Erikson’s psychological dichotomies end with “integrity vs. despair” in which one discovers a sense of life’s meaning.
World leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela led as individuals living a life of self actualization. The lived a life of optimal function as human beings.
Separate from religion and religious practices, this final state of being is largely spiritual. Spirituality is not a part of modern education, and the lack of this component of human development is what made me gravitate toward the Montessori philosophy and practice.
Maria Montessori recognized the child as a physical, intellectual and spiritual being. Her work was to stimulate the whole being through the senses and awaken and nurture the best and most natural state of being in the child.
There is inherent beauty, innocence and purity that lies within the child. They are closer to self-actualization without even knowing it, than most of the human race. As we run the course of life-span development, what holds us back from returning back to our whole, wiser, and self-actualized beings? Why do we get so caught up in lower levels of living and thinking?
