light on the Path, 3

Brasil, Maria Auxiliadora de Souza

Life and Adulthood / Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil. Translation by Jefferson Wolf Conboy; Soledade Fonseca da Mota. Belo Horizonte: Fundação Souza Brasil , 2017. (A Light on the Path, 3).

ISBN ENTER-ISBN-NUMBER-HERE (printed version)

1. Psicoterapia. 2. Psicologia. 3. Psiquiatria. I. Conboy, Jefferson Wolfe. II Mota, Soledade Fonseca da. III. Título

Cover:

Simone Rodrigues Alves

Electronic editing:

Frederico F. Albuquerque Leal

Published in 2017 by Fundação Souza Brasil

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PREFACE

In response to innumerable requests, I have decided to present a series of writings in a language more accessible to a wider audience. Such writings seek to convey the concepts of self-knowledge, sex, adulthood, utopia, alienation, symbolization and mysticism, culminating in my testament as an educator.

Self-knowledge is the essential condition for programming what will allow the human being to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Self-knowledge, impossible from birth to the age of six, occurs, from six to twelve years of age, only at the practical- utilitarian level, from twelve to eighteen, at the partial-abstract level, initially of pugnacity, and later in search of one’s own consensus, and at the total abstract level, after eighteen years of age, cumulatively at the communitary, humanistic, and cosmic levels, when the individual begins to live eternity in temporality.

Sex is an effective means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial sex is sex limited by the developmental level of the individuals who live it; it is merely genital sex, and the conflicts that emerge between the sexual partners result from the limitations of perception of each individual about sexuality. Total sex that is psycho-genital, and the conflicts that threaten the relations between the sexual partners result from limitations of perception of the infantile or adolescent partner, demanding, from the adult partner, a firm and yet gentle attitude, in defending his interest to ensure an integrated sexual relation.

Adulthood is the ideal moment to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial adulthood is an organic and also psychic adulthood only at the communitary and humanistic levels; the conflicts that arise between individuals result from the limitations of perception of each individual of himself, in particular, and of the other individuals in general. Total adulthood is the adulthood that besides being organic and psychic is also spiritual; the full adult directs his spirituality to the cosmic well-being, seeking to live eternity in temporality at its highest level.

Utopia is the attempt of imagination to fulfill the emptiness left by ignorance. The religious utopias have been hindering the spiritual evolution of the peoples; the philosophical utopias have been aggravating this hindrance with the absence of logic of thought; the sciences have been rejecting, more successfully, the incursions of the utopias in the areas of observation and experimentation. Healthy utopia points towards a future of faith and hope in the victory of goodness, peace and universal harmony.

Mental alienation is the process of distancing the individual from the reality to which he belongs; it is natural in the immature individual, cultural in the ignorant individual and pathological in mental illness, constituting the biggest impediment to obtaining ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial mental alienation is merely concrete in childhood, and also abstract, though of limited abstraction, in pre- adolescence and in adolescence. Total mental alienation is, besides animal, in the different regressive stages, also vegetal.

Symbolization is the process of approximation of the individual to the reality to which he belongs and it is the best instrument to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial symbolization is merely concrete symbolization in childhood, and also abstract, though of limited abstraction, in preadolescence and in adolescence. Total symbolization is symbolization that besides being communitary and humanistic is also cosmic; total, integrated symbolization is not possible before somato-psychic maturity.

Mysticism is the definitive means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial mysticism is merely organic in the case of the mystical living, and also psychic in the case of the mystical experience. Total mysticism is the mysticism that, besides being organic and psychic, is also spiritual, the mystical ecstasy; there is, in the sexual act, an effective path to reach it, though not necessary. The mystical living, experience and ecstasy can be learned. The ecstatic life is the anticipation, through human love, of the Definitive Love, of the Creator!

My testament, legacy, donation, summarizes the course of my thoughts and of my practice as an educator, which have always had as a goal to contribute to the happiness of each individual, in particular, and of humanity, as a whole. I have engaged myself with the description of the setting where the history of humanity takes place, with the plot that unfolds in it and with the characters that act in it. I have approached the question of the developmental obstruction of humanity, by considering the problem of ignorance, and the solution for its eradication through the technique I have called “analytical-phenomenological-existential” which determines the path to be followed by educators to overcome the impediments to the development of individuals in the passage from ignorance to wisdom.

In this manner, I have tried to clarify the importance of self- knowledge, of understanding the sexual function, of achieving adulthood, of understanding the difference between pathological utopia and healthy utopia, of perceiving the harms caused by mental alienation, of decoding symbolization and of cultivating the mystical life so that each individual reaches the greatest development he is capable of. To this end, I have described how the technique I have created and proclaim functions, with the aim of achieving humanity’s goal, which is the rational creation of man himself.

Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil

PRESENTATION

Millenary wisdom has it that a light is not lit to be placed under the table. It must be placed where it illuminates everyone. This is the spirit of “A light on the path”, a collection that gathers eight books of Professor Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil, Ph.D.. Written in a language accessible to a wider audience, it brings to the reader the opportunity to become informed about the developmental scheme of the human being and of the human group (Life and Self-knowledge), to know his sexuality in order to live it in an integrated way (Life and Sex), to understand adulthood as a privileged moment in the development of the human being (Life and Adulthood), to distinguish the healthy utopias from those that are a result of distorted reasoning (Life and Utopia), to learn that alienation hinders the happiness of the human being (Life and Alienation), to decode the meetings between what one thinks of reality at each phase of his life and what reality is in itself (Life and Symbolization), to reconnect oneself with the mystery of the world to live the spiritual peace (Mystical Life) and, finally, to share the legacy of the author as an educator (Life and Testament).

Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil is Brazilian, a Ph.D., Full Professor of the Department of Psychology, in the area of Psychology of Personality, at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. She is the author of a trilogy consisting of a contribution to the revision of the theologies (The Newest Testament), a philosophy about the philosophies (The Metatheory of Philosophical Knowledge) and a synthesis of the knowledge of the sciences on the human being and the human group(On Analytical-phenomenological-existential Psychotherapy). The trilogy, also published by the Souza Brasil Foundation, is organized in a collection of six bilingual volumes, Portuguese-English, gathered under the suggestive title “A Dawn Emerges”.

The Analytical-phenomenological-existential Technique, created, practiced and taught by the author for over half a century, as a psychotherapist, professor and researcher, offers a safe path for educators to help individuals and groups in their development. It maintains that the educator, an adult human being par excellence, must be an example of the psychological health he is capable of promoting. It is not by accident that the author has coined the neologism “adultez” (adulthood) – until then absent from the Portuguese language.

Retainer of the copyrights of the works of Professor Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil, Ph.D., the Souza Brasil Foundation was created by a group of professionals trained by the author in the Analytical-phenomenological-existential Psychotherapy. Among its goals, the Foundation intends to convey the humanistic ideas of the author, with the aim of increasing the knowledge about mental health, and consequently, promoting the personal and professional fulfillment of each human being. Previously limited to practicing psychotherapy, the founders envisioned the possibility of taking this knowledge to the world. Distributed to all member countries of the United Nations, the present collection illuminates the path of all of those engaged in creating conditions for each person to feel fulfilled and happy.

The publishing of the present collection thus fulfills the purpose of taking, to a wider audience, true information about self-knowledge, sex, adulthood, utopia, alienation, symbolization, mysticism and the testament of the author as an educator. It contributes, thus, so that the ignorance about the human being and his culture, a source of misunderstandings and failures in public policy and unnecessary suffering in the life of many individuals, gives place to true knowledge, a light that iluminates the path of all of us, pilgrims, whose destiny is ecstasy, maximum happiness.

Fundação Souza Brasil

1 ADULTHOOD AND LIFE

The psychotherapeutical theory I have elaborated takes into account the two large courses of knowledge, on the one hand, concretism, which leads to physicalism, that is, to the examination of conduct, and, on the other, abstractionism, which leads to mentalism, that is, to the examination of thought. It takes into account all the experiments concerning the biochemical component, which constitutes temperament, the ethical-social component, which constitutes character, and the constant interaction between them, which constitutes personality. It also takes into account the fact that the scientist, upon researching or applying his knowledge, is an object acting on and in the event, whereby the designation of analysand-analyst datum to the psychotherapeutic event, which is interpreted as a whole always in search for the correct, true, deep sense of the words. It recognizes, in adulthood, the ideal moment for the fulfillment of existing, and in old adulthood, the crowning of the stages that anteceded it, which are the communitary and the humanistic.

With the objective of clarifying the relationship between adulthood as a stage in the development of existing and its significance as spiritual work, the theory has sought the treatment given to the theme by religions, by philosophies and by sciences. From the religions, it has apprehended the symmetry between spiritual living and material living, and the role of adulthood as an integrator of these two aspects of existing with the aim of participating in the mystery of the world. From the philosophies, it deduced the universality of the spirit, that is, the integration of knowledge and of ethical knowledge, feeling giving humanity to adulthood. From the sciences, it has induced the universality of matter, that is, the integration of knowledge of the micro and macro-universe, knowledge of the general law of harmonization giving meaning to adulthood. From examining the human being and the human group, it has apprehended, in both, adulthood as the crowning of childhood and of adolescence.

With the same objective, the theory sought to unify the data of the treatment carried out on the theme specifically by the developmental perspective. From the developmental perspective it has apprehended that adulthood, the crowning of childhood and of adolescence, is a definitive stage of development at its highest degree of integration, which results from a specific structure and dynamics, and that it occurs at three distinct moments, the communitary, the humanistic and the cosmic. From the study of the theme structure of adulthood, it has concluded that it represents the apex of the perfecting of the human being, who passes through childhood and adolescence. From the study of the theme dynamics of adulthood, it has concluded that it presents a lasting stability and provides the human being the deep plunge that leads to the broadening of consciousness of oneself and of oneself in the world.

With the same objective, the theory has sought to unify the data of the treatment carried out on the theme in all of its aspects, theological, philosophical, scientific and, specifically, developmental, arriving, thus, at the conception of what integrated adulthood is. From the examination of integrated adulthood, the theory has induced adulthood as developmental work, having as prodromes childhood and adolescence, this work generating the need for communication, initially of the instrumental type and, later, of the inferior consummatory type, partial, firstly, and consummatory superior, total, secondly. The theory considers all the developmental effort of the individual intended to the interest in achieving adulthood, the broadening of the consciousness of oneself and of oneself in the world, which will allow the plunge into the mystery of the world and the communion with it.

In sum, the psychotherapeutical theory I have elaborated recognizes, in adulthood, the ideal moment for the fulfillment of existing, and, in old adulthood, the crowning of the stages that antecede it, which are the communitary and the humanistic. With the objective of clarifying the relation between adulthood as a stage of the development of existing and its significance as spiritual work, the theory has sought to unify: firstly, all data provided by the religions, the philosophies and the sciences; secondly, the specific data provided by the developmental perspective; thirdly, all the data provided by the two groups previously cited. The theory considers adulthood the ideal condition, the propitious moment for the human being to live eternity in temporality, the ecstasy, the communion with the Creator.

2 ADULTHOOD AND PSYCHE

Adulthood is the ideal condition, the propitious moment to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Ecstasy is the rapture of the spirit from its incarnate conditions to the higher condition of communion with the universal whole. The knowledge of the dynamics of the adult allows the human being the appropriate use of his existing, that which leads to ecstasy. The lack of knowledge of this dynamics has led the human being to a series of misunderstandings, from the most burlesque comedy to the most dramatic tragedy. Inasmuch as the goal of the human being is to obtain ecstasy, and since adulthood is the ideal condition, the propitious moment for this end, it becomes indispensable to disseminate its dynamics in order that ever more people can live eternity in temporality. Human thought has always given inappropriate treatment to the theme adulthood.

2.1 In theology

Theology, the systematic reflection on the Absolute as it relates to our being, seeks the integration of essence and existence, of Absolute infinite and finite, of eternity and temporality. The habitual hypothesis, present in theologies, is that a oneness principle, generally denominated God, transformed itself into various organisms, remaining one, that is, it differentiated itself, in its intimateness, in diverse elements, coordinated in hierarchies and functions that reinforce this unity, preserving the same scheme in all of its smaller individuations, where the assertion that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God, which is his origin and his destiny. However, the theologies generally availed themselves of dissertations of a not very logical nature and, even, often, without any logic, about the origin and destiny of the universe and about the origin and destiny of the human being in this universe.

Pristine theology, hermetic, Chaldaic and orphic at the same time, seeking similarities among the various theological currents, shows that the ancient ones (V century B.C.) possessed wisdom that has been influencing humanity concurrently with the disseminated theologies, and which is found in theosophy, wisdom of God, coming directly from Him, mystical theology par excellence, of the whole truth. But not only is the theme adulthood not treated clearly, it is also vilipended in orgiastic rituals typical of the remotest childhood. What is observed in natural affirmative theology is the complete absence of common sense, verified in the orgiastic rituals celebrating fecundity, on the one hand, and, on the other, in the expiatory rituals of the most diverse nature, with the intention of affecting the Creator.

Dialectical theology, seeking to serve the word of God, elects truth because it is already valid, revealed knowledge, guided by the light of faith, pointing at times to polytheistic fetishistic mythical explanations cosmological and/or anthropomorphic, and at other times to anthropological monotheistic explanations. The most successful attempt, that of Judaism, presents the Adamic myth, which strongly associates disobedience to punishment, man’s banishment from Paradise where he lived in permanent ecstatic communion with the Creator; as a consequence, work is established as punishment. Islamism and Spiritualism adopt the same themes, with barely significant variations concerning the clarification of the dynamics of adulthood. What is observed in dialectical theology is the exaggerated valuing of discipline in regard to the suppression of all the senses, according to specific canons of evangelization.

Radical theology, without God, whether because it affirms that He does not exist, or because it registers that He has died culturally for lack of those who believe in Him, seeking to give a death blow to a system of predetermined values, makes the transmutation of all values possible, starting from the de-divinization, the de-Christianization and the consequent secularization of the world, which results from the fact that the human being permits himself to make judgments on the existence or non-existence of God. The rupture with the tradition of the Scriptures, for considering it sterile, because it is hermetic, leads the theology without a God to attempt to express a real situation without palliatives, which demands the courage of being. Upon denying tradition, the theology without a God returns to the ancestral myth of the eternal return to the origins in its purity, it seeks to reestablish a community of faith, with the aim of a universal fraternity. What is observed in radical theology is, merely, a reaction to dialectical theology.

Systematic theology, seeking to interpret religious forms as cultural forms, becomes the meeting point of pristine theology, of dialectical theology and of radical theology, showing that, in absolute union, in absolute separation or in absolute negation, the human being always revolves around the idea of God, inalienable symbol of his existence. It presents itself as the theology of the situation, which refers to the current historical moment and to the human condition as such. It emphasizes the content of religious faith as it is immediately lived by the individual, becoming existential in the sense that every religious experience is, in the final instance, existential, at the same time that it is philosophical and systematic (scientific), and it considers theological only the enunciations that treat their object as themes of being or not-being. What is observed in systematic theology are the beginnings of adulthood.

2.2 In philosophy

Philosophy, the love of knowledge, seeks knowledge of the human being, of his existence, of his nature and of his attributes, as well as of his relation with the world. It teaches that the human being, the phenomenon man, who appeared on the face of the earth, for the first time, at a time unknown, and in a manner also unknown, has very gradually been freeing himself from ecological limitations, thanks to the accumulation of knowledge about the world, about things, about beings, in general, and about himself, in particular. In order to survive, he needed to turn his attention, initially, to the surrounding space, to which he should adapt and from where he should obtain his sustenance. To the notion of space he added the notion of time, given the relative regularity of the demands of his organism and the constancy, relative as well, of the external phenomena, of nature, of his “habitat”.

There have been two habitual hypotheses concerning the evolution of human thought: one that each generation has been representative of a distinct evolutionary stage; another, that evolution is carried out in a disorderly manner in time, where it is even possible that more advanced acquisitions precede others of lesser significance. A problem of a more general order is that of the approach to knowledge, on the one hand, by intuition, and, on the other, by reason: intuitionists and rationalists have existed at all times and in all places, in the same way that there have been the conciliators, the neutral ones; thesis, antithesis and synthesis present themselves, generally, in spatial and temporal simultaneity. Nonetheless, as with the theologies, the philosophies have been silent about the dynamics of adulthood, offering the human being only a history of the real-current of the range of the lived.

Philosophy of reason and philosophy of intuition, the two poles between which the endeavors of human thought have vacillated in regard to knowledge, in general, can be summarized as follows: existence surpasses science, which only deals with that which is material; the world exists, independently of being well or poorly known; man “is”, independently of knowing that he “is being”; the phenomena surpass, by far, the human capacity to become conscious of them. As a consequence, the problem of the irrational nature of the world arises, and various systems ardently turn towards the principles of altruism, fraternity and love, blaming scientism for being the basic factor of the cultural catastrophe, which bears in its core, as a trend, unbridled living, without morals. As such, philosophical thinking completely lacks the adult posture.

Also in terms of ethical knowledge, especially, the endeavors of human thought have not escaped to the same symptomatic polarity: reason and intuition. Those who wished, by reason, to establish what is and what is not morally valid, reached the conclusion that it is necessary to establish limits to individual freedom, proclaiming that man ought to aspire to what is best for the greatest number of people. However, in the attempt to systematize what is valuable, they could only do so in the material sense: a return to the simplicity of the goods of nature; sharing the goods of production, consumer objects and work products; economy of thought and biological vitality. As a consequence, what arises is the need for feeling to provide existential validity to the materially valuable. In this sense, the adult posture is also not noticeable.

From scientific phenomenology, the synthetic reflection that seeks to comprehend and describe the world beginning with unified data from the various experimental sciences, an equilibrium of the systems can be expected, an intermediate system that remains open to the progress of thought in its two fundamental aspects, rational and intuitive. The past of humanity thus elaborated constitutes a permanent source of valid information for a better lived present and a better planned future. If happiness is the end of every culture, it becomes necessary to program the appropriate processing for the transmission of knowledge and of values, including, and mainly, of ethical knowledge and values. Nonetheless, what has been observed until now is complete disregard for the knowledge of the dynamics of adulthood and of the appropriate procedures for developing the mind.

2.3 In science

Science, exact knowledge, also seeks knowledge of the human being, of his existence, of his nature and of his attributes, as well as his relationship with the world. It teaches that the human being is “bios” (empirical science), “psyche” (interpersonal eidetic science) and “socius” (multi-personal eidetic science), and that he expresses himself, at every moment of his life, in function of the level of integration of his components of temperament (biochemical) and of character (ethical-social), in function of motives (variables that engender, sustain and direct conduct), which can be submitted to control, a control that is susceptible to organizing itself at the highest level of abstraction, in function of the elaboration of the affects, which depends on the level of perception of events, as a result of the functioning of morality.

Science teaches that the individual becomes a person in function of the transformation of his instinctive, impulsive, unconscious living into a rational, intelligent, conscious living. Life, a continuous alternation of decomposition and recomposition of protoplasm, sustains the instinct, a property of it that externalizes itself when life is in danger. The affect, the intellectual elaboration of instinct, transforming it into desire or rejection, is at the basis of impulse, a dynamic process that makes the organism tend towards an end, which is to suppress a state of tension underlying an excitation. The impulses manifest themselves in self-preservation and in the sexual functions (reproduction, orgasm). When the impulsive system suffers interference, conflict occurs; when the level of conflict reaches the organism’s threshold of tolerance, the impulsive act erupts, self- or hetero-destructively. Often the eruption of the impulse is necessary to determine conditions of survival.

In the dynamics of the individual, two types of production can be distinguished: the automatisms, already constituted adaptations, and the yield (attention, acquisition, intelligence), productions in which the intention and the will intervene. The psychological tension determines the mental field in which production occurs. Intelligence makes it possible to learn to control motivation and to organize this control. Controlling motivation implies controlling the motives of the organism in their original manifestations (pure) and in its modified manifestations (conditioned). Organizing the control of motivation implies organizing the controls of such motives in function of the degree of consciousness that the individual has of his existing. Thought can, thus, provide an appropriate treatment for the problems of life, provided that it works at the level of adulthood, what, in fact, has not occurred.

There are degrees of consciousness: spontaneous conscious living, pre-objectal and precarious objectal, is the living that occurs before the reflective disassociation between subject and object, leading the individual to consider his fellow creature as an extension of himself; reflective conscious living is the consciousness of that which occurs in spontaneous conscious living, leading the individual to perceive that there are limits between his being and the being of his fellow creature; the conscious living of the absolute is the rethinking of the reflective conscious living, leading the individual to perceive that the limits between his being and the being of his fellow creature, when appropriately granted, can lead to co-participation, to adult life. Nonetheless, adult living has not been observed in human relationships, not even at the communitary level.

The total science of the human being, the knowledge of his structure and of his dynamics (which include his somatic, psychic and social aspects), depends on successive syntheses of the approaches of each formal object. The science of the “soma”, having concluded that man is a superior animal and that the biological contains the necessary conditions for the psychic life, has sought to unveil the mysteries of the human body based on the concept of integration of all of its vital functions, an integration that reaches its apex in adulthood. The science of the “psyche”, having concluded that physicalism and mentalism are courses of the same source, have sought to do research on the psyche through both channels, with the objective of understanding the phenomenon man, whose origin and destination continue to be a mystery. The science of the “socius”, having concluded that there is no human nature without a social environment and that the science of total man is the fruit of generations and generations of scholars, has sought to know the human group, a factor and conveyor of culture.

2.4 In the evolution of the human being

The human being, in his life journey, from the encounter of the spermatozoon with the ovum until the transformation of the body into dust, seeks to be happy. A long time had passed before there was any knowledge of these particles, ovum and spermatozoon, but dramatic occurrences of losing the embryo and the fetus, and later on, surgeries of the womb permitted knowledge of the intrauterine phenomenon. In any case, the birth of each child always offered itself, to those who followed the delivery, as the result of the growing intumescence, for months and months, of the womb of the woman and the advent of each newborn could be witnessed by all those who knew that it was not there before. Many observations, transmitted from generation to generation, were necessary to establish the connection of cause and effect between the contact of the male and female and the occurrence of pregnancy and delivery, and the history of birth records shows how communities reacted and have been reacting in terms of placing responsibility on the father to raise and guide the child.

Each child, when he is born, begins a life full of needs and the consequent appeals, which only end after the defenseless body, dead, has been consigned to its dissolution in a place where it does not disturb the community. The assistance that a child needs is offered to him, with greater or lesser willingness, according to the material and emotional resources available to those who are impelled to assist him, either out of a sense of duty and/or for pleasure. The pressures individuals place upon one another are always in terms of placing responsibility on one another for the tasks necessary for the survival of each one and of all. These pressures occur through the most varied manipulations. The manipulations of individuals over one another, in order to guarantee individual and collective survival, vary from the coarsest impositions through force to the most subtle persuasions. The reactions to such manifestations occur according to a developmental scheme common to individuals.

The developmental scheme of the individual can be summarized as follows: There is the living field, where events occur, and the way the individual perceives this field at the moment the event occurs determines his conduct. The quality of individual perception depends upon the quality of his emotion and intelligence. The quality of his conduct depends upon the quality of the functioning of his restraining apparatus to the impulsive response. The individual acts because of motives, and his main motive is living; living he tries to satisfy his needs. The barriers he finds in seeking to satisfy his needs force him to inhibit impulsive conduct, imagine alternative conduct and execute them. The child lives, cumulatively, anguish, phobia, obsession, hysteria and latency; the adolescent lives, also cumulatively, aggression and pacification; the adult lives, also cumulatively, the communitary, humanistic and cosmic moments.

In the transformation of the individual into a person perturbations can occur. These perturbations can be of two types: inadaptations, when the individual does not overcome a certain developmental stage; dysadaptations, when he loses a stage he had already achieved. Maladjustments, neuroses, psychoses, innate or acquired retardations and lesions, psychopathies can manifest themselves. Maladjustments are circumstantial, due to physical health problems and/or excessive pressure from the environment. Neuroses are psychogenic affection diseases in which the symptoms are the symbolic expression of a psychic conflict whose roots are found in the history of the individual’s childhood. Psychoses are primary perturbations of the relation between vital energy and reality. Retardations and lesions, innate or acquired, have, each one of them, their specific clinical history. Psychopathies result from a pathological immunity to the educational efforts of the environment.

Therefore, the human being is born, grows and dies. His journey, from the cradle to the grave, is unique, singular and solitary. His genitors and the community find themselves impelled to assist him out of a sense of duty and/or for pleasure. Human beings manipulate one another seeking their own survival, which depends on the survival of the others. The manipulations occur according to a developmental scheme common to most individuals, and there can be perturbations in this scheme. History and tradition offer the means for humanization, transformation of the individual into a person. The person organizes his living by looking for such means in theology, philosophy and science, in order to transform his spontaneous conscious living, primordially placed as a belief in the reality of the external world, into transcendental conscious living, which gives meaning to everyday life, instead of letting himself be taken by the current of everyday events of the external world, thus being able to seek union with the Creator, the meeting of eternity with temporality.

2.5 In the development of the human group

The human group, in its life journey, from the first meeting of its members until its dissolution, also seeks to be happy. What characterizes the group is the connection between its members, which occurs because of common interests, following specific principles and laws. The members of a human group can be human beings or smaller human groups that, in this case, lose the original characteristic of small groups to acquire the current characteristic of the components of the larger group. Humanity is the large group, of which all the others are components and to whose principles and laws they should all submit. The groups can be: simple aggregations, a collection of members; groups that arise from the similarity of various components (common properties or familiar similarities); groups that arise from the functions carried out by them; groups that arise from all the causes cited, at the same time.

Each group, upon emergence, initiates a global-totalizing existence, based on the principle of survival, and it lasts as long as it is felt to be necessary to carry out this purpose. The pressures of its members, upon one another, seek to maintain its cohesion and guarantee the fulfillment of its purpose. The manipulations of the group members in order to guarantee collective survival, necessary for individual survival, also occur at various levels, from the coarsest impositions through force to the most subtle persuasions. The reactions to such manifestations, as in the individuals, occur according to a developmental scheme common to groups. Starting from this principle, we can describe such development based on the cause and effect connections that allow the passage from a syncretic view of phenomena to the analytical and synthetic view of them.

The developmental scheme of the human group can be summarized as follows: There is the group living field, where group events occur, and the way the group perceives this field at the moment the event occurs determines its conduct. The quality of the group’s perception depends upon the quality of its emotion and intelligence acting at the moment. The quality of the group’s conduct depends upon the quality of the functioning of its restraining-apparatus to the impulsive response. The group acts because of motives, and its main motive is existing; existing, it seeks to satisfy all of its needs. The barriers it finds forces it to inhibit its impulsive conduct, plan alternative conduct and execute it. All of this dynamics results from an adjustment of the moments of each individual that makes up the group, working in terms of the power of the dominant majority, which numerically can be a minority.

In the transformation from groupality into syntality, as in the transformation of individuality into personality, perturbations can occur. These perturbations can also be of two types: inadaptations and dysadaptations. There is the sum of the intricacies of the physio-genetic and psycho-genetic factors that occur in each one of its members, with all the resulting consequences in the group’s conduct. Since its dynamics consists of the interaction of the adjustments resulting from the moments of each one of its members, the development of the group is dependent upon how the dominant power handles the obstructions of the group machinery, the reason why the assistance from the group to each one of its members must be provided permanently. We may speak of group actions at the level of neuroses, psychoses, retardations and psychopathies.

Thus, the human group emerges, develops and dissolves itself. Other groups of the larger community find themselves impelled to assist it out of a sense of duty to survive, since its existence and actions can be useful or harmful to the other groups, directly affecting the equilibrium of the community as a whole. Human groups manipulate one another in seeking their own survival, which depends upon the survival of the other groups. The manipulations occur according to a developmental scheme common to most groups, and there can be perturbations in this scheme. History and tradition offer the means for the humanization of the group, the transformation from groupality into syntality. The group organizes its existing by searching for such means in theology, philosophy and science, so as to transform its spontaneous conscious group living, primordially placed as a belief in the reality of the external world, into a transcendental conscious group living, which gives meaning to the everyday life of the group instead of letting itself be taken by the current of everyday events of the external world.

3 ADULTHOOD AND DEVELOPMENT

Adulthood, as the ideal moment to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence, is dependent upon the development of the structure and dynamics of the individual as the protagonist of this event. From the examination of the structure of the individual it is observed: its non-differentiated emergence, at the beginning; its subsequent potential differentiation, under somatic-psychic determination, presenting specific components, functions and development; its final integration. From the examination of the dynamics of the individual it is observed: in the non-differentiated phase, inferior irrationality, when there is only the intelligence of the directing dynamic potency of the universe; in the next phase, rationality, when intelligence predominates; in the subsequent phase, superior irrationality, when metaphysical intuition predominates. The adult therefore walks three distinct paths, the one of inferior irrationality, the one of rationality and the one of superior irrationality.

3.1 In communitary adulthood

The young adult, the human being who lives in the age range of eighteen to thirty, is a communitary individual, the one who completes and effects his movements in the sense of guaranteeing his existence, which includes reproduction as a personal and social need. He is permanently pressured, by himself and by the group, to understand, organize and internalize, make it habitual, the appropriate attitudes to reach his ends. Such ends include, necessarily, the interests of the community to which he is indisputably connected. In order to develop, he needs to make a permanent spectacle of himself, to watch himself living all the time. In search of ever greater consolidation of the balance achieved in adolescence, he seeks to establish himself and be on the alert against the anguish in face of the unknown. He begins to take into account the abstract-cultural objects of the political-economic order at the communitary level. His desire for freedom is policed in his dialogue with himself and with the law. He directs his efforts to consolidate his independence monitored by his devotions of love.

In young adulthood, the “psyche” is able to definitely rely on its capacity to serve as an effective bridge between the “nous” and the “soma”, the latter in service of the former at the level of abstract evaluation of the real. In the general framework of young adulthood, the emotion reflected anticipated-true love inaugurates living in the field of elevation at the abstract level of cooperation with the community, perception occurs in the unity of mechanism already elaborated, synthetic, and in the unity of movement, yet primary, analytical, intelligence is in service of cooperation with the community. Thus, the moment of young adulthood is a moment of reflected acting at the level of abstraction. His organism, working in an integrated and harmonious way, leads him to the beginning of the sensation of plenitude, and his capacity to love broadens to love for humanity.

3.2 In humanistic adulthood

The mature adult, the human being who is in the age range of thirty to sixty, is a humanistic being, one who, having guaranteed his survival, which includes reproduction as a personal and social need, lives with all his effort the search to understand, organize and internalize, seeking ever greater personalization, with the purpose of achieving his ends. Such ends include, necessarily, the interests of humanity, to which he is indisputably connected. In order to develop, he needs, besides making himself a permanent spectacle to himself, to feel himself a part of the scenario of humanity as a whole. He starts to take into consideration abstract-cultural objects of a humanistic order. He continues to consolidate his independence, without loosing sight of his role in development, and seeks to act appropriately.

In mature adulthood, the “psyche” definitely consolidates its capacity to serve as an effective bridge between the “nous” and the “soma”, the latter in service of the former, at the level of abstract valuation of the real. In the general framework of mature adulthood, the emotion reflected anticipated-true love inaugurates the living in the field of elevation at the abstract level of cooperation with humanity, perception occurs in the unity of movement already elaborated, synthetic, intelligence is in service of cooperation with humanity. Thus, the moment of mature adulthood is, also, a moment of reflected acting at the level of abstraction, already broadened to the humanistic field. His organism, working in an integrated way also in the humanistic field, enables him to love at the cosmic level.

3.3 In cosmic adulthood

The old adult, the human being who lives in the age range of sixty and over, is a cosmic being, one who, having fulfilled his personal and social role, lives the decline of his existence. The human being can grow old as a wise venerable elder or regress to infantile stages. Dying is the most decisive vital attitude, the overcoming of the last phase of existing. The old adult needs to become informed about the natural reduction of certain functions in order to know how to adapt to the natural limitations of his age. Before the decline, however, it occurs with him, at the highest level, the biological synthesis of reflection, under the forces of understanding, organization and internalization. The ordering generates and controls consciousness; this, in turn, by means of the binomial imagination-action (invention), starts to influence organization as soon as reason is installed; this influence, which becomes increasingly greater throughout the whole life of the individual, reaches, in the final phase, its apex, it restricts the binomial approximation-withdrawal and leads to the aspiration of eternity.

In old adulthood, the “psyche” becomes one with the “soma” and the “nous”, it becomes a whole in the Whole. In the general framework of old adulthood, the emotion reflected anticipated-true love inaugurates living in the field of elevation at the abstract level of integration with totality, perception occurring in the unity of movement at the highest level of elaboration, more than synthetic, mystic, intelligence is in service of this integration with totality, a service that is characterized by the overcoming of rationality itself. Thus, the moment of old adulthood is a moment of meditated acting of the organism at the level of permanent communion with the universal whole. His organism allows him to live the purity of a child, but without his naivety, the vigor of an adolescent, but without his pugnacity, the sensibleness of a mature man, but without his pride, in permanent desire to return to the Creator.

4 INTEGRATED ADULTHOOD

Adulthood, the ideal condition to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence, can be partial or total, integrated. Partial adulthood demands, to be effective, that the individual know the structure and dynamics of his own soma and psyche, and also, the structure and dynamics of the soma and psyche of his fellow creatures. Total adulthood demands, to be effective, that the individual also knows the structure and dynamics of his spirit and the structure and dynamics of the spirit of his fellow creatures. The knowledge of his soma and psyche and of the soma and psyche of his fellow creatures encompasses the knowledge of the components, function and development specific of each individual. The knowledge of the structure and dynamics of the individual spirit and of the spirit of his fellow creatures encompasses the knowledge of the components, function and development specific of each spirit. Partial adulthood is an artificial figure and total adulthood is a natural figure in the life process of the human being.

4.1 Partial adulthood

Partial adulthood is an artificial figure. An artificial figure is one that has as a background only part of the whole living, whether it is only that of the dynamic field of stimuli and response of a reflex type, or also that of the fields of determination, intention, imagination and elevation, this last one only at the communitary and humanistic levels. Thus, to achieve partial adulthood the individual needs to understand his soma and his psyche and the soma and psyche of his fellow creatures. Adulthood, even partial, is determined by the developmental degree of the individual. Under favorable circumstances, the individual evolves from unconscious living to conscious living, according to his own potential, according to a framework common to all normal human beings, there being, cumulatively, a typical dynamics at each phase, allowing a specific type of adulthood.

Thus, partial adulthood is an organic adulthood and also psychic adulthood only at the communitary and humanistic levels. The conflicts that arise between individuals result from the limitations of perception of each individual about himself, in particular, and other individuals, in general. The individual who seeks the meeting with other individuals with only communitary and humanistic interests, completely disassociated from his total being, is alienated from his quality as a cosmic being, spiritual. He who looks for the meeting only at the level of group relationships limited by common interests finds himself limited to adult achievements of a lesser scope, not having yet achieved total adulthood, integrated.

4.2 Total adulthood

Total adulthood is a natural figure. A natural figure is one that has as a background the whole living, where you can find the dynamic field of stimuli and response of a reflex nature, the fields of determination, intention, imagination and elevation at their highest level. If, even for partial adulthood the individual needs to know his soma and his psyche and the soma and psyche of his fellow creatures, in the case of total adulthood this knowledge must be as complete as possible and crowned by the knowledge of his own spirit and that of his fellow creatures. Under favorable circumstances, the adult individual develops from reflective conscious living to conscious living of the absolute, according to his potential, and achieves a specific type of integration of adulthood.

Thus, total adulthood is adulthood that, besides being organic and psychic, is also spiritual. The adult who lives as such, since he is a social being, needs to be permanently alert to the limitations of perception of his fellow creatures who are infantile, adolescent or adult, limited to partial adulthood, and he must sustain a firm attitude, that is at once gentle, in the defense of his interest in maintaining integrated adulthood. The full adult does not consent to meetings that seek only the well-being of momentary security, because this type of meeting represents a waste of energy for him. An old adult, fulfilled, directs his spirituality towards cosmic well-being, seeking eternity in temporality at the highest level that his development as an incarnated spirit allows him to achieve.

5 LIFE AND ADULTHOOD

The psychotherapeutic theory I have elaborated recognizes, in adulthood, the ideal moment for the fulfillment of existing, and, in old adulthood, the crowning of the phases that precede it, which are the communitary and the humanistic ones. With the aim of clarifying the relation between adulthood as a phase in the development of existing and its meaning as spiritual work, the theory has sought to unify: firstly, all the data provided by religions, by philosophies and by sciences; secondly, the data provided by developmental theory; thirdly, all the data provided by the two previously cited groups. The theory considers adulthood the ideal condition, the propitious moment for the human being to live eternity in temporality, the ecstasy, communion with the Creator.

Our cosmovision of adulthood points towards the integration of the data from theology, philosophy and science on the theme, which bestows on us the information that follows: The human being, an organism participant of the Organism, has within himself the whole truth, which he should submit to reasoning, with the courage of being, and seek the reconnection with Him. The human being must know, and know ethically, so that he can aspire to the best for the largest number of people, which requires him to act with feeling when seeking the reconnection with the Whole. The human being must know the law of harmonization of his living in the Whole, with the Whole and for the Whole, in order to give the highest meaning possible to his own life. The fully adult human being is he who has transformed his partial adult living into total adult living, which allows the communion with the mystery of the world.

Our anthropovision of adulthood points towards the integration of the data from developmental theory on the theme, which bestows on us the information that follows: The human being, before he is born, is non-differentiated, he lives only the environmental homeostasis in-uterus. Besides the in-uterus natural homeostasis, his intelligence guides him, at each phase of his existing, seeking the possible equilibrium at each moment. Beginning from non-differentiation, when there is only the intelligence of the directing dynamic potency of the universe, there occurs, cumulatively, the sensory-motor one, the symbolic-representative one, the logical-formal one and the hypothetical-deductive one. In its whole, intuition inspires reason, and the human being must overcome, firstly, the privations and secondly, the conflicts, in order to live ever more eternity in temporality.

Our ergovision of adulthood points towards the practical integration of the data of our cosmovision and of our anthropovision on the theme, which bestows on us the information that follows: The human being, in partial adulthood, uses the soma and the psyche to enter in communion with the community and with humanity, and, in total adulthood, he also uses his spirituality to give this communion a cosmic meaning, a reintegrative one. In order to deal with his fellow creatures, the individual needs to communicate with them; this communication can be instrumental or consummatory, inferior or superior, according to his degree of development. Adulthood, the result of the elevation of consciousness from level to level, sensory, rational-analytical, intuitive-synthetic and unitary, allows living in the absolute.

Adulthood, in light of our theory, is therefore, the condition for the human being to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of his existing. The human being, being of ecstasy that he is, lives at the beginnings of his history, the individual and group orgiastic in his phase of initial non-differentiation. The passage from the orgiastic, non-differentiated phase to the rational, differentiated phase, is a second moment in the life of the individual and it consists in the developmental journey per se, which includes childhood, adolescence and adulthood, partial, communitary and humanistic, and total, cosmic adulthood, this last one allowing the ecstasy, the definite plunge, once again non-differentiated, into communion with the mystery of the world. Since adulthood is the ideal moment for the fulfillment of existing, it urges each individual in particular, and humanity, as a whole, to seek to learn to live eternity in temporality, the ecstatic life, the anticipation, through human love, of the definite love of the Creator!

Table of Contents

1. PREFACE

2. PRESENTATION

3. 1 ADULTHOOD AND LIFE

4. 2 ADULTHOOD AND PSYCHE

1. 2.1 In theology

2. 2.2 In philosophy

3. 2.3 In science

4. 2.4 In the evolution of the human being

5. 2.5 In the development of the human group

5. 3 ADULTHOOD AND DEVELOPMENT

1. 3.1 In communitary adulthood

2. 3.2 In humanistic adulthood

3. 3.3 In cosmic adulthood

6. 4 INTEGRATED ADULTHOOD

1. 4.1 Partial adulthood

2. 4.2 Total adulthood

7. 5 LIFE AND ADULTHOOD