Life Span Development and Personality - Essay Example

Life Span Development and Personality" The personality selected is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a prominent personality on the world stage is known all over for his ideologies. He played the most imperative role in Indian independence movement. He is an inspiration for millions including the world famous leader and a major orator, Martin Luther. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is a person who is known across the world as "Mahatma Gandhi", people of India loved him immensely and call him "Bapu" (meaning- father) and honored him as "The Father of the Nation" ("Ideologies", n.d.). Ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi not only influenced the people of India but his daring temperament to stick to the truth how so ever the tough situation could be and his non-violence way to protest for the rights of people shuddered Britishers to quit India and provide Independence to the nation. His way to lead a simple life and his beliefs are inspiration even in todays world and they are applicable in todays life. It is because of his greatness his birthday, 2nd October, called as Gandhi Jayanti is considered as a national holiday and worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence. Mahatma Gandhi practiced strict discipline in his life and the chief motive of his life was to be truthful in every deed. Various principles that were the key features in shaping the personality of Mahatma Gandhi encompass- Truth "Truth" is the essence of Gandhis life. He was a firm believer that one must follow the path of truth how-so-ever difficult it could be, truth keeps the self-conscious alive and prevents an individual from shame and disguise. He believed that one must practice truth in every aspect of life and should learn from own mistakes. His motive was to perform experiment with self so as to learn from personal mistakes. He honestly mentioned all the mistakes he committed in his autobiography called "The Story of My Experiments with Truth" ("Ideologies", n.d.). Being truthful to oneself, in deeds and pursuits keeps the conscious clear and eliminates the feelings of fear and diffidence. According to Gandhi, "Truth is God" and to reach the truth, practice truth and one can reach the God. Therefore Gandhis psychology for God is "Truth". He practiced truth in his life, as was depicted in his movements which he called "Satyagrah". In this movement the motive was to eradicate the hostility and enmity without causing any injury to the enemy. Therefore Satyagrah is considered a driving force or in terms of Martin Luther King Jr. as a soul force ("Ideologies", n.d.). According to Gandhi, if an individual is empowered with high morals and strong will power then no physical power could challenge him/her because truth has the power and truth is beyond the boundaries of cast or creed, age, gender and alliance. His belief on truth and patience was of paramount significance. Civil disobedience and non-cooperation movements were the part of his fight for truth. The psychology behind Satyagraha is on the foundation of suffering. Continued existence of suffering empowers tolerance and further strengthens the determination of bringing an end to injustice. The prevailing injustice in the society hampers the moral upliftment. Being truthful is the method by which an opponent could be conquered ("Ideologies", n.d.). Nonviolence Another weapon of Mahatma Gandhi was non-violence which he called "ahimsa". According to the various religious beliefs, non-violence finds its significance in every aspect of religious preaching. Gandhi was the firm believer for the psychology "live and let live". He never believed in revengeful approach. If one is revengeful in deeds and kill or harm an individual it is not the path of truth and that individual has committed a punishable offense. Truth and non-violence lead to the path that directly goes to God, a consent and preaching of every religion ("Ideologies", n.d.). In the present scenario one may find it difficult to follow but psychologically it is true and if practiced one can easily conquer the heart of enemy or the wrongdoer. War brings agony, loss, hatred, distrust on system and others, sufferings to those who lost their dear ones, a void that is irreparable. Violence, terrorism, germinates the seeds of disgust and could not do any good but by practicing non-violence not only a respect in the enemys heart is generated but also it inculcates a feeling of constructive and encouraging predisposition. Today a non-violent person at the battlefield could have to pay through the life but if the dictators of the war could understand the depth of non-violence lives could be saved, sufferings could be prevented and monetary loss could be set aside. Practicing non-violence enhances ones self-worth and germinates respect in the minds of opponents. According to Gandhi, violence is against humanity and if war is to save humanity it is futile as war brings anguish and disguise for humanity in all terms. Therefore, Gandhis non-violence demands incredible faith and courage and everyone could not have the temperament tough to follow. The psychology behind this practice is if one follows the path of non-violence then it should not be correlated as an act of cowardice rather it should be considered as a step towards humanity. Equality According to Gandhi, all individuals must be treated equal, there should be no discrimination between caste and creed, rich or poor, as every individual has same body parts. Discrimination in the society divides the society and creates walls instead of bridges. The untouchable individuals (the one who does the job of cleaning toilets) should also be considered as equal as without their jobs no one could enjoy clean, neat and healthy environment, disregarding them for any reason is disregarding humanity. A congenial and cognitive environment influences the psychology of a person making an individual more responsive and attentive. It enhances potential, intelligence as well as efficacy of the brain to think in a creative and positive manner. Although, shared environment encompassing poverty, parental understanding and relationship, nurture, domestic environment, education, family interaction, exposure to social sphere, communication with others are some important features which directly influence the behavior. These factors together influence the attitude and nature and personality and make the individual talkative and expressive. Gandhis mother was firm believer of god and so truth and non-violence was gifted to him through the genes, i.e. they are inherited characters from mother. Moreover, after his birth, the environment provided by mother inculcated seeds of being true to self and god-fearing behaviour. Thus, inheritance and the subsequent environment shapes the personality and set the ideologies of life. The formative years of life, the childhood is the most important phase of life where the personality is shaped. This phase determines the future perspectives of the individual (Alberts, 2002; Snustad, 2002). One of the biggest reasons why Gandhi gained confidence of people is because of his ideologies of being true to humanity, he grew with these morale and raised his voice against the injustice and other social issues. He was well supported by the society because of his true ideologies. Considering the theories of personality- Humanist theory- which involves the importance of self-actualization. It encompasses Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow ideologies. It involves motivation to think about the humanity and work for the upliftment of people and to abolish prevailing inhumane acts. Behavioral theory on the other hand, implies, personality of the individual is due to interaction with the surrounding environment. It includes ideologies of Skinner and Watson ("Theories of Personality", n.d.). Both these theories are selected because they portray the characteristics of Gandhi, who was a great human being and with his behavior and conduct he established himself as an example in front of the world that by adopting the path of truth and non-violence, battles can be conquered as he did for Indias independence. References Alberts, B., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K. and Walter P. "Molecular Biology of the Cell". 4th ed. Publisher Garland Science. 2002. Ideologies. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.mahatma.com/php/showContent.php?linkid=8. Snustad, D.P., Simmons, M.J. "Principles of Genetics". 3rd ed. Publisher Wiley. 2002. Theories of Personality. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologystudyguides/a/personalitysg_3.htm. Read More