teetering footsteps

Of course the psychological influence of industrialism is only part of what makes people and whole societies "old early". The combination of a certain arid rationalism helps too. The Japanese, for instance, with their Shintoism, which retains much of the psychology of shamanism (in its reverence for Nature and for the multiple spirits of the air and water), are rarely so old at heart as are their Western counterparts. They, too, tend to be "young late".

I see a basic psychological division of human nature, according to which I either feel comfortable and normal or extremely uncomfortable in the company of others. Those who are "young late" make allowances for features of life or of their environment which they accept they do not fully understand in all respects. They are far more likely to excuse inconsistencies and attribute innocence to human error than are those who see the world through the eyes that are "old early".

The terror I endured of always anticipating that the next thing I might say could gravely injure somebody's fragile self-esteem or self-concept made me unable to operate effectively within the Western work environment, where rigid views of what is or isn't rational hold sway, and where much spontaneity is considered a vicious assault on other people's developed natures.

The fragility of the self-concept of Western ego is evidenced through the fact that whose thinking is more playful, and more free, than that of their Western conditioned counterparts, present a challenge that seems dangerous and irresponsible at once, to those who walk with teetering footsteps along pre-established lines.