This PowerPoint presentation summarizes William Shakespeare's model of the seven stages of human life. It describes each stage from infancy through old age. In infancy, one is a helpless baby. In the second stage, one is a whining schoolboy. The third stage is that of a lover in passionate love. The fourth stage is of a soldier, full of obligations and fighting for honor. The fifth stage is adulthood, focusing on responsible decisions. The sixth brings middle age and preparing for old age. The final stage is old age, a second childhood and oblivion. The seven stages model conceptualizes the spiritual implications of human experience throughout life.
3. Thismodelof the sevenstages
of life is an important
conceptual toolformulatedby
WIILIAMSHAKESPEAREto
clarify,and so helpothersto
similarlyunderstand,the
spiritualimplications of all the
individual and collective
expressions of human
experience and knowledge.The
following paragraphswill
provide a generalintroduction
to thisunique model.
4. Human life develops or evolves in seven stages.
The first three stages of human life are the stages of lower functional
(physical, emotional, and mental) adaptation to the universal Life-Energy.
The fourth stage of human life is the stage of whole bodily surrender and
adaptation to the universal Life via Love-Communion (the disposition of the
heart or deep psyche of pure energy
5. The fifth stage of human life is the stage of mysticism, or evolutionary
adaptation to the higher brain and mind.
The sixth stage of human life is the stage of ego-death, or transcendence
of mind, independent self, and primal fear.
The seventh stage of human life is the stage of bodily Translation, or
Transfiguration of the total body-mind and the atomic soul in the Infinite
Radiance of the Living God
10. The second stage is the whining schoolboy
where he learns to utter a plaintive, high-
pitched, protracted sound, as in pain, fear,
supplication, or complaint. His shiny
morning face and his satchel; a small bag,
sometimes with a shoulder strap; he creeps
like a snail and not willing to go to school.
12. This is the third stage of mans life. Now he
is a grown up person and assumes the form of a lover. It
is the time when he loves his beloved ardently. He sighs
like a furnace or an oven. He writes a song in praise of
his beloveds eye brow. He also sings such songs again
and burns in his emotions
14. The fourth stage is that of a soldier where life if
full of obligations, commitments, compliances,
oaths and vows. His beard is like a leopard or
panther. He endlessly fights for his honor, a
full presence of mind which is sudden and
quick in quarrel and a heart to maintain a
dignified reputation
16. The fifth stage is the adult-hood where a man tries to live a fair and justified life.
His belly becomes bigger than normal. He is conscious about his diet and
consumes a good intake of capon; a cockerel castrated to improve the flesh for
use as food. His eyes are severe with seriousness and his beard is leveled to a
formal cut. He is to take a lot of correct decisions to keep up with the ever
changing times. So this stage is the most powerful stage in life.
18. The sixth stage is the middle-age. Here is where he prepares himself for
the next level in life i.e. old age. He learns to relax from the hustles of
life. His strength begins to weaken and spends more time within the roof
of his house. He looks like a buffoon and an old fool in his rugged old
slippers. He hangs his spectacles on his nose for reading and all his
youthful hose; a flexible tube for conveying a liquid, as water, to a desired
point; saved for the world too wide. His shank begins to shrink with time;
the part of the lower limb in humans between the knee and the ankle; leg.
Even his voice begins to descend to a lower tone. In his free time, he
smokes his pipe and whistles his matured melodies.
20. The last stage is the old-age where he enters his second childhood. It is also
the beginning of the end of his eventful history. It is also the stage of
oblivion; the state of being completely forgotten or unknown; the state of
forgetting or of being oblivious; official disregard or overlooking of
offenses; He is without everything; without teeth, eyes and taste.