Adulthood

[Ambient]

For a long while, this idea of "adult", being an adult, is one that I have failed to grasp. I often ask myself "when or what is that point, at which I become an adult?". Am I adult when I turn 18, and many things become legally viable, or is it with the advent of my 21st birthday party. Maybe age is not relavent, perhaps I am to enter adulthood through marriage or mortgage? Perhaps I should have stature in the communities I am engaged in, or status within my society? Perhaps, I should have children, or develop some talent or craft which others will admire. Maybe I should desire to escape poverty and gain wealth?

When I think of adulthood, I am perplexed, but to be honest, that alone does not convey my position exactly. I reckon "adult" is by and large an artificial construct. Adult means, ideal personage, "this is what you should become". The fundamental component seems to be age, and this is the weakness of the concept; age is just a number. Adult means:

-Inertia
-Immersion
-Conformity
-Ingratitude
-Disgrace
-Agitation
-Monotony
-Catatonic
-Homogenous
-Routine
-Enculturated

I dunno, I am not opposed to or rejecting the notion of wisdom, and that some are wiser than others. Perhaps not even the notion of adulthood itself, rather the purport or sentiment of adulthood as it is presented within my society, implicitly or explicitly. I see childhood as being far greater than adulthood, ontologically speaking... that we should be child like. That does not mean imaturity, that means we should grasp at the subtle nuances that life has to offer.

[Centipede2]

Feeling like a kid is an awesome feeling. My definition of "adulthood", in more of a positive sense, is whenever a person decides in their life to take responsibility for all of their actions. Societies definition, on the other hand, is full of crap. No matter what, so-called "adults" are just teenagers in adult bodies. That's not at all scary.

[Lulzar]

you become an adult when you take charge of you own life

[Atticus]

I wish I was a kid again.

[A$AP Weed Smoker]

Originally Posted by Lulzar

you become an adult when you take charge of you own life

this. when shit is stable and you're independent, paying for everything, you're an adult. 18 just really isn't it for alot of people these days.

[FrY]

Adulthood is used to describe a person when they have hit a stage of independence, although does that mean a 40yr old person who pays his bills yes it confined to a wheelchair and is relient on someone to help them is stuck in a immature child like state?

I do not think such terms are to be set in stone, I think its coming to a understanding of your relationship to others in the world and learning how to control yourself so that you can manifest an obtainable situation in your life.

[Ambient]

Originally Posted by Kabigon

Feeling like a kid is an awesome feeling. My definition of "adulthood", in more of a positive sense, is whenever a person decides in their life to take responsibility for all of their actions. Societies definition, on the other hand, is full of crap. No matter what, so-called "adults" are just teenagers in adult bodies. That's not at all scary.

Feeling like a kid is an awesome feeling, but being a kid is not. Kids have alot of potential, adults have alot of actuality. (My) Logic dictates that actuality is more significant than potential. Like I say, there are still those elements of child psychology we need to reunite with. Teenagers in adult bodies? I am tempted to say animals in adult bodies. If you are graced with this human body, and you waste that opportunity, behaving like an [non-human] animal, engaging in and glorifying animal activities, you are animal (animalistic).

Originally Posted by Lulzar

you become an adult when you take charge of you own life

So anything that is "taking charge of your own life" is contributing to adulthood? You have not conceptualised this definition, so I cannot be sure if my example is rediculious or not. What if my circumstance drives or compells me to take the life of a man, to take charge of my life, in the certainty that this murder is the means to this end?

Originally Posted by Atticus

I wish I was a kid again.

Same thing as I told Kabigon, some elements of childhood are good, some are not. Specifically, imagination is admirable, ignorance is not.

Originally Posted by Weed Smoker

this. when shit is stable and you're independent, paying for everything, you're an adult. 18 just really isn't it for alot of people these days.

Independence is an illusion, so long as we are not going to water down the true meaning of the word. "When shit is stable", stable means animal house lol. Anyway, stability is not neccessarily an indicator of adulthood, I may have a routine lifestyle or circumstance for example, yet lack the virtue which characterizes adulthood, nor the theoretical knowledge. Paying for everything?

No, that is the grand master delusion. People think being wealthy, or being able to pay for everything is liberation, whereas is is the grand master of pawnship, of sheepery, of enslavement. Why? Because the poor man knows he is a slave. The rich man is oblivious to his enslavement. In that way those who are wealthy are in a far worse plateu of slavery than the peasant.

"The poor man and the wealthy man wieghed on a balance mean nothing"- Psalms (62?). So if you are poor, and a slave for gratification, that is non-preferable. If you are rich, and a slave to gratification, that is also non-preferable. The persuit of riches, in whatever format, is not soulful activity.

Moreover, departing from the philosophy of independence, there are very practical arguments that can be made. For instance, say I have monetary security, I have no dependence on others to be self-sufficient, apparently; I am "independent". You still require air to breath yes? You still need water for sustinence yes? You still require food for nutrition? Yes you may select these from a vast array of sources. But can you abstain? If you cannot abstain, then you are dependent. You cannot be living and situated without these things. If you were truely independent, you could travel through time and space independent of these material requirements. Your body cannot do this, correct?

Originally Posted by FrY

Adulthood is used to describe a person when they have hit a stage of independence, although does that mean a 40yr old person who pays his bills yes it confined to a wheelchair and is relient on someone to help them is stuck in a immature child like state?

I do not think such terms are to be set in stone, I think its coming to a understanding of your relationship to others in the world and learning how to control yourself so that you can manifest an obtainable situation in your life.

A paraplegic man is dependent on his wheelchair as able bodied persons are dependent upon their legs.