Self Awareness

In my world, the NewEarth world, self-awareness is a task every youth must undertake. They must decide if they are territory dragons or clan dragons. They must discover their talents, and gain the training they need from an expert they admire. Every youth must travel, discover what kind of dragon they choose to be, how they choose to conduct themselves, and eventually where they want to live, under what leadership, and what they can contribute. Along the way, every youth must discover their purpose, and their contribution to the planet, and devise a plan on how to fulfill that purpose.

In short during their youth, every dragon goes on a journey of discovery, trying things, succeeding in some, failing at others, and learning from every attempt. During their wandering they meet a lot of dragons, some they admire, some they despise, and many are examples of how to live and how not to live.

By the time they sexually mature, they are well on their way to understanding the basics about themselves. Then they delve into relationships and deeper connections taking all of that information into their new maturity. From the time a youth is finally sexually mature to when real maturity begins, is usually 25 cycles. At 480 days per cycle, that is a long time. But in a dragon’s world, not that long.

Self awareness among my dragons is expected, it is necessary, and it is something the humans are learning to appreciate. How powerful do you think self awareness is? Would it make a difference if self awareness was expected and part of our maturation programs?