I am defining ‘reaching the soul’ as the essential goal of any kind of personal development system. Not of the spiritual development, but of the personal one. The very word ’soul’ is so overused in so many unfitting contexts, that it is proper to find different phrasings for it. Let’s not consider for now the mixture and confusion between ’soul’ and ’spirit’. Let’s just stay on the field of personal development. In my top of synonyms for ‘reaching the soul’, on one of the first places stands ‘maturity’. Here’s why.

The concept of maturity is, and always was, an axis for the way we organize our social hierarchies. Grown-ups are keeping the wheel of our lives rolling. But is being a grown-up a synonym of being mature?

Here is a list of affirmations about being a grown-up:

• has a job
• got a driver’s license
• can get cigarettes and alcohol at the corner store
• got a growing pubic hair
• moved out from the parents house
• married
• has at least one child
• got 18 years old
• was in the army
• is a high school graduate
• confirmation at the church
• starts to be a coffee addict
• etc.

You should be able to add at least 2 more to this list. And the list is so endless that it could easily fill up a wiki (sic!) But wait! What if one doesn’t like coffee? What if is not religious, or doesn’t smoke? What if one still lives at the parents house ’cause it’s cheaper than payin’ for a rent? You see, it is really hard to find a widely accepted definition for being a grown-up.

Is being a grown-up different from being mature?

I am insinuating that it is. Here is why I think so. Growing up can be considered a process that happens even without intense effort. I am not saying that it is easy. It seems though that it is mostly like filling up the patterns that society defined for us, its members in this context. Of course, not to mention the very fact of biological growing up, which is a trivia.

Being mature gives room for something more. Even if you think of it more superficially, doesn’t it sound like having a more demanding connotation? Look again at the above list. They all are symptoms of being a grown-up, but can you say that a church confirmation, or getting a job define you as a mature person? I think there is something more to it.

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