The following statements represent one kind of data Clare Graves gathered from his own students as research subjects. Their task, after a semester-long course in psychology, was to generate a position paper describing "the mature adult human being." These particular conceptions were among Graves’ favorites and he often read from them during seminars. It was his view that they illustrate several of the developmental levels quite clearly and sound relatively pure tones for both nodal levels and transition phases between.

Using his original letter-pair designations, these examples are from the CP/bo through nodal FS levels of existence. In color language, they are from Entering RED through Peak GREEN. As you read the conceptions, you will observe that the themes change first in a progressively quantitative fashion until, following a regressive movement, a qualitatively different way of thinking about maturity emerges.

As you read the conceptions of transitional states (mixes between nodal levels), observe the pattern of (1) a rushing entrance, (2) a moment of calm, then (3) a rigidified, reluctant exit as (4) the next more complex level arises. To apply the current memetic language, each new ^vMEME fights to take over, orders existence, then rigidifies and loses vitality. A next in the sequence may or may not awaken, depending on the 6 Conditions for Change.

Entering RED – bo/CP (Graves’ CP/bo)

"Life is a jungle - one god-damned great big jungle. It is survival of the fittest and that is all. Anybody who does not recognize this is not or will never be a grown up person. Life is competition, it is fight and struggle and get and take and hang on. Some they have got it to fight there way through it and some they just don't have it. The grownup he survives, or go down big in trying he's got it. He is the guy who fights to get what he needs and he keeps after it till he gets it. If he wants some chick he don't take no. He wears her down. One thing about him is he don't chicken, he don't let fear stand in his way.

If it has got to be done he does it he don’t stay to think , he just does it. It don't matter who gets hurt thou it best it ain’t him. There ain't no reason for him to feel guilty cause a man's got to live ain't he. This ain't no picnic world in which he live. It better he do what have to be done cause he can't hold his head up if he ain't a man. That's the way life is any grown guy know it. He know its him or me and it sure ain't going to be me if he's healthy. He gets what he can from this world and no one pushes him around, even if the dice is loaded its up to him to make them shake his way. If he don't what kind of man is he. Now don't you set me down Doc for saying this. You said to put down what we believed. I believe this and don't you ever forget it."

• assert self for survival
• to be seen as tough or "manly" (even if female)
• express self regardless of consequences
• raw, idinal thinking
• impulsive, uninhibited, amoral
• no guilt
• fear of shame
• concern with reputation and image
• heroism and courage displays
• better to die gloriously than live in disgrace
• to fight the dragon, whether real or imaginary

"Psychologically mature human behavior is that mental behavior that enables a human being not only to survive but also to succeed and win over his environment. The psychologically mature person is the one that fate has endowed with the natural human qualities to rise above the conditions of his being and to impose control over it and modify it as he sees fit regardless of what others think. Being an animal, the human being possesses certain natural qualities normal for his species. He is temperamental and impulsive, and thus given to violence, passion, stubbornness and irrational actions. He desires to mate but not just to produce children. He fights life as it is and he works most to survive.

He senses that he is alone and endangered and seeing strength in numbers, he seeks to fit others to the needs of himself. The drive for self-preservation is instilled in him and the only way to be what he is, is to be selfish, placing his needs before all others with the "possible" exception of his own family. He must overcome his fears and inhibitions to his won satisfaction.

He must fulfill his primal lusts and desires. A human being free from guilt and frustrations closely approaches the ideal of the mature personality. Unhampered expression of the impulses might lead to his destruction but it is necessary to his health. He must not temper his striving for pleasure. He performs when he is motivated for not to do would leave him less than a man. He is free from the threats and negative reactions of others and does not fear for his own psyche. In other worlds he is confident of being a law unto himself, the source and inspiration of all of his actions and of good for others."

• unabashed self-assertiveness
• egocentric & survival centered
• hedonistic and impulsively oriented
• great fear of shame
• has come to peace with this reality
• denial of guilt

"My conception of the mature personality, as I suspect are all conceptions, is based on how this world is and the men we are. Thought there are some who will profess to disagree with me, if they should really stop to think, they would agree that there are two facts of life upon which a conception of mature behaviour must be based One is men are not born equal, though they are bond dependent on one another. The other fact is that the strong must use the weak to fight this world and its other people in order to survive. Therefore, the mature personality insists that the world take cognizance of those realities.

To me the mature personality organizes to maintain his existence and the right way of life taking into consideration only those he must in order to survive. He sees to it that he organizes his world so as to improve his chances. He takes over and assigns roles to those less able to decide and sees to it they know what their roles are and live by them. He is meticulously careful to take care of those lesser ones who can help him so long as they are helpful but he realizes, because of his superior powers, that they are more expendable than he in the mundane of lie.

He takes seriously his duties to those who depend on him but he does not overdo it lest he raise wishes in them they are not competent to fulfill. He leads theme to do what is right by outstanding examples in his own life.

He maintains his position in the world as is appropriate for one of his competence by deed not by word, lest those who are dependent of him feel they be shamed in the eyes of others. He feels compassion for the fact that his dependent ones are not as he, but no undo qualms of guilt can enter into his decisions. His standards of action are high for himself and his kind but he readily recognizes the weaknesses in other men and his need to control them. So, he, through his superior competence sees to it that other people are organized so as to maintain the viability of that for which he is responsible. He enlarges his domain when it is to his advantage to do so and he is not overly hesitant as to how, if and when it becomes necessary.

He is ever watchful to his survival making arrangements whenever necessary, with whom ever necessary when they become necessary. These arrangements must take into consideration that the competent people in the world must care for the ones who are dependent on them.

He realizes that world could soon disintegrate into chaos if order were not impressed upon it. He knows the problem of unbridled lust in the lesser ones so he organizes so that normally the rules of living are quite strict upon them except as, through his largeness [sic], he provides them moment uninhibited exultation. It is by example in his own life that he brings forth the force for implementing his will. For example, any man worthy of his name, any woman worthy of being called a lady serves their human desires but in a manner that is properly formalized."

• guilt sneaking in
• questioning of unbridled desires
• imposition of morality (rather than derived within(
• formalistic prescriptions
• rigidifying Exiting version (most Exiting phases are thus)
• slight concern over selfish impulses
• begins to rein in CP impulses

Entering BLUE — cp/DQ (Graves’ DQ/cp)

"There is little doubt in my mind as to what makes mature personality. I learned that at the end of my old man's switch and I'm not likely to forget it. The grown-up learns and particularly he learns nothing comes lest you put out first. Right is right and wrong is wrong and if you are going to be mature you better learn it, the sooner the better.; It always has been this way and it will always be because that is the way it is. My old man learned if from his and his old man learned it from his father, and my kids are going to learn it form me because that is the law of the land.

We were not put on this earth go get something for nothing. We were not put here to want or to wish for or t have evil thoughts. We were put here to do right and see to it that other people do right too. it is our duty to strike wrong whenever we find it. The mature personality knows what the rules are and he knows if he violates them he should get it. Life is a serious business with no place for frivolousness in it. He knows what he is allowed to wish for and he knows what is forbidden and he behaves accordingly. Any mature man has got his duties and he does them even if he does not want to because it would be wrong of him not to do so. If he does not the grown-up knows he should be punished. There is no place for self-serving sentimentally in becoming of age.

One thing that bothers me about this work is what the kids said in class about God, heaven and the like. I didn't see a mature person seeing God as nice and loving. God is vengeful, he is to be feared. he is not some nice old grandfather-like guy. Tom me it is hell that you have got to fear more than you look for heaven. God says there are laws we must live by or He will see to it we pay for it in the future. That's what being fully grown is . The mature he is that guy who watches out for evil that is in us. he is that guy who learns to keep evil own and strive against it."

• a little guilt becomes central
• morally righteous
• aim to make other person feel guilt for being what he/she is
• learns to bind one's impulses tightly within
• self-sacrificing obeisance rather than heroic expressiveness
• learned from punitive action even for thoughts in the heart
• while CP learns when positive results accrue from impulse-driven, self-assertive, great risk-taking ventures, DQ quivers in fear lest action lead to condemnation/pain

Peak BLUE — DQ (Example # 1)

"This assignment was to develop on our won and in writing, our personal conception of what is the psychologically mature person in operation. Dr. Graves, I have found this to be a most difficult task. It is my honest belief that what is a mature personality is determined by that power which determines good and evil in the world. God created man and God has indicated in His Ten Commandments the principles by which the human should live. It is not for me to decide what God pretended. If God had wanted man to decide he would have indicated that. He would not have "commanded". As a result one cannot easily fulfill this assignment. I have thought very much about how I could fulfill this assignment. the only way it can be done is within God's design.; Therefore, since God did give man free will to choose, in this context, to be mature or immature, I have decided the only way I can fulfill the assignment is to decry what I think God meant by each of his commandments .I do hope for your forgiveness if wrong of if this does not satisfy the requirements.

This commandment, in operation, questions the right of man to decide what the mature person is. This assignment, as stated to us, would place man before God because it would not be God who determines the mature personality. The mature personality accepts what God commands. He does not, in arrogance take unto himself that which is not in his domain. The mature knows that God, in His omniscience, knows best. He lives for this rule.

The dictionary says this means one does not make an image of God in wood or in stone. This the mature person does not do. it is one reason why this assignment is an improper assignment, though I may be wrong, since the dictionary said no image in wood or stone. It seems to me if I sculpted my picture of the mature personality, I would be creating a graven image. This is because God created man in his own image. Thus an image of the mature human being would be a graven image of God.

This is what I have been c/trying to say. The mature personality operates so, as not to take the name of God in vain. He does not question what is the mature person. He accepts that it is what God says it is, because God says that is the road to everlasting peace and contentment.

The mature personality does on the Sabbath what holy means. he sets it apart and he devotes it to the service and worship of God. One sees that self is given to a sacred purpose.

The mature personality does by word and deed honor his father and his mother. He does not criticize his parents since they are what God intended them to be. To criticize is to criticize God. The mature is thankful to his folks for having given him life and the opportunity to serve God in God's ways; he is not ungrateful like kids are today.

The mature personality does not kill. This is why so many people are unhealthy. They add to the commandment, except in the service of God. This is not right. God commanded "thou shalt not kill."

This should be the easiest of all to fulfill because God gave man the will to control his impulses. man knows what it is for. it is to produce children. So the mature personality accepts this even, for example, if the wife is bares for if that happens, God intends that marriage to serve him in some other way.

I have heard some kids say, "How can I serve God if I am dead?" Therefore, if I am hungry God will not condemn me if I steal bread. this is not the mature personality in operation. The mature follows this commandment even if it means to suffer with the hunger of children. God tests man in many ways to see if he is worthy.

Some who say they are mature personalities show they are (not?) through this commandment. They do not realize that not to bear false witness means not to fail to tell the truth even if the truth hurts;. Its only meaning is not, "Don't lie about a person." The mature personality tells the truth. He is honest all ways and at all times.

To covet is to want, to desire. The mature personality does not covet. He suppresses desire and he does not question any why others have. If God intended him to have he would have given to him. If God gives, it is not because man needs or desires or wishes. It is because God has to see if it is used to serve God's purpose. The mature person does not covet, she accepts."

• acceptance of prescriptions of higher power without questioning
• tests of worthiness to be deserving of peace in afterlife
• absolute obeisance to rightful higher authority
• filled with should’s and ought’s and must’s
• guilt is centralized as a theme of existence
• absolutistic, categorical, rigid, dogmatic, redundant
• accept what is, not to change or doubt rightful authority

Peak BLUE — DQ (Example # 2)

"Maturity can be defined as a ripeness as a fruition of determined potentialities, as a fullness of possible development. The word and the concept, as I see it, carries certain moral implications. When we say she or he is mature, we are passing judgments, the word carries an implied ought; maturity is good and one ought to be mature.

The mature ought to be what he can be and nothing more. The cardinal rule of maturity is that an individual must [n]ever seek vainly and erroneously to comp[l]ete himself falsely. He must never seek to find (lose himself) in the material world of things or hide himself in books or meaningless social activities. The mature individual never seeks to define himself strictly by roles. This, however, is only negative advice.

Positively speaking, the mature individual must (ought) transcend his animal desires and give its geist free range in order that it might seek the fullest possible actualization of its ideas.

The mature individual must not repress his animality (here used in a neutral context) because man is both geist and body, and in fact they are one. An individual geist can only actualize itself through a body. The body ought therefore be appreciated, respected, and cultivated to the fullest extent possible.

The mature individual must seek harmony between the symbolic system (as may be manifested by the intellectual rational ego), must realize its origins and limitations, while yet cultivating its powers. The mature individual must take stock of this emotive meaning structures and understand them. In this way the play of emotions and the subconscious will not produce existential anxiety in the mature individual and psychopathological stress will be avoided. The mature individual must take stock of his emotive meaning structures and understand them -- as opposed to vain attempts of others to comprehend, repress or ignore them.

The mature individual does not seek power or control of the environment. Since the mature personality realizes that his geist is but a particular manifestation of the Universal, he is aware that the same is true of all men.

Since personality is a proves and develops through relationships, the mature individual must not bother himself with seeking absolute freedom. For him, it is a meaningless concept.

The mature individual realizes that the possibility of death lies always on the horizon and life is here and now. He will live his life, at any one moment, as if at the next death might bring an end to the projection of his ideals. This realization will not bring despair to the mature individual but rather will intensify his celebration of the joy of becoming. In the fullest sense, maturity is the ability to Be and Become; to know communion and realize the inevitability of reunion with the universal."

• note the nodal DQ in existential jargon
• maturity is prescribed according to a known universal order
• commandments, directives, must’s and ought’s prevail
• redundancy and repetition in thoughts
• categorical and judgmental
• seeking peace and contentment

"I shall open my conception with a short statement which will lay before you the basic facts of what a conception of mature behaviour should be. The statement will be about the assignment, that we have been doing in class and the facts of my conception.

1. This class has been the worst o what I feared I would run into in college. It has been nothing but empty-headed theorizing and muddle-headed hemming and hawing. why we have to spend four weeks talking about what proper instruction would cover in one good lecture I don't know.

2. It seems to me that it would be far more efficient for the facts of mature personality to be presented and then cover how to achieve it along with what happens if one does not. [Note the subtly challenging reference to authority]

3. Several times I have asked why such nonsense is allowed, why the time is being utterly wasted and why the instructor will not tell us what mature personality is.

4. Therefore, at the risk of incurring the instructor's displeasure, sir, my conception is what any clear thinking person knows mature personality is.

1. The mature personality is the clear thinking person who makes decision s on the basis of fact. The mature foes not let emotion overrule his reason.

2. The mature personality thinks about the things that are important, not about a lot of muddle-headed abstractions. He stands for the tried and true and against those who through their muddle-headed thinking would question the established purposes and virtue of man.

3. The mature personality does not go off on tangents, he is clearly focused.

4. The mature personality is loyal, he respects those who know better.

5. The mature personality has "his reach beyond his grasp." He works hard, he does not waste time, he knows that reward should come only from effort.

6. The mature personality sees to it he is known by his deeds, what he does, not what is said and he knows that it is right for him to do so.

7. The mature personality lives by the rules of proper living and requires that all others do so lest there be chaos.

8. The mature personality seeks always to better himself, he is never satisfied with half measures.

9. The mature accepts the laws for living because it is only through their existence that one can be free.

10. The mature has goals in life, he is not hampered in his goal seeking or decisions by uncertainties. He knows where he is going.

11. The mature is open-minded. He listens to all sides so that when he makes a decision he has all the information necessary to make the best decision, the one he knows is right.

12. The mature personality is he who achieves on his own, through his own efforts, by following the established rules.

13. The mature personality is one who respects the established order in life. He is one who knows that established order does exist and he is one who strives always to know and to guide his life by that established order.

14. The mature personality is respectful of his duty and he does it. If he does not subscribe to what is being done he seeks to achieve the position where he can institute right.

15. The mature has the will to work. He does not waste time, he always finds something worthwhile to do.

16. The mature controls his thinking. He keeps his mind on what he wants and off what he should not think about.

17. The mature strives to express only positive emotions -- he uses negative emotions only to handle the evil in the world such as war or crime which he may need to hate so as to kill the evil.

18. The mature uses up surplus energy in work not in frivolity or sex or drinking or eating or the like.

19. The mature is undaunted by failure or misfortune. He believes success comes to he who keeps trying whatever his troubles may be. Every adversity has a benefit.

20. The mature is a master of his attitudes. He directs his thoughts and ordains through self-direction how to control his destiny.

21. The mature separates fact from fiction, fantasy from reality.

22. The mature believes the greatest value in life is to master the negative and animal emotions so as to do good for people even if they cannot or will not do good for themselves.

23. And finally -- whatever the mature has accomplished he recognizes it is not enough. To do right he must set his standards high and seek ever and ever to achieve more, so the best be better."

• self-designated right-thinking person prescribes for others
• sacrifice now for later, but disdains authority which doesn't act like proper authority should
• assertion of the self against deficiencies of authority [there is also assertion of self in CP, but DQ/er is self against error, not power]
• no confused thoughts but "metaphysical certitude" prevails
• listen to all sides so as to learn how to out-argue the opposition
• no nonsense, non-theoretical, tangible, down-to-Earth
• authority, but of own right-thinking mind
• authority teaches dictates of independence
• protests too much about freedom, autonomy, and individuality
• tries to hold onto ever-weakening authority anchors
• turbulence and intrapersonal stress in self versus authority issues

"I should like to preface my conception with a few words about the way this class is being conducted, and what I have to say is no shit. It is the straight stuff.

I'm a senior in college but I wonder how I got there. Maybe they did not want to embarrass the old man because I sure did not go for the crap those professors dished out the first three years. In fact, of all the time I have given to school this is the first class that ever acted as if there was some respect for the people who don't think the way profs or teachers do. This is what education ought to be, not that poll parroting stuff we always get demanded. You would think no one knows anything except profs from the way most of them operate. But that is enough of that! What I believe mature personality is, is detailed below.

The mature woman can be seen through her analogue, the mature animal. She does not look for trouble but she is ever alert to its possibility. She has her antennae at the ready.

She takes nothing for granted. There's no certainties in the world so she organizes her domain so as to control and amplify her chances for success.

When others interfere with her domain she does not necessarily react to destroy or seriously harem them but to get them under control so as to drive them from her domain, but react with vigor and fury she can if necessary.

She gets away with what she can which will foster her chances lest she be considered a fool.

She is friendly with whoever are with her but watchfully so because she knows it is human nature to take people if you can.

She is too rational to ask for or take on that which is certain trouble but she will take advantage of any situation which is about to foster her success.

She is the one who has control of her world or whatever her organization is because she is not only one who can plan but is one who insists on running her affairs. She takes no shit.

She is able to shift attitudes as necessary. No fear, no doubt, no shame can stand in the way of her carrying out what she sees as the best.

She does not get bound up by the e old virtues crap because she knows life is what you make it to be, not what the sayers say it is. She knows that that which is best for her is best for all.

The mature does not cast people into molds. She knows her opinion is a good as anyone's because nothing is certain except the certainty of one's own experience.

The last thing the mature would do would be to let others manage her affairs. It is she who looks out for herself and her interests.

She watches her impulses but she has no fear for using them in her own best interests are endangered.

She does not spend time contemplating who she is or what it is all about.; She knows and she knows, she knows.

• diversity present, but wrong and to be eradicated
• multiplistic thinking [many ways, but one best]
• atomistic additive thinking is argumentative toward and oppositional to authority
• brusquely casts shackles of authority aside
• authority of one's own tried-and-true experience
• warily, controlledly expressive; not to hell with consequences
• overcome authority, not the dragon
• absolutism gone, nothing for sure
• allows for differing value systems and varieties of thinking
• "the right" is learned by careful testing, not arrogant assault
• actions establish truth, not higher power
• lessens shame and guilt, but does not eliminate
• struggles within the self, not outside authority
• hungers for opportunity to express the self
• anxious to grasp things not yet in hand

"After giving rational thought to what is the mature personality I have come to the following list of characteristics which add up to what it is.

1. The major characteristic of the mature person is that he is an independently operating individual. He goes it alone, so there is no such thing as a mature person. There are only people who behave maturely in their various ways.

2. The mature does what has to be done. He is not held back in his actions or judgments by that which other people do or believe.

3. The mature does not accept without questions existing data, theories or practices.

4. He is energetic, outspoken and expressive of what he believes regardless of where others stand.

5. The mature does for himself and thinks for himself. He does not look to others for their guidance or support and he does not need their acceptance or acclaim.

6. The mature person is absolutely objective. He does not let his emotions interfere with what has to be done. He is an acting person who keeps feelings out of his actions. He goes by the facts as they are not by sentimentality. He does not get entangled in emotional problems, his or others.

7. The mature personality is goal directed. He knows what he wants to do and does what he has to , to get there. He does not resign himself to his fate or surrender to the inevitable.

8. The mature person does not conform to arbitrary standards. He conforms to what he has established to be right. He goes by his data until his data proves him wrong and then he changes however the data demand that he change.

9. The mature person is not afraid to do what has to be done. If a person has to be told his weaknesses, the mature person does so without being squeamish. He does not go out of his way to spare feelings. When people need to be shaped up, a mature person shapes them up. Wanting to be liked is not a weakness of the person who is mature.

10. The mature person does not feel guilty or ashamed for doing what rationally has to be done.

11. The mature person being rational and objective is a shrewd appraiser of that which is to his best interests.

12. The mature person accepts that he is human but he controls such tendencies when it is to his welfare to do so. He does not get sentimental and maudlin about such tendencies. He controls them himself.

13. The mature person has a reasoned, risk taking, calculating mind. He uses objective procedures to make his decisions. He places faith in that which he knows works, he does not get caught up in non-workable theory or speculation.

14. He is not afraid to stand alone, even in opposition to others, but he plans so as to have the best chance then goes ahead regardless of what others say or what effect it has.

15. The mature person is not afraid to get his hands dirty in order to do what has to be done. He plays hard when he plays and he plays to win, but he does not waste his time in activities which he sees as hopeless.

16. He is not satisfied with yesterday's ways unless he has found them to work and he holds to them only so long as he sees them to work.

17. The mature person is not one who resigns himself to his fate or surrenders to the inevitable. He changes his course rather than accept what works against him. He never gives up control to his environment. He seeks rather to get the control that will enable him to do what he knows needs to be done."

• lack of conscience constraints with high autonomy
• disdain for empathy
• interpersonal relations very tenuous because of trust issues
• maintain self-evaluation, even in the face of negative information and evidence that self-image is inaccurate
• never changes as a result of feedback, only self-generated choices
• absolute self-sufficiency and striving for complete autonomy
• independent operation without constraints of other people or authority – "an island unto the self"
• cold, quantitative evaluation and often-harsh feedback to others
• multiplicity of values acceptable based on context and expedient
• a high but not unrealistic level of aspiration in healthy forms
• odds-calculations and realistic probabilities, not brash risk-taking
• "to thine own self be true"

"The psychologically mature person is the one who deals successfully with the environment, the one who has an unquestioned accurate and objective perception of one's environment and others and who is able to handle both successfully. The mature person takes both the conflicts and contradictions of life and turns them into experiences which are to her advantage.

Of course dealing successfully and handling successfully presupposes a wider range of abilities and competencies than one might think at first and thus will not be achieved by many. But it is the true sign of maturity. It means a superior ability to exercise one's emotions so that these volatile features enhance rather than harm one's ability to perceive and achieve goals. Indeed, perceiving clearly is probably the best way to deal with any environment and at this the mature personality is superior. One might be tempted to assert that dealing with other humans to fulfill one's personal need is really the only necessity in dealing with the environment. But I think other people are only one part of the environment so the concept should include organizing other humans, the physical environment and one's own mind and one's own body to assure one's personal welfare.

The mature person is completely free of illusion. To her, mature means one must appraise others and self accurately, it means to be intelligent in any situation, even to being uninhibited as in sex, for it is intelligent to be so.. The mature has that clear perception of reality which is based on objective evidence and her rational deductions. She must realize this reality and acts in her won best interests even if to do so requires her to take well thought out risks, even if it means to lose a friend.

The mature person says what needs to be said and does what needs to be done even if doing so may not be liked by others. The mature person is capable unto his or her self and does not need to depend on anyone. That is, the mature person adapts to the reality of the way things are but does not just accept them. If something isn't right or isn't working correctly as the mature person sees it, it is weighed against other factors. It is then labeled good, bad, right, wrong or whatever label is necessary. Then what the mature person does is to take intelligent action toward it, doing it if it is to one's advantage, avoiding it if it is not.

The truly mature person is the one who insists on total fulfillment with all actions determined by values directed at her own well being. She would always recognize the necessity of developing herself as an entity while appearing to conform to the reality of the group. She would not do so out of fear of punishment or lest she feel guilty or ashamed but out of the realization that she must do so to employ the realities and personalities around her to her own ends without arousing them."

• calm operator who succeeds when odds are good, avoids bad odds
• deals successfully with superior talents
• abilities and competencies of the person prevail
• view that potentials of the rational, objective self are unlimited
• views self as the accurate appraiser of people and situations
• denies need for others and tries to remain detached
• depends on own competencies/abilities to achieve goals
• unconstrained by realities of being
• group enters in as an element to conform to reality of the group
• some feeling for others reasserting itself

Entering GREEN — er/FS (Graves’ FS/er)

"I suspect as I start this, that each human being, as he sits back, alone with himself, considers his character to be fundamentally okay, or at least, headed in the right direction with good intention. In the social market place this attitude most assuredly gives way to a more self-critical state of mind, a consciousness in which ideals to be aimed at are evolved - however, it seems that solitude breeds a kind of tacit self-consent. My problem then becomes this: should I describe myself or what I would like to be? On the other hand, as I consider the vague presence of some sort of evaluative force which seeks by means of this document to classify my personality, I would imagine that if I describe what I think I am, it would in that way be aided.

But the intent of the question with which I am faced, namely to define what I consider to be psychological mature human being, seems to point toward the ideals of the social market place, the psychological goals and aspirations of self-critical man. What I am driving at seems to be this: there appears to be a gap within the nature of this "evaluative force" of which I speak between its consideration of the personality itself and the intellectualizations of this personality, between actual behavioural skills and the sorts of fantasies which the behaving being aspires to.

At this point, consideration of this question appears to me as crucial; yet for now a resolution of just who I should describe shall have to wait and I shall acquiesce with the supposed intent of this project, attempting to imagine my psychological ideal. I suppose the best way to approach such a consideration would be an outline of the dynamic sort of tendencies of the mature individual, then to be illustrated by the subject's attitude toward different realms of human experience - i.e. friendship, religion, authority, etc. Specifically, I envision the mature human as a vital, growing entity, potentially susceptible to change and influence at all times, experiencing happiness, suffering and developing. Since the self can only be a derivative of what is outside the self, since man's self consciousness, his "selfhood", seems necessarily to be socially founded, an obsession with individuality and autonomy appears a bit unrealistic, yet within its capacity as a reasoning entity, as an arbitrator of conflicting forces, the mature self finds its dignity, its separateness. Its peace is inner, unanxious over, and tempered to the realities of the outside. Social participation is motivated by enjoyment and a kind of personal curiosity, and not by a sense of quest. Emotionally, affection is esteemed, other emotions being a part of humanness. Rationality is valued as a means of growth, though owing to man's nature, by no means an exclusive means.

Regarding specific life's activities, physical activity, whether it be sport or manual labour, is seen as a fulfilling activity. Career goals of material, political or social nature are seen as insignificant. Consistent with this sketch of an overall attitude seems to be these opinions:

On friendship - Inner security is such that friendships are not of a dependent nature. Friends are viewed more as "companions in the world" than as necessary to the satisfaction of need. Large circles of friends are sought but not required. The ability to be affectionate without expecting or requiring its return is also a sign of maturity.

On authority - Authority as a social expedient and necessity is recognized and accepted, though social mores will not mold the individual in the sense of ruling him; critical evaluation on the part of the individual is here the final judge. In the case of political and economic sorts of imperatives, having to abide by them is neither a matter of hardship or pleasure.

On the mystic urge - often deemed the religious attitude, the theological need to explain the unknown - mystic, a-rational, Zen-like attitudes toward reality are recognized as legitimate. The complimentary of this general state of mind with the tendency toward rational understanding is seen as a whole view of reality. The concept of God as a moral force is virtually dismissed, and as a first cause determining force, respected though considered irrelevant for personal peace of mind.

As a final note, maturity also engenders a sort of overview of what such a paper as this has an object - i.e., something of a self-reflexive awareness of the relative nature of opinion; a recognition that although I can and must (because of my humanness) argue out of my own position, argumentation and opinion from other positions is equally valid in the sense of being understandable and defensible. But then again, it would appear that such a perspective cannot be humanly, vitally maintained and that we must therefore jump in and outside ourselves in the process of growth."

• tentativeness in what to say and do
• between categorical certainty and relativistic thinking
• unwilling to commit fully to persons or ideas
• looks toward inner, unanxious peace
• emotional elements take the fore
• companions, not DQ confidants
• social expedient, not ruling power

"I can say what is my conception of the mature personality in one sentence but it would take reams of paper to clarify what I mean. So I shall, in this endeavor, express my thoughts in one sentence and then elaborate only upon the basis of what I mean.

The mature personality is a participating, creative personality which in its operation does justice to every type of personality, every mode of culture, every human potential without forming anyone into typological molds.

The mature personality provides a means for bringing relations of reciprocity and willing amity to the entire family of human beings. The mature provides for the interchange and utilization of the entire experiences of humankind. He or she lives in a moral world which tears down manmade barriers of law and custom widening the means of communication and cooperation between humans.

The mature is a committed person, committing self to continuous self-development, and to intimate relations and cooperation with all people. He or she is one who believes in face to face interaction and assessment, one who believes friendly eyes are the indispensable mirror for reflecting what is. he or she believes in an absolutely open society where every nook, every corner is exposed to anyone who is curious. He or she behaves so as to demonstrate that every person may be freely heard.

The mature personality deliberately exercises choice which directs life toward allegiances which are beyond the boundaries of natural communities and the organized state and toward the ultimate hopes of mankind. He or she seeks to widen the ties of fellowship without respect to birth, caste or property, and disavows claims to special privilege or the exclusivity of leadership. He or she replaces Godly authority with the temporal authority of the time and the place. He or she softens the features which identify a person with a particular society or culture. To the mature, humanity is a unity of souls seeking salvation not a union of Catholics, High Episcopalians, Orthodox Jews or Baptists.

The mature is beyond sordid concern with his or her own survival and is focused on intensive cultivation of a belief in freedom, not a belief of freedom.

To the mature technology is for human needs, not power, productivity, profit or prestige and scientific endeavor is not for ruthless exploitation or desecration. Scientific endeavor is for depth exploration of all regions not just physical regions, so as to provide for the inner human knowledge that will assure human supremacy.

The mature indulges in the dematerialization of self, in self-transcending endeavors which reach beyond sordid concern with one's own survival, beyond the over-rational and irrational, beyond mechanical uniformity toward a concept of organic unity. He or she operates by the belief that we are all one and should seek to enhance human expression to provide for a world society based on human values. He or she believes

one should know both the objective and the subjective and show the ability to face one's whole self and direct every part of it to a more unified development.

In summary, and in Freudian terms, the mature personality accepts its id, but dopes not give it primacy, and fosters the sure ego but does not allow it to depress the fullest expression of the ego."