The question is: do people change as they get older or has what they become always been inside them, dormant, waiting to emerge, or re-emerge? A theory is that the character settled into with aging has always been who they are. It may have ebbed and waned for reasons that life thrust upon them, but the essence remains. If, as a child, one is outgoing, outspoken, and independent, after a (spiritual) settling into who that person is, these characteristics will re-emerge.
In the various stages of life, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, even, a person will most likely try to conform to the company he keeps. Doing that, those basic characteristics may be sublimated. Or perhaps some trauma or heart-breaking event occurs to cause loss of self esteem and confidence. When life is back to normal or one becomes more spiritually aware, his feet are on solid ground again, and he is back in "character."
If a person is selfish, miserly, and un-giving as a child, he will be selfish, miserly, and un-giving in old age, probably more so. Even bad characters age. The traits don’t belong to old age, as such; they belong to a person's character, and become more evident with aging.
Perhaps as James Hillman suggests in his book”The Force of Character and the Lasting Life" that the reason we live so long is "...that character requires the additional years...the last years confirm and fulfill character." We should ask ourselves as we age if we are getting out of life what we really ARE. If we continue on in a rut or comfort zone, when there is more that we must expect from life, there is stagnation--no growth.
"To see the force of character up close, we must become involved wholeheartedly in the events of aging. This takes both curiosity and courage. By courage I mean letting go of old ideas and letting go TO odd ideas, shifting the significance of the event we fear. I mean the courage to be curious.Curiosity is one of the great drives of humankind, maybe of animal life in general; it's the desire to explore the world that sets the monkey and the mouse on their risky adventures. For us humans, adventure takes place more and more in the mind." James Hillman. "The Force of Character and the Lasting Life" A book recommended for those on the path.
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"There is no light without shadow and no Psychic wholeness without imperfection. To round itself out, life calls not for perfection but for completeness." Carl Jung