The Three Life Stages

I recently came across this quote, from Charles Baudelaire, which made me stop and think:

“Genius is nothing more or less than childhood recovered at will - a childhood now equipped for self-expression with an adult’s capacities”

So many of our High Performance Podcast guests have described the freedom which living an authentic life offers them.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche described a three-stage process in the life of a human and the development of consciousness:

1 - Camel. In the first stage we are like a camel, where those around us force us to our knees so that they can pile upon us the burden of social conditioning, habit and convention.

2 - Lion. We reach a point in our lives where our innate desire to be free surfaces and we roar like a lion against the “shalls, musts, and shoulds”; of society. Only after we have shown the courage to express our authentic selves and find our own path in life can we reach the third stage.

3 - Child. We are born free. As young children, we are carefree and unencumbered by social conditioning. We respond to the world spontaneously, intuitively and competently. 

The critical stage in this process is that of the lion, where we challenge convention and break free from conditioning. Only then can we rediscover the child within. It’s when we live with the heart of a child, but equipped with the capabilities of an adult, that we find true happiness and success.

Which stage are you at?