Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

The 4 stages of Life

Following my recent blog on the cycle of happiness and satisfaction, I noticed a 2015 article about Carl Jung‘s 4 stages of life. I realised that a similar 4 stages of life also transpire from my recent blog. In my 29 October 2016 blog, I had already covered Carl Jung’s 3 births of the human spirit. It made sense to me to reconcile these topics. The result is my diagram below.

Compared to my recent blog on the cycle of happiness and satisfaction, I have shifted all 4 quadrants 90 degrees to the left, in order to synchronize with Carl Jung‘s 4 stages of life. The result below is pretty amazing considering the similarities.

The diagram suggests that Carl Jung’s concepts validate my concepts of (i) Needs, Wants & Beliefs and (ii) Awakening. To some extent, the births mirror the Body, Mind & Soul concept. The 4 stages of Life also mirror the 4 seasons of Nature: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The words spirit and soul have a connection to the ancient Sumerian civilization of 4,000 BC.

Essentially, the spirit or eṭemmu is the earthly component while alive, and ghost after death.

The soul or zaqiqu is the divine component at birth (breath of life) and death (last breath).

Carl Jung’s 4 stages of Life and the 3 births of the human spirit both indicate a learning process in which the spirit and soul are shaped by good & bad deeds, words and thoughts during life. Soul and spirit follow separate ways after death. Please see my blog on soul vs spirit for clarification.

We will learn that all our choices (ie, deeds, words and thoughts) have consequences. That is the essence of (good & bad) karma. Both choices and consequences will tell us what is important. We only care about people who – and things that – are important to us.

The above is captured in a quote from the Tao Te Ching by Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu:

“Can you love people and lead them without imposing your will? Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things? Giving birth and nourishing, having without possessing, acting with no expectations, leading and not trying to control: this is the supreme virtue.”

The Four Seasons / Le quattro stagioni (1725) by Antonio Vivaldi feat. Janine Jansen

video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2

Archives

VIPosts

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Pin It on Pinterest