Stages of development by Erik Erikson

 

Stage (age)	Psychosocial crisis	Significant relations	Psychosocial modalities	Psychosocial virtues	Maladaptations & malignancies
I (0-1) -- infant	trust vs mistrust	mother	to get, to give in return	hope, faith	sensory distortion -- withdrawal
II (2-3) -- toddler	autonomy vs shame and doubt	parents	to hold on, to let go	will, determination	impulsivity -- compulsion
III (3-6) -- preschooler	initiative vs guilt	family	to go after, to play	purpose, courage	ruthlessness -- inhibition
IV (7-12 or so) -- school-age child	industry vs inferiority	neighborhood and school	to complete, to make things together	competence	narrow virtuosity -- inertia
V (12-18 or so) -- adolescence	ego-identity vs role-confusion	peer groups, role models	to be oneself, to share oneself	fidelity, loyalty	fanaticism -- repudiation
VI (the 20’s) -- young adult	intimacy vs isolation	partners, friends	to lose and find oneself in a another	love	promiscuity -- exclusivity
VII (late 20’s to 50’s) -- middle adult	generativity vs self-absorption	household, workmates	to make be, to take care of	care	overextension -- rejectivity
VIII (50’s and beyond) -- old adult	integrity vs despair	mankind or “my kind”	to be, through having been, to face not being	wisdom	presumption -- despair

Carl Jung - The self.

The goal of life is to realize the self. The self is an archetype that represents the transcendence(*) of all opposites, so that every aspect of your personality is expressed equally. You are then neither and both male and female, neither and both ego and shadow, neither and both good and bad, neither and both conscious and unconscious, neither and both an individual and the whole of creation. And yet, with no oppositions, there is no energy, and you cease to act. Of course, you no longer need to act.

To keep it from getting too mystical, think of it as a new center, a more balanced position, for your psyche. When you are young, you focus on the ego and worry about the trivialities of the persona. When you are older (assuming you have been developing as you should), you focus a little deeper, on the self, and become closer to all people, all life, even the universe itself. The self-realized person is actually less selfish.

* The process of rising above our opposites, of seeing both sides of who we are, is called transcendence.