Towards Mature Regional Harmonization with Ourselves and Nature
Jean-Paul Close.
Psychological research shows that our behavior is mainly conditioned by our environment. It equally distinguishes academically between immature and mature behavior by determining its characteristics. We can see such characteristics also back in the functioning of societies. Mature societies stimulate mature behavior, not only of people but also of institutions. Immature societies have the same immature behavioral effect on its participants. At the same time it proves much more difficult to move a society from immature to mature than from mature to immature. For individual human beings the evolution between immaturity and mature behavior is a natural process, triggered by existential values that gradually break through into our consciousness as we grow up. At societal level this is not just an evolutionary process, nor one of hierarchies and power. It is a conscious, collective, self aware choice and commitment.
In 2009 the small STIR research foundation started to experiment with a set of self defined essential human values in its surrounding environment, the city of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The foundation was not yet relating its actions to the psychology of change, or mature and immature behavior. It got motivated to introduce a new societal story due to worries about a degenerative, inhumane culture that was increasingly showing anthropocenic symptoms. STIR based its approach on experiences of human behavior in mature family based values and the transformative effects of existentialist choices experienced by the founder himself. Now, after 14 years of experimentation with core human values driven shared responsibilities, academic links can be suggested with the complexity of behavioral psychology. This paper is an attempt to open a dialogue towards mature societal functioning for the benefit of sustainable human development in harmony with ourselves and our natural environment.
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