According to Jung, personality develops in stages that lead to self-realization. In his theory, Jung emphasized on the ages of 35 to 40 when an individual has the ability to combine the different issues of personality and obtain self-realization. At this stage of life, the possibility of degeneration and rigid reactions is present. The psychological health at this stage in life is related to the ability to relate to achieving a balance of the various conflicting processes. Such capabilities are proportional to the success that is achieved in the earlier stages of life (Feist, Feist & Roberts, 2013; Hogan and Smither, 2008).
According to Jung, there are four stages of life i.e. childhood, youth, middle life and old age. He compared the life of an individual with the movement of the sun through the sky where the brightness of the sun represents consciousness. Childhood is represented by the early morning sun as it is full of potential but lacks brilliance. The morning sun resembles youth as it climbs towards Zenith yet unaware of its decline in the future. Midlife is represented by the early afternoon sun and is brilliant like the late morning sun but heading towards sunset. Old age is like the evening sun where its brilliance consciousness is becoming dim. According to Jung, the values, ideals, and behavior suitable for the first half of the life are not appropriate for the remaining half implying that there is a need to find new meaning in the declining stages (Feist, Feist & Roberts, 2013).
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Childhood
There are three stages in childhood; the anarchic, the monarchic and the dualistic. The first phase is characteristic of chaotic and sporadic consciousness. There are islands of consciousness with little or n connection. Experiences at this stage enter consciousness like primitive images which are difficult to verbalize. The Monarchic phase stage is characteristic of the growth of the ego and development of logical and verbal thinking. Children at this stage view themselves objectively and perceiving themselves in the third person. The island becomes numerous and occupied by primitive ego which is perceived as an object yet is not aware of the perception. The ego as a perceiver arises in the dualistic phase when it is divided into the objective and subjective. Children start referring to themselves as objective and subjective while using the first person yet they are aware of their existence as different individuals. At this phase, the island becomes a continuous land that is occupied by ego- complex that realizes itself as object and subject (Feist, Feist & Roberts, 2013).
Youth
It is a period from puberty to midlife where individuals try to gain psychic and physical independence from the parents. They find a mate and raise a family thus making a place in the world. Youth is a period of increased activity where they mature sexually, grow in their consciousness and realize that the problem free era that they faced in their childhood is long gone. They face a challenge of overcoming the tendency to cling to the narrow consciousness of childhood hence avoiding available problems that are currently affecting them. They inhibit the conservative principle where they would like to live in their past. If a middle-aged or elderly person holds to their youthful values, they are likely to face a crippled life in future. They are likely to be unable to achieve self-realization and will find it hard to establish new goals and identify new meaning in life (Feist, Feist & Roberts, 2013; Shalit, 2011).
Middle Life
According to Jung, mid-life begins at the age of 35-40 where the sun begins its downward descent. It presents an individual at this phase with increased anxiety but also presents lots of potentials. People at this stage who have retained the social and moral values of their previous life are likely to be rigid and fanatical in trying to hold to their physical attractiveness and agility. They are likely to struggle in order to maintain a youthful lifestyle and appearance once they identify that their ideas are shifting. Few people are gracefully willing to accept the reality and steps towards the current life are taken with false assumptions that the truth and ideals will only apply to the present. Individuals in their middle life who have lived their youthful life with no childish or even middle age values are prepared for middle life and likely to live fully at this stage (Feist, Feist & Roberts, 2013; Shalit, 2011).
Old Age
People at this stage experience a decline in their consciousness in a similar way like the diminishing sun at dusk. Fear of life in the early stages implies that one will obviously fear death. Such fears are taken as normal. According to Jung, the goal of life is death and therefore one can only live a fulfilling life when death is seen from this perspective. The majority of the patients that Jung treated were middle to old age. They suffered from backward orientation and not letting go of their past. He tried to help the patients establish new goals and identify new meaning in life by finding meaning in death (Feist, Feist & Roberts, 2013). In old age, the light and warmth are extinguished and an individual must accept death. Jung noted that those who are ready to die for life are the ones who remain vitally alive. At this age, a person withdraws from external preoccupations and prepares for death and eternity which might be reflected in religious attitude. Jung's stages of life relate to the development of consciousness which is manifested in the lifecycle (Shalit, 2011).
An individual is faced with different problems at each stage. Such issues are not to be solved but to be confronted and challenge. Jung, therefore, emphasized life as a process where an individual becomes conscious thus transforming life's experiences to living experience. Individuals are likely to be resistant to the problems that arise from each stage and therefore according to Jung, the art of life is one of the rarest and distinguished of all the available arts (Shalit, 2011).
References
Feist, J., Feist, G., & Roberts, T. (2013). Theories of personality (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hogan, R., & Smither, R. (2008). Personality . Tulsa, OK: Hogan Press.
Shalit, E. (2011). The Cycle of Life (1st ed.). Carmel: Fisher King Press.
