Evolving Self excerpt
Aug. 25th, 2007 12:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avadon universal impulse I find myself looking for a good excerpt from The Evolving Self (one of my favorite books) today to post to you. And I happen upon this blog that just posted this 2 days ago. 'good timing' if you believe in time;)no? an excerpt which also 'happens' to deal with distributed memory...ha.
I sincerely echo the intro/praise to the book here as well.thanks universe;)
The Power of Love & Trascendance - an excerpt from Csikszentmihalyi's Evolving Self
"One of the men who most influenced my perspective on the modern world is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I'm still amazed that Csikszentmihalyi's book The Evolving Self isn't continually cited. It gets my vote as the most overlooked and underappreciated books of our time.
Central to his thesis is the notion that a fully developed self comes from two often competing needs: the movements towards greater complexity and integration of that complexity into harmony, bringing those disparate elements into a whole self. Complexity results from pursuit of what makes us individuals, and he calls a person joyfully invested in complex goals a transcender. What follows is an excerpt of Evolving Self, using the Hungarian poet Gyorgy Faludy as an example.read the excerpt on R World blog
I sincerely echo the intro/praise to the book here as well.thanks universe;)
The Power of Love & Trascendance - an excerpt from Csikszentmihalyi's Evolving Self
"One of the men who most influenced my perspective on the modern world is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I'm still amazed that Csikszentmihalyi's book The Evolving Self isn't continually cited. It gets my vote as the most overlooked and underappreciated books of our time.
Central to his thesis is the notion that a fully developed self comes from two often competing needs: the movements towards greater complexity and integration of that complexity into harmony, bringing those disparate elements into a whole self. Complexity results from pursuit of what makes us individuals, and he calls a person joyfully invested in complex goals a transcender. What follows is an excerpt of Evolving Self, using the Hungarian poet Gyorgy Faludy as an example.read the excerpt on R World blog
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Great stuff
Date: 2007-08-25 07:42 pm (UTC)A few things:
(1) The excerpt the link leads to, is extremely well-written. Wow. (I say 'wow' because since this is transcendental sort of stuff, the writing could easily get mired down in ephemeral, fleeting thoughts that are not capable of being grasped. But even without this qualification, it's good writing, period. It's the sort of clean writing I strive for.)
(2) Content: It's funny you should post this because I just finished reading Homi K. Bhabba's "Commitment to Theory," and even though Bhabba's piece is written in a different vein and contains a more political bent, there is some overlap in what both essays are trying to say that has really spoken to me.
One thing, Homi Bhabba talks about the sort of binaries of identity one can get caught up in due to the political group(s) one is affiliated with: communist party, feminist movement, etc, and how each of these institutions/movements rigidly define who one is (i.e. proletariat in in opposition to the bourgeois) when the reality is that we belong to different communities and are shaped by so many different socio-historical variables that to self-identify (or to be identified) as an essentialized version of a group's prototype, is totally at variance with reality.
So when I read the following (and I forgot to mention that Bhabba's essay has reolutionized my thinking in so many ways in terms of identity and politics), it just made me smile with (almost) unbelieving joy:
But [people striving toward greater complexity] cannot be reduced to a type, for there cannot be a single path to reaching personal harmony . . . And because we are born with a different combination of temperamental strengths and weaknesses, and with different gifts, and grow up in different family contexts, communities, and historical periods, each of us displays a characteristic pattern of potentials."
Wow, similar to what Bhabba is saying but with more of a humanistic flavor---which is great because I am beginning to realize how much politics and contemporary Theory have denigrated the nourishment of the spirit. ( I mean, I'm a christian but again, my practice and engagement with it has not been reflected in my church experience and so I have always felt out of place in the different communities (and with their attendant values and ideology) I am/have been a part of, such as the christian institutional church, Chicanos and Chicano Studies, English and the Humanities, marxism, etc. I don't mean to say that each community has been a horrible experience, far from it; only that it would seem that each community has values that are at times in total opposition to another community's values and seeks to confine the oppositional community in this neat little controllable box.
It has made for some schizophrenic thinking, believe me.
I read Bhabba and now this, and I feel as I've been given 'permission' to continue on this quest to toward greater complexity.
(3) Faludy's story (and poem): Wow. This excerpt has pointed me in Faludy's direction as well. Absolutely fascinating.
As you can see, your excerpt has generated much in terms of thoughts and future readings.
I must get this book.
Re: Great stuff
Date: 2007-08-25 09:50 pm (UTC)this morning I was going over the terms and definitions for certain movements (specifically those dealing with globalism, anti-globalism, etc) and also realizing how limiting and nonrepresentational they were to my perspective- which is certainly a combination of aggreement and opposition to various aspects of both. It makes me wonder much about group identity as well...
all the best to you and your quest
xo
Re: Great stuff
Date: 2007-08-25 10:47 pm (UTC)2)I want to read up on Globalization and anti-globalization. This interest has been sparked by Alfonso Cuaron's 'Children of Men' which contains commentary by anti-globalization expert Naomi Klein and a human geographer and a couple of philosophers. Klein so eloquently spoke about immigration and borders, and the others spoke about global warming and population trends and clashes, all of which I am not doing justice to. Suffice to say I fell (half) asleep during the movie's Extras and when I started hearing bits of the commentary I had to open my eyes and think, "Wow, it's been a while since I heard something so smart and moving and relevant." I sat up and listened up.
I want to read up on all this, too.
Re: Great stuff
Date: 2007-08-26 12:23 am (UTC)I'm glad that you so enjoyed the excerpt. I've read Evolving Self a couple of times and will occasionally open it at random for a bit of provocation. The other day it seemed too profound not to share. I'm glad it brought me to your posts, Avad.
As to what this means for movements, I personally think that one element of the coming transformation of society is this: rather than work to change the individual to better adapt to institutions and norms, we'll become more able to change institutions and norms for the individual. Very much aligned with you comments, Cesar, about working with, but not being constrained by, movements by various names. I've tried to express some of that here: http://rwrld.blogspot.com/2007/06/transformation-for-rather-than-of-self.html
Thanks again for connecting. You are right, Avad, that it is heartening to steer someone towards a little inspiration and encouragement. From my coast to yours - have a happy weekend.
- Ron from R World