Self-actualized people: a study in psychological health (Maslow)

Psychological maturity is an important component in assessing the state of one’s own psyche. Maturity contributes to the disclosure of all the abilities and talents of a person, helps to flourish both spiritually and materially. Maturity itself is not some kind of point that can be reached, rather, it is a state that a person could reach and that can be improved. Some psychologists have compiled lists that contain traits inherent in a mature personality. One such list, Abraham Maslow’s Mature Personality, will be of great help to those who love quality food for the mind and support their intellectual growth in every possible way. If you are interested in the original article by A. Maslow, from which this «squeeze» is made, it is presented below.

Abraham Maslow, born in New York, psychologist and founder of humanistic psychology. Maslow is known to many as the author of Maslow’s Pyramid. Maslow himself believed that individuals with the following qualities make up only 1% of the population and are a kind of model of a “quality person” — psychologically healthy and maximally expressing the human essence of people.

So, here are 15 signs of a mature personality according to Abraham Maslow:

• A more adequate perception of reality, free from the influence of actual needs, stereotypes, prejudices, interest in the unknown.
• Acceptance of oneself and others as they are, the absence of artificial, predatory forms of behavior and the rejection of such behavior by others.
• Spontaneity of manifestations, simplicity and naturalness. Compliance with established rituals, traditions and ceremonies, but treating them with a proper sense of humor. This is not automatic, but conscious conformism at the level of external behavior.
• Business orientation. Such people are usually busy not with themselves, but with their life task. They usually relate their activities to universal values ​​and tend to view them from the perspective of eternity rather than the current moment. Therefore, they are all philosophers to some extent.
• The position of detachment in relation to many events. This helps them to endure troubles relatively calmly and be less susceptible to outside influences. They are often prone to loneliness.
• Autonomy and independence from the environment; stability under the influence of frustrating factors.
• Freshness of perception: finding each time something new in the already known.
• Ultimate experiences, characterized by the feeling of the disappearance of one’s own Self.
• A sense of community with humanity as a whole.
• Friendship with other self-actualizing people: a narrow circle of people with very deep relationships. Lack of manifestations of hostility in interpersonal interaction.
• Democracy in relationships. Willingness to learn from others.
• Stable internal moral norms. They acutely feel good and evil: they are focused on goals, and the means always obey them.
• «Philosophical» sense of humor. Attitude with humor to life in general and to oneself, but someone’s inferiority or adversity is never considered funny.
• Creativity, which does not depend on what a person does, and manifests itself in all his actions.
• Critical attitude to the culture to which they belong: the good is chosen and the bad is rejected. They feel more like representatives of humanity as a whole than of one culture.

From the author

The study that will be discussed is unusual in many ways. It was not planned in the way that scientific research is usually planned, it was not dictated by some social order, I conducted it out of pure curiosity, wanting to solve those moral, ethical and scientific problems that worried me at that time. I wanted to discover something new for myself, I did not at all think of surprising the world or proving something to my enemies.

However, quite unexpectedly for me, the results of this study turned out to be so impressive, contained so much information that I consider it necessary to talk about it, despite all its methodological flaws.

There is another consideration that makes me bring the results of this purely private research to the public. I think that the problem of psychological health is so relevant now that any assumptions, any hypotheses, any data, even the most controversial, can be of great heuristic value. In principle, this kind of research is very difficult, difficult precisely because it is especially difficult for a researcher in this field to avoid the influence of his own views, prejudices and delusions. But if we continue to wait for absolutely accurate, reliable, reliable data, then we risk never getting off the ground. I am convinced that there is nothing left for us but to fearlessly step into the unknown, into complete darkness and grope in it, choosing first one direction, then another, until finally the light shines ahead. We have only one choice — either to trudge, or to do nothing, to refuse to study the problem. Having convinced myself with such arguments, I present the results of my research to the reader, hoping that they will shed some light on the problem at hand, and I make all the necessary apologies to those who are primarily concerned with problems of validity, reliability or representativeness.

Method of selection of subjects

I selected subjects from among my acquaintances and friends, as well as from public figures and historical characters. In addition, I screened XNUMX college students, but only one of them became my test subject, and I classified a dozen or so students as potential test subjects (“growing personalities”).

Based on this, I was forced to conclude that self-actualization in the form in which it is found in older people is practically impossible for young, developing people in our society.

In accordance with this conclusion, I somewhat simplified the task and, together with E. Raskin and D. Friedman, began to search for relatively healthy people among college students. We have determined for ourselves that we will select 1% of the students of this college who are distinguished by special health. After two years, we were forced to interrupt our study, but even without being completed, it allowed us to obtain a large amount of data valuable for clinical practice.

I would like to cite some literary hero as an example of an ideal subject, but I have not been able to find among them a hero of our time and our culture (and this fact in itself is suggestive).

The initial clinical definition of a self-actualizing personality, on the basis of which we selected the subjects, consisted of positive and negative criteria. As a negative criterion, we chose the absence of neurosis, psychosis, psychopathic character traits, as well as pronounced neurotic or psychopathic tendencies. Each case of psychosomatic illness was investigated by us separately — in detail and carefully. Whenever possible, we used the Rorschach test, but very soon realized that it was more suitable for revealing hidden psychopathology than for diagnosing health. As a positive criterion, we took the presence of signs of self-actualization — this set of symptoms has not yet been precisely defined. In the most general form, we defined a self-actualizing person as an individual who is able to realize his talents, abilities, and opportunities. A self-actualizing person is constantly in the process of self-fulfillment, looking at him, I want to remember Nietzsche’s call: “So become what you can become!”. These people develop or have developed the potentialities inherent in their nature — both original, not inherent in anyone else, and general species.

A positive criterion implies not only the satisfaction of basic needs (for security, belonging, love, respect and self-respect), but also the satisfaction of the needs of the cognitive level — the need for knowledge and understanding, and sometimes the ability of a person to obey them. In other words, all the subjects we selected were not only self-confident, kind, benevolent, respected people, they had deeply personal philosophical, religious and axiological convictions. We do not yet know whether basic satisfaction is a sufficient condition for self-actualization, or whether it is nothing more than its necessary precondition.

In general, the selection technique used by us can be defined using the mathematical term iteration, that is, repeated repetition of the same operation. Previously, we tested this technique in the study of such personality syndromes as self-esteem and anxiety. During the conversation with the subjects, we asked them how they understand self-actualization, and thus collected a lot of subjective, everyday definitions of the syndrome we are studying. Then we compared these definitions and came up with a more precise, but still not scientific definition, while we tried to get rid of all the logical and factual inconsistencies that worldly definitions sin (we call this preliminary study the lexicographic stage of research). #page#

On the basis of a refined everyday definition, we selected the first two groups of subjects, respectively, with high and low rates of self-actualization. We examined these people extensively, and based on the results of our clinical study, we refined the original definition of self-actualization, thus obtaining a clinical definition of the syndrome. Based on the new definition, we reselected the subjects, obtaining a new group of highly actualized people, which included several people who were initially rejected by us. We again examined this group with the help of clinical methods, adding to them several experimental methods, and this allowed us to define the desired concept even more finely, to modify, clarify and expand its purely clinical definition. On the basis of this new definition, a group of subjects was once again selected, and the whole procedure was repeated again. Thus, the originally vague, unscientific, popular understanding of self-actualization became more and more clear, more operational, and therefore more scientific.

Of course, the process of correcting the definition was not as smooth as it might seem at first glance. We constantly had to make certain amendments, caused by considerations of both a theoretical and practical nature. For example, we soon discovered that the worldly definition of self-actualization makes excessively high, too unrealistic demands on a person. Therefore, we stopped rashly rejecting subjects who, at least with a slight stretch, could be classified as self-actualizing personalities, in whom only individual, minor flaws and shortcomings were found, or, in other words, we realized that perfection cannot be a criterion for self-actualization, so as perfect people, apparently, simply do not exist.

Another problem was that not in all cases we were able to obtain complete and comprehensive information about a person necessary for a clinical study. Some of the subjects, having learned about the purpose of the study, became confused, embarrassed, became constrained, or made fun of us and refused to participate in the experiment. Taking into account this negative experience, we began to examine our subjects, especially the elderly, by indirect methods, and to be honest, by semi-partisan methods. Only young people we studied directly.

Since our subjects were specific living people whose names we are not at liberty to name, we were unable to meet two of the usual requirements for scientific research, namely: the reproducibility of the study and the availability of data on the basis of which conclusions are drawn. These shortcomings are offset in part by the fact that our «test subjects» include many well-known and historical figures, and we have conducted additional research on young people and children, and these data may be made public.

As a result of the preliminary study, we selected four categories of subjects:

• Samples of a self-actualizing personality: seven obvious and two conditional examples of self-actualization (our contemporaries; examined clinically);
• Two obvious examples of self-actualization from people who lived in the past (Lincoln in his last years and Thomas Jefferson);
• Seven very conventional examples of self-actualization of famous people and historical figures (Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Adams, William James, Schweitzer, Aldous Huxley and Spinoza);
• Examples of partial self-actualization: five people from among our contemporaries who only partially meet the criteria for self-actualization, but we considered it possible to use them in our study.

Potential or hypothetical examples of self-actualization (examples used and explored by other scientists): Carver, Eugene Debs, Thomas Aikins, Fritz Kreisler, Goethe, Pablo Casals, Martin Buber, Danilo Dolci, Arthur Morgan, John Keats, David Hilbert, Arthur Wauley, Daisetsu Suzuki, Adlai Stevenson, Sholom Aleichem, Robert Browning, Ralph Wald Emerson, Frederic Douglass, Joseph Schumpeter, Bob Benchley, Ida Tarbell, Harriet Tubman, George Washington, Karl Muenzinger, Joseph Haydn, Camille Pissarro, Edward Bybring, George William Russell, Pierre Renoir, Henry Wadsworth Lonfellow, Peter Kropotkin, John Altgeld, Thomas More, Edouard Bellamy, Benjamin Franklin, John Mair, Walt Whitman.34

How the data was obtained and how it will be presented

The process of collecting information in the course of our research consisted not so much in the accumulation of specific discrete facts, but in a constant movement towards forming a general, holistic impression of the phenomenon under study. This process can be compared to how in everyday life we ​​form our impression of the people around us as we communicate with them. Very rarely have I been able to reduce communication with older people within the framework of a structured experimental situation, to persuade them to participate in a targeted survey using standardized questionnaires or tests (although this was possible with younger subjects). I communicated with them informally, trying to make it look like a normal conversation. In addition, at every opportunity, I asked questions of interest to my friends and relatives.

Precisely because the process of collecting information was often not standardized, and also because of the small number of subjects and the impossibility of collecting complete information about some of them, I can not give you any quantitative data, no figures. The only thing I can share with you is a series of impressions that I think contain a lot of valuable information.

I summarized my impressions, analyzed them and found several characteristics that are common to all self-actualizing people. It is clear that these characteristics require further clinical and experimental research.

Effective perception of reality and comfortable relationship with reality

The first thing you pay attention to when communicating with a self-actualizing person is his amazing ability to recognize the slightest manifestation of lies, falsehood or insincerity. These people’s estimates are remarkably accurate. An informal experiment with college students revealed one distinct trend: students who scored high on the Basic Safety Test (that is, healthy students) rated their instructors much more accurately and accurately than students who scored poorly on this test. .

As my research progressed, I became more and more convinced that this kind of efficiency of perception, found at first only in the field of relationships with people, needs to be understood much more broadly. It extends to very many aspects of reality — almost all that we have explored. Painting, music, intellectual and scientific problems, political and social events — in any sphere of life, these people were able to instantly discern the hidden essence of phenomena that usually went unnoticed by other people. Their predictions, no matter what areas of life they touched and no matter how meager facts they relied on, very often turned out to be correct. We tend to understand this to mean that a self-actualizing person bases his judgments on facts, and not on personal pessimistic or optimistic attitudes, desires, fears, hopes and anxieties.

At first I called this property «good taste» or «saneness», realizing the inaccuracy of these terms. But gradually I had more and more reasons (I will discuss some of them below) to talk not so much about taste as about perception, and in the end I came to the conclusion that this characteristic would be more correctly called «ability to perceive facts» ( as opposed to a tendency to perceive the world through the prism of established and generally accepted opinions or ideas). I hope that this conclusion of mine, or rather, my assumption, will someday find experimental confirmation.

After all, if we manage to prove this, then the consequences that the recognition of this fact will entail will be truly revolutionary. The English psychoanalyst Moni-Kirl has already stated that a neurotic is not just an ineffective person, he is an absolutely ineffective person. We can say this, if only because the neurotic cannot perceive reality as clearly and effectively as a healthy person perceives it. The neurotic is sick not only emotionally — he is sick cognitively! If we define health and neurosis respectively as a correct and incorrect perception of reality, then we will inevitably face the problem of the fact and its meaning, or evaluation, or, in other words, the problem of the unity of the real and the value. This means only one thing — we no longer have the right to look askance at values ​​and give them at the mercy of hysterics and religious preachers, it’s time to make them the object of empirical research. Anyone who has ever encountered this problem understands that it is precisely this problem that should become the foundation of a true science of values, which, in turn, will form the basis of a new understanding of ethics, social relations, politics, religion, etc.

It seems quite obvious that adaptation disorders and neuroses can reduce the sharpness of visual perception, touch, and smell. But it is also possible that we will find a similar effect in other areas of perception that are not directly related to physiology — at least an experiment in which the installation effect was studied speaks in favor of such a possibility. I am convinced that sooner or later we will receive experimental confirmation that the perception of healthy people is much less influenced by desires, needs and prejudices than the perception of sick people. It can also be assumed that it is this a priori efficiency of perception of self-actualizing people that determines their sanity, the ability to see the truth, their logicality, the ability to come to correct conclusions, that is, cognitive efficiency.

A higher quality of interaction with reality is also manifested in these people in the fact that it is not difficult for them to distinguish the original from the banal, the concrete from the abstract, the ideographic from the u.e.ified. They prefer to live in the real world, they do not like the artificially created worlds of abstractions, emasculated concepts, speculative ideas and stereotypes, the worlds in which most of our contemporaries live for life. A self-actualizing person clearly prefers to deal with what is at hand, with real events and phenomena, and not with his own desires, hopes and fears, not with the prejudices and prejudices of the environment. «Naive perception» — this is how Herbert Read described this ability.

Another feature of self-actualizing people seems to me extremely promising — their attitude towards the unknown. The study of this feature can become a kind of bridge connecting the academic and clinical sections of psychological knowledge. Healthy, self-actualizing people are not afraid of the unknown, uncertainty does not scare them the way it scares the average person. They treat her quite calmly, do not see her as a threat or danger to themselves. On the contrary, everything unknown, unstructured attracts and beckons them. Not only are they not afraid of the unknown, but they welcome it. Einstein’s statement is very revealing in this sense: “The most beautiful thing in the world is a mystery. She is the source of art and science.»

Truly, these people can be called intellectuals, researchers, scientists; it is very easy to assume that the whole point here is precisely in intellectual power, but we know many examples of highly intelligent people who, despite their high IQ, either because of weakness, or because of fear, or because of conventionality or in due to some other personality defects, all their lives they were engaged in minor problems, polished to a shine long-known facts, combining them into groups and dividing them into subcategories — in a word, they were engaged in all sorts of nonsense, instead of making discoveries, as befits a real scientist.

The unknown does not frighten healthy people and therefore they are not subject to prejudice: they do not freeze in front of a black cat, they do not spit over their shoulders, they do not cross their fingers — in a word, they are not drawn to the actions that ordinary people take, wanting to protect themselves from imaginary dangers. They do not shy away from the unknown and do not run away from the unknown, do not deny it and do not pretend that it does not exist, and at the same time they are not inclined to perceive it through the prism of preconceived judgments and stereotypes, they do not immediately try to define and designate it. They are not adherents of the familiar and understandable, they are striving for the knowledge of yet undiscovered truths, but their search for truth is not the catastrophic desire for security, certainty, certainty and order that Goldstein found in patients with brain injuries, and not that characteristic of compulsive-obsessive neurotics. These people are completely free to afford — when the situation requires it — disorder, carelessness, inaccuracy, anarchism, chaos, uncertainty, inaccuracy, indecision, doubt, even fear (all this is quite acceptable, and sometimes even necessary, both in science and in art, not to mention life itself).

Thus, uncertainty, doubts, a state of uncertainty, so painful and painful for most ordinary people, stimulate a self-actualizing personality, encourage it to explore and learn.

Acceptance (of oneself, others, nature)

It seems to me that many of the characteristics that distinguish self-actualizing people, characteristics that at first glance seem to have no deep determinants, seeming completely separate, unrelated to each other, can actually be understood as different derivatives or different forms of manifestation of one fundamental, fundamental attitudes, namely, the absence of a self-contained sense of guilt and shame. A neurotic is another matter — guilt torments him, he is enslaved by shame and driven by anxiety. What a neurotic! Even the average representative of our culture, the so-called normal person, is ready to succumb to the experience of guilt, shame and anxiety, even in those cases in which this is not at all necessary. But a healthy person differs from the average person in that he lives in harmony with himself, and if it comes to that, he is not too upset about his shortcomings.

He accepts his essence, far from always ideal, with all its inherent flaws and shortcomings. Speaking of this, I do not mean at all that he is characterized by complacency and narcissism, that he is absolutely satisfied with himself. I want to say that he knows how to coexist with his weaknesses, accepts his sinfulness and depravity, knows how to treat them as simply as we treat nature. After all, we do not complain about the fact that the water is wet, that the stones are heavy, and the trees turn yellow in autumn. Just as a child looks at the world with naive, wide-open eyes, without expecting or demanding anything from it, without criticizing or challenging it, simply observing what appears to his gaze, in the same way a self-actualizing person perceives his human nature, the nature of other people. This, of course, is not the type of humility that is professed in the East, although humility is characteristic of these people — especially when they are faced with severe illness and death.

Note that the characteristic that I am talking about now has a direct bearing on the special ability of self-actualizing people discussed above. I want to remind them of their ability to see reality in its true light. These people perceive human nature as it is, and not as they would like to see it. They boldly look at what appears to their eyes, they do not squint and do not put on glasses to see the non-existent, they do not distort or paint reality in certain colors.

This capacity for complete acceptance shows itself most clearly at the lowest level of needs, at the so-called animal level. A self-actualizing person can be called a strong, healthy animal. Nothing human is alien to him, and he will feel no guilt or shame about his urges. He has a good appetite, sound sleep, he knows how to enjoy sex and other physiological attractions. His acceptance extends not only to these lower needs, but also to the needs of other levels — the needs for security, love, belonging, self-respect. All motives and impulses inherent in a normal person are considered by self-actualizing people to be natural and worthy of satisfaction, they understand that nature has decreed this, they do not try to challenge her arbitrariness or impose on her the order of things that pleases them. A natural continuation of the ability to accept becomes a reduced ability to disgust — unpleasant moments associated with cooking, bodily secretions and odors, physiological functions do not cause in them that disgust that the average person, and even more so the neurotic, usually reacts to.

The same capacity for acceptance probably explains the fact that any pose is alien to self-actualizing people, that they cannot stand poseurs. Bigotry, hypocrisy, insincerity, falsehood, pretense, the desire to impress — all these qualities are completely uncharacteristic of them. They do not want to seem better than they are, it is not difficult for them already because they know how to put up with their shortcomings, and as they become self-actualized and especially on the slope of their life path, they get used to treating them not as shortcomings, but as completely neutral personal characteristics.

All of the above does not mean that self-actualizing people are unfamiliar with guilt, shame, sadness, anxiety, or self-protective tendencies — it is about harmful, unnecessary, neurotic (that is, unrealistic) guilt, about the same shame, etc. The base, animal urges and processes, as well as the functions associated with them, such as sex, urination, pregnancy, menstruation, aging, etc., are perceived by these people quite calmly, as an integral part of reality. A healthy woman is not ashamed to be a woman, not ashamed of her body and the processes taking place in it.

There are only a few things and circumstances that can cause guilt (or shame, anxiety, sadness, regret) in these people, among them: 1) such shortcomings and vices that a person can overcome in himself (for example, laziness, selfishness); 2) unresolved remnants of psychological ill health (prejudice, envy, jealousy); 3) habits, which, although not second nature, can be very strong, and 4) the shortcomings and vices of the culture or social group with which they, these people, identify themselves. In the most general form, we can say that healthy people experience discomfort only when they see that the real course of things deviates from the possible, achievable, and therefore necessary.

Spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness

Self-actualizing people can be characterized as quite spontaneous in their behavior and as extremely spontaneous in their inner life, in their thoughts, impulses, desires, etc. They behave simply and naturally, not trying to impress others. This does not mean that their behavior is unconventional, that it goes against conventions and traditions. If we were to calculate how often a self-actualizing person allows himself to be unconventional in behavior, then believe me, this figure would not be too high. His unconventionality is not an external feature, but a deep, essential characteristic: a healthy person is unconventional, spontaneous, natural rather and mainly in his motives and thoughts than in behavior. He is clearly aware that the world in which he lives is full of conventions, that this world is simply not able to understand and accept his spontaneity. He does not want to offend the people around him, he has no desire to challenge the norms of behavior adopted by them, and therefore, with a good-natured smile and with all possible grace, he obeys the established traditions, ceremonies and rituals, so dear to the heart of every layman. I remember how one of these people was awarded a prize, which he always laughed at, and he, not wanting to make an elephant out of a fly and offend people who wanted to please him, gratefully accepted this award.

The conventionality of a self-actualizing person is like a light cloak, he throws it off without hesitation when it prevents him from doing what he considers important. It is at such moments that its true, essential non-conventionality is fully manifested, in which there is nothing of the anti-conventionality of the so-called bohemia and nihilists who dispute everything and everything, fight against insignificant, trifling restrictions as if faced with a problem of universal scale.

Internal spontaneity is found in a healthy person and in moments of absolute absorption in an important, interesting thing for him. At such moments, he seems to forget about all existing norms of behavior; looking at him in moments of enthusiasm, one might think that the conventionality characteristic of him in everyday life is given to him at the cost of titanic efforts of will.

He unbuttons his jacket of conventionality even when he is in the company of friends who do not demand and do not expect him to «keep up appearances.» Circumstances that impose on a healthy person the obligation to comply with conditional prescriptions, apparently, weigh him down. This observation can be confirmed by the fact that all the people we examined preferred precisely such situations and such companies in which they would be free from the obligation to be predictable, in which they could behave freely and naturally.

A natural consequence of this characteristic of a healthy person, or a natural concomitant characteristic, is their independence in moral convictions; their moral principles reflect their inherent originality to a greater extent than the ethical norms accepted in society. A not too thoughtful observer may consider such people immoral, since they not only tend to disregard conventions, but can even, if the situation requires it, go against the prescriptions and norms. However, this observer will be fundamentally wrong. On the contrary, these people are highly moral, highly moral, although their moral principles do not always coincide with generally accepted ones. It is this kind of observation that leads me to the conviction that the so-called ethical behavior of the average person is so conventional that it is more conventional behavior than truly ethical, this kind of behavior is not based on internal beliefs and principles, it is nothing more than thoughtless following. generally accepted norms.

A self-actualizing person is not able to wholeheartedly accept the conventions of the society around him, he cannot but see the widespread hypocrisy and, as a result, sometimes begins to feel like a spy behind enemy lines. Sometimes traces of this feeling can be seen even in his behavior.

I don’t want you to get the impression that these people are constantly hiding their discontent. No, they are quite capable in a fit of anger or irritation to rebel against conventions, against ignorance. Sometimes they try to open people’s eyes, try to enlighten them, tell them the truth; they come out in defense of the oppressed and offended, and sometimes, seeing the futility of their efforts, they give vent to the accumulated anger, and this anger is so sincere and pure, so righteous and exalted, that it seems almost sacrilege to prevent its manifestations. I have seen self-actualizing people in anger, and it is quite obvious to me that they absolutely do not care what impression they make on others, that they do not feel any anxiety, guilt, or shame about this, although usually, when their deepest, fundamental beliefs and principles, they behave quite conventionally, not wanting to offend or embarrass others.

The ability to adequately perceive reality, the childish or, if you like, the animal ability to accept oneself and the ability to spontaneity suggest that these people are able to clearly recognize their own impulses, desires, preferences and subjective reactions in general. Clinical studies of this characteristic clearly confirm Fromm’s idea that the average person often has no idea what he really is, what he wants, what he thinks, what his point of view is.

This kind of research and discovery allows me to postulate one of the most fundamental characteristics that distinguishes self-actualizing people from ordinary, average individuals. The motivational life of a self-actualizing person is not only richer, it is qualitatively different from the motivation of an average person. It seems to me that self-actualization implies a fundamentally different psychology of motivation, it seems to me that, speaking about the motivation of a self-actualizing personality, we should talk not so much about the needs of deficient levels, but about metamotives or growth motives. The difference between the two is as fundamental as the difference between living and preparing for life. It is possible that the traditional concept of motivation is applicable only to non-self-actualizing people. A self-actualizing person, unlike an ordinary person, is no longer concerned about the problems of survival, he simply lives and develops. If the motivational motives of an ordinary person lie outside, in the possibility of satisfying a need, then a self-actualizing person, on the contrary, is driven by internal potencies that were originally inherent in his nature, requiring their implementation and development. It can be put more simply — a self-actualizing person is striving for perfection, for an ever more complete development of his unique abilities. An ordinary person, on the other hand, is striving to satisfy those of his basic needs that have not yet received due satisfaction. It cannot be said that a self-actualizing person, having satisfied all his basic needs, is no longer subject to impulses and motives: he also works, he also tries, he also claims, although not in the sense that we usually put into these words. First of all, he is driven by the need for self-development, self-expression and self-fulfillment, that is, the need for self-actualization. I keep asking myself the same question more and more. Perhaps it is in self-actualizing people that our true, human nature is extremely clearly visible, perhaps it is they who are closest to the essence of the concept of “man”, closer even from the point of view of taxonomy? This question inevitably entails the following: are we entitled to draw at least some conclusions about the biological nature of man, if so far we have studied only flawed and underdeveloped or, even worse, “gray”, well-trained, trained representatives of our species?

Service

We have identified another feature of the people we studied. I’m talking about their inherent focus on external issues. If you try to find a name for this feature, then I would suggest calling it service as opposed to egocentric tendencies. Unlike insecure, anxious people with their penchant for constant introspection and introspection, these people are not bothered by personal problems, they are not too inclined to think about themselves. Almost each of them has a calling and a cause to which they serve, to which they devote themselves without reserve, almost each of them is preoccupied with some important problem, the solution of which requires all his strength and energy.

It is not necessarily a favorite activity, not necessarily an activity that a person has desired or an activity that he aspired to, it may be an activity that he feels obligated to do. That’s why I’m talking about service, about life’s mission, and not just about «favorite» work. These people, as a rule, are not concerned with problems of a personal, selfish nature; for the most part, they think about the welfare of other people — the whole of humanity, their fellow citizens, or the welfare of people close and dear to them.

With a few exceptions, we noted one characteristic feature in almost all of our subjects. These people tend to think about the fundamental problems of human existence, they ask those eternal, fundamental questions that we call philosophical or moral. We can say that they live in a global coordinate system. In the particular, they are able to see the general, and no, even the brightest particular manifestations, will hide the general picture from them. At the heart of their system of coordinates or system of values ​​is never small-town patriotism, as a rule, it reflects the experience of the entire history of the development of mankind, it does not meet momentary demands, not social orders, but the requirements of the era. In a word, these people are in some sense undoubtedly philosophers, although their philosophy is not necessarily scientific, sometimes it is what can be called worldly philosophy.

Of course, this attitude affects almost all aspects of their lives. Thus, for example, one of the main symptoms with which we began our study of the holistic syndrome of self-actualization and which we designated as breadth (or non-pettiness) is undoubtedly a manifestation of this more general characteristic. The ability to rise above the ordinary, the ability to renounce particularities, to expand the horizons of perception, to look at things in perspective, sub specie aetemitatis35 is of great social importance. Apparently, it is this ability that explains the tranquility inherent in self-actualizing people, their ability to remain calm, not to worry over trifles — properties that make life easier not only for themselves, but also for the people around them.

Detachment, need for solitude

It can be said about all my subjects that they can calmly and painlessly endure loneliness. Not only that, I’m willing to swear that they love solitude, or at least treat it with much more sympathy than the average person.

Often, precisely because loneliness does not frighten them, these people manage to keep their cool in the heat of battle, they do not grab weapons, do not succumb to passions, they are alien to the troubles and worries of the layman. It is not difficult for them to be detached, restrained, calm and serene; failures and defeats do not cause in them a natural outburst of emotions for less healthy people. Even in the most humiliating situations and even surrounded by the most unworthy people, they know how to maintain nobility and pride, and this ability would most likely be impossible if they did not have their own opinion about the situation, if they relied on feelings in everything. and other people’s opinions. In some situations, this detached reserve can outgrow itself and turn into a harsh, cold aloofness.

The ability we are considering seems to be in close connection with some other qualities found in these people. In any case, any of my subjects can be safely called an objective (in every sense of the word) person, especially in comparison with the average person. I have already said that for self-actualizing people, external problems are more significant than their own experiences, and this statement is true for them even if they find themselves in a situation that threatens their desires, hopes, dreams. They have an amazing ability to concentrate by the standards of an average person, which, in turn, gives rise to such epiphenomena as detachment, the ability to forget about anxieties and excitement. In particular, this ability is manifested in the fact that even in critical situations, when a lot of problems fall on their shoulders, these people do not suffer from insomnia or lack of appetite, maintain a good mood and are capable of normal sexual relations.

The detachment of a self-actualizing person can cause difficulties in communicating with ordinary, “normal” people who tend to interpret his detachment as coldness, snobbery, unfriendliness or even hostility. This is understandable, especially if we remember that the common idea of ​​friendship implies a certain interdependence in it, a relationship that provides a person with support, sympathy, approval, participation, warmth. If we understand friendship in this way, then perhaps we can say that a self-actualizing person does not need friends. In our culture, the guarantee of friendship is the need of partners for each other, and it is obvious that the average person is unlikely to want to have a self-actualizing person as a friend, because he will never put his independence on the altar of friendship, he will never sacrifice his independence for the sake of a friend.

We must understand that independence is not only independence, but also self-determination, self-management, the ability to take responsibility, courage and strength, an active search for solutions, the ability not to be a pawn in someone else’s game. As I studied my subjects, I became more and more convinced that each of them forms his own opinions and judgments, makes his own decisions and is responsible for them, determines and paves his own way in life. This quality is difficult to detect, it cannot even be defined by any one term, but it is extremely important, almost decisive. Studying these people, communicating with them, I realized that many human qualities that I previously perceived as normal and natural, in fact, serve as signs of illness, weakness, and inferiority. For example, before I did not see anything regrettable in the fact that many people form their judgments not on the basis of their own tastes, preferences, principles or beliefs, but on the basis of those tastes, preferences, principles and beliefs that are imposed on them by advertising, parents, television, propaganda, newspapers, importunate salesmen, etc. Many people have lost the ability to self-determination, they are ready to allow others to manipulate them, they agreed to be pawns in someone else’s game. No wonder they so often experience bouts of helplessness, weakness, controllability. It is clear that in economics and politics such lack of will is impossible, that in these areas it can lead to catastrophic results. Members of a democratic society must have the ability to self-determination, to freely express their will, they must be able to take responsibility for the decisions they make.

Asch and McClelland’s extensive research suggests that only a small portion of the American population, between five and thirty percent, depending on the circumstances, can be classified as self-determined people. But in my study, all 100% of the subjects were classified as such.

Finally, I must make a statement that theologians, philosophers and scientists are unlikely to like. Self-actualizing people have more «free will» and are less «determined» than the average person. The concepts of «free will» and «determinism» are usually considered philosophical categories, but I am convinced that sooner or later we will give them operational definitions. In the framework of my research, they are devoid of philosophical specificity, I treated these concepts and the phenomena behind them as empirical realities. I will make an even more seditious judgment — I believe that these are not only qualitative, but also quantitative categories, they can not only be detected — they can and should be measured.

Independence, independence from culture and environment, will and activity

Let’s talk about such a characteristic of a self-actualizing person, which is in many ways similar to those already listed by us. I mean the relative independence of these people from the physical and social environment. The main motives of a self-actualizing person are not the needs of deficient levels, but the motives for growth, and therefore these people are almost independent of external circumstances, other people and culture as a whole. The sources of satisfaction of the need for growth and development are not in the external environment, but inside a person — in his potentialities and hidden resources. Just as a tree needs sunlight, water, and nourishment, so every human being needs security, love, and respect, and they can only get them from outside. But at the moment when he receives them, when external satisfactions satisfy his inner hunger, it is here that he faces the true problem of human existence, the problem of growth and self-development, that is, the problem of self-actualization.

Independence from the environment means greater resilience in the face of adverse circumstances, shocks, blows of fate, deprivation, frustration, and the like. My subjects managed to maintain courage and self-control even in the most difficult situations, even in those that the average person might think of suicide; I defined this ability as the ability to self-repair.

People who have not reached the level of self-actualization, driven by the needs of deficit levels, need other people, because only from other people can they receive the love, security and respect they need so much. A completely different matter is self-actualizing individuals. They don’t need other people to experience true happiness; on the contrary, others may even interfere with them, may become an obstacle to development. The sources of satisfaction for a self-actualizing person are intra-individual and are in no way mediated by society. These people are strong enough not to depend on the opinions of other people; they do not seek approval, praise, they do not even seek love. Recognition, popularity, fame, honors, love are insignificant for them; all these things cannot be compared with their gnawing need for self-development, with an insatiable desire for inner growth. However, despite all of the above, we should not for a moment forget that the surest, although not the only, road leading to this kind of independence, to freedom from love and respect, is the complete satisfaction of needs for love and respect. .

Fresh look at things

Self-actualizing people have an amazing ability to enjoy life. Their perception is fresh and naive. They do not get tired of being surprised, amazed, experiencing delight and awe before the numerous and varied manifestations of life, to which an ordinary person has long been accustomed, which he does not even notice. Colin Wilson called this ability the sense of novelty. For such a person, the sunset, even if he sees it for the hundredth time, will be as beautiful as on the day he saw it for the first time; any flower, any child can capture his attention, can appear before him as a miracle of nature, even if he has seen a thousand flowers and hundreds of children in his lifetime. The feeling of great happiness, great luck, good fortune does not leave him even thirty years after the wedding; his sixty-year-old wife seems to him as beautiful as she was forty years ago. Even everyday life becomes a source of joy and excitement for him, any moment of life can give him delight. Of course, this does not mean that they are constantly in an ecstatic state or make a conscious effort to achieve this; they experience such intense feelings only from time to time, and these feelings overtake them suddenly. A person can cross a river a dozen times, and for the eleventh time he suddenly returns to that feeling of quivering delight that he experienced when he first saw the picturesque landscape that opened up to him from the ferry.

The people I examined know how to appreciate the beautiful, although each of them understands the beautiful in his own way. For some, nature becomes the source of beauty, others adore children, others enjoy music; but they all have one thing in common — they draw inspiration, delight and strength from the basic, fundamental values ​​of life. So, for example, none of them confessed to me that they were delighted with visiting a nightclub or a party, none of them named money as a source of inspiration.

And one more impression that I took away from communication with these people. For some of my subjects, sex and all the carnal pleasures associated with it are not only a source of sensual gratification, but also a source of sublime, renewing and uplifting experiences, similar to those that music and nature give them. I will elaborate on this phenomenon in the next section.

It may very well be that the reason for such saturation of subjective experience, such piercing perception is the special efficiency of their perception, the ability to perceive reality in its concrete manifestations, the perception of reality per se. It can be said, perhaps, that it is precisely the propensity for ueification that blurs our eyes; if a phenomenon, person or situation is not interesting to us, does not contain a direct benefit or threat, we brush it aside, rush to stick some label and throw it into the far corner of the usual categorization.

I am becoming more and more convinced that the inability to enjoy life is one of the main sources of evil, human tragedy and suffering. We easily get used to the good, we take it for granted and therefore underestimate it; how often we give up the joys of life, without regret and repentance, exchanging them for lentil stew. It is regrettable, but we do not protect our relatives, friends, children and repent of this only when we lose them. But the same can be said about our attitude to our health, about our attitude to political rights and material well-being — only having lost them, we begin to understand their true value.

Herzberg’s reasoning about industrial «hygiene», the concept of St. Wilson’s neot margin, as well as the results of my own research on «lower-level complaints, higher-level complaints, and meta-complaints» all tell us that our lives will become incomparably better, happier, if we learn to enjoy it, if we let us experience for her the same deep feeling of gratitude that self-actualizing people experience.

Mystical experiences and higher experiences

The expressive acts, called mystical experiences, so well described by William James, are quite characteristic of self-actualizing people, although not for all. The rapture we talked about in the previous section is sometimes so powerful, piercing, and all-encompassing that it can be called a mystical experience. I first became interested in this question after talking to some of my subjects. When these people told me about their experiences accompanying orgasm, I initially had the feeling that I had heard something similar somewhere. Later I remembered where I had come across very similar descriptions — in books describing experiences of mystical experience. In both cases, it was about endless horizons opening up to the gaze, about a sudden feeling of absolute omnipotence, and at the same time complete insignificance, merciless helplessness, about a feeling of ecstasy, delight, awe, about the loss of orientation in time and space , and finally, about a piercing sense of the importance of what is happening, about a sense of spiritual rebirth, personal transformation. Both those and other experiences are sometimes so strong that they radically change a person’s life.

However, I consider it necessary to immediately make a reservation that one should not look for traces of divine providence or the influence of some supernatural forces in these experiences, even if for many thousands of years of his history man has connected the mystical and the divine together. These experiences are of a natural nature, they can be studied using scientific methods, and therefore I offer a more neutral definition of them — «higher experiences».

As I became more and more closely acquainted with my subjects, I became more and more convinced of the opinion that the highest experiences do not have to be extremely intense, ecstatic. Descriptions of mystical experiences in the theological literature usually interpret them as a completely special state, qualitatively different from all other experiences. However, if we abandon the search for the divine prerequisites for higher experiences, if we decide to approach them as a natural phenomenon, then we will very soon find that higher experience is a completely measurable substance, that it can be barely expressed and, conversely, limiting. We will also find that these experiences, but only of moderate intensity, are familiar to very many people, perhaps even to most people, and that some people — and I consider them to be psychologically privileged — experience them very often, almost daily.

It can be assumed that the highest experience is a cluster of all those states and experiences in which there is a loss or going beyond the limits of the Self, for example, such as the state of complete immersion in the problem, extreme concentration, or the state of mug described by Benedict, or intense sensual pleasure, not not to mention selfless preoccupation with a musical or artistic work. I will not dwell on this topic, it is discussed in sufficient detail in other papers.

During the years of my study of self-actualizing people, which I began in 1935 (and still continue), I became almost completely convinced that people involved in the highest moments of comprehension of Being, and people who are simply healthy, people living in the valleys of worldly worries , at the level of plateau-cognition, shares much more than it might seem at first glance. Of course, this difference is only quantitative, it consists only in the degree of intensity of their experiences, but nevertheless it is extremely significant and entails very important consequences, some of which are detailed in my other work. If I briefly state my attitude to this problem, then we can say that, in my opinion, healthy, self-actualizing people who have not reached the limits of higher experience, living at the level of everyday comprehension of the world, have not yet gone all the way to true humanity. They are practical and efficient, they live in the real world and successfully interact with it, but completely self-actualizing people who are familiar with higher experiences live not only in the real world, but also in a higher reality, in the reality of Being, in the symbolic world of poetry, aesthetics , beyond, in the world of religion in its mystical, very personal, non-canonized meaning, in the reality of higher experiences. I think that this difference has some prerequisites for it to become an operational criterion of «caste» or «class». This criterion can take on special significance in the sphere of public life — already on the basis of the data that I have today, I can say that good politicians, public figures and social reformers come out of «simply healthy» self-actualizing people, while how people living on the level of Being are more inclined to create poetry, music, philosophy, religion.

A sense of community

This word, coined by Alfred Adler, seems to me to be the only one suitable to describe the feelings that self-actualizing people have for humanity as a whole. A self-actualizing person is distinguished by the deepest sense of identification with humanity, sympathy and love for people, although these same people, as I have already noted, can both irritate him and cause his anger. We can say that a self-actualizing person feels like a member of a large family, perceives people as his brothers. Precisely because he loves them, their shortcomings and stupidity upset him, and sometimes even infuriate him. But he forgives them for their weaknesses, because he has no other brothers.

This feeling of identification with humanity is not expressed explicitly, tangibly, sometimes it can be “blunted”. But a self-actualizing person cannot be measured by the same standard as ordinary people — in his thoughts, motives, emotions, behavior, he is fundamentally different from them. I have already said that sometimes he feels like a stranger, an alien, a wanderer surrounded by «normal» people. Few people are able to understand him, although he, as a rule, is not deprived of love and respect. Despite the outward coldness, despite the detachment, he deeply worries about the people around him, their weaknesses and vices sadden him, and sometimes even plunge him into despair. He keenly feels his belonging to the human race, his kinship with people, with these weak, imperfect creatures whom he could despise, but instead he treats them condescendingly, realizing that they simply do not know how to do what he can, they do not know how to understand those things that are clear to him, they do not know how to see the truth, which is so obvious to him. Alfred Adler called this attitude towards people fraternal.

Interpersonal relationships

If we describe in the most general terms the relationship of a self-actualizing person with people close to him, then we can say that they are much deeper than the relationship of an ordinary adult. A self-actualizing person tends to completely forget about himself, about his needs, he merges with a person close to him, dissolves in him, becomes a part of him. His intimate relationship exemplifies absolute, ultimate identification. However, one of the indispensable conditions for such a relationship is the compliance of the partner. According to my observations, only healthy people, people who are close to self-actualization, can get close to a self-actualizing person. If we remember that there are relatively few such people, then, perhaps, it is worth making a conclusion about the legibility of a self-actualizing person in his relationships with people.

One consequence of this pickiness or selectivity is that the self-actualizing person tends to have few friends. The circle of his communication is quite narrow — perhaps the fingers of one hand are enough to count those people whom he really loves, with whom he maintains truly friendly relations. In part, this can be explained by his high demands on the quality of these relationships; a self-actualizing person understands love and friendship as relationships that require huge dedication and a huge investment of time from a person. One of my subjects commented on this as follows: “I don’t need many friends. I just don’t have time for them! Real friendship takes time.» I heard about the same thing from my other subjects. The only exception was one lady. This lady was so sociable, so sweet and affable, so keenly interested in the lives of her numerous acquaintances, relatives and friends, so well able to build her relationships with them, that I got the impression that this is what she sees as her main life purpose. This woman did not work, and perhaps this may explain her predilection. Selectivity in communication, characteristic of self-actualizing people, does not conflict with their inherent sense of community (Gemeinschansgefhl), with their philanthropy, kindness, benevolence. They are kind or at least tolerant towards all people, and they have a special love for children. They are truly philanthropic and compassionate.

In the relationship of a self-actualizing person with people close to him there is no place for sweetness, lisping and «veal» tenderness. He can be tough and even harsh towards his loved ones if they deserve it; pomposity, complacency, pretentiousness cause him special rejection. But in everyday communication, self-actualizing people, even when dealing with people unpleasant to them, do not consider it necessary to demonstrate their hostility. One of my subjects said something like this about this: “After all, a person is not perfect. But he can reach perfection. He does stupid things, and then suffers and suffers, not understanding why his good intentions led him to the wrong place. He pays for his stupidity with his own misfortune. One can only feel sorry for him.»

However, if a self-actualizing person is sometimes hostile and intolerant, then his hostility is always justified and always serves the good of his neighbor. Following Fromm, we can say that this hostility has a reactive or situational character, that there is nothing personal in it.

Perhaps it is worth mentioning here that each of those people with whom I talked has its fans, admirers and admirers. His relationship with them can be described as one-sided.

Fans demand much more from him than he is willing to give them. Their love and adoration are especially urgent, admirers are too importunate, and therefore these relationships often burden a self-actualizing person. The way he interacts with the army of admirers is something like this: he is kind and benevolent to them, but seeks to get rid of them as soon as possible and as gracefully as possible.

Democracy

Each of my subjects can be described as a democratic person, and this is not external, not ostentatious democracy, it is inherent in his character. I draw this conclusion on the basis of a study of authoritarian and democratic character structures — this is a rather complex study, and therefore I will not dwell here on the deep underpinnings of democracy, I will describe only its external manifestations. A self-actualizing person is democratic in his behavior. He is ready to communicate with any person, regardless of his class affiliation, level of education, political beliefs, skin color. Sometimes one may get the impression that he simply does not notice, sincerely does not realize these external differences, which for the average person are so fundamental, so significant.

Perhaps it can be assumed that it is democracy that underlies such a feature of self-actualizing people as their willingness to learn. They are not afraid to appear ignorant, they are ready to learn from anyone who can reveal something new to them. They do not strive at all costs to prove their superiority to the interlocutor, they do not flaunt erudition, they do not try to impress with their high status or life experience. Perhaps one could even say that they are not averse to admitting their insignificance. Each of them is aware of how little his knowledge is in comparison with what he could know, with what other people know. With sincere reverence, they treat people who know more than they do or know how to do something that they do not know how to do. They are ready to admire the skill of a carpenter, shoemaker, driver — any master of his craft can count on their respect and even delight.

This democracy has nothing to do with promiscuity, with blind egalitarianism. A self-actualizing person knows perfectly well the value of different abilities and different people. In friendship, he is very selective, his friends, as a rule, are from among the elite, but their elitism is determined not by breed, not by origin, not by skin color, title or social status, but solely by character, abilities and talents.

The democratic nature of self-actualizing people is manifested in another quality inherent in them, and this quality, although not so obvious, serves, in my opinion, as an absolute form of expression of the characteristic under consideration. Self-actualizing people respect every person. In any person, be it a fenced drunkard, a criminal, an inveterate scoundrel, they see a person. This does not mean that they do not know the concepts of «good» and «evil», on the contrary, their ideas about good and evil are completely clear and unambiguous, they firmly know «what is good and what is bad.» Face to face with evil, they do not hide behind doubts, do not demonstrate false generosity, but boldly enter into single combat with it.

Ability to distinguish means from ends, good from evil

I have found that self-actualizing people do not tend to agonize over the legitimacy of one or another of their actions. All my subjects, no matter how confidently they formulated the moral principles they professed, firmly adhered to them in everyday life. The behavior of a self-actualizing person is highly moral, and, in addition, it is more consistent, more logical and more unambiguous than the behavior of an average person. These are people with strong morals, people who never commit bad deeds. It is clear that their understanding of good and evil, their ideas of good and bad do not always coincide with the generally accepted ones.

Dr. David Levy once said that in the Middle Ages such people were called divine or holy people. Some of my subjects spoke of believing in God, but in their descriptions God appeared more like a metaphysical concept. If we define faith in terms of social attitudes and behavior, then any self-actualizing person, even the most inveterate atheist, we will have to recognize as a deeply religious person. But if we adhere to the generally accepted understanding of religiosity, if we understand it as belief in some kind of supernatural principle and the performance of cult rites, then we will come to the exact opposite conclusion.

In the behavior of self-actualizing people, their ability to distinguish a means from an end is clearly manifested. It could be said that these people are goal-oriented, that the means do not matter much to them and are always subordinate to the goal. But this statement pushes us to a too simple understanding of the problem, distorts the truth in some details. The fact is that self-actualizing people often understand the goal itself in a very peculiar way, their actions are often not aimed at achieving any specific result, although in the end they are not indifferent to it. As a rule, the reasons for their actions lie in the activity itself and in the experiences associated with this activity. They know how to enjoy the process itself, they know how to feel the inherent value of the activity, and it is important for them no less, and perhaps even more, than the result. They are striving for the goal, but the road is also curious to them. The journey is as pleasant for them as the moment of arrival. Even the most ordinary, the most routine work in their hands becomes a fun game, a way of self-expression. In this they are like children, as, indeed, in many others. Wertheimer once noted that children are so creative that they are able to bring meaning to any routine, mechanical activity, such as moving books from one shelf to another, and turn it into a fun, funny game.

philosophical sense of humor

A peculiar sense of humor is one of the first characteristics of self-actualizing people that I was able to discover, it was inherent in absolutely all of my subjects. You will not be able to make these people smile in response to a flat joke, to something that seems funny to the average person. Vicious, offensive or vulgar jokes will not amuse them at all. They like humor that is soft, philosophical, humor that can be called essential humor. In their jokes, a slight shade of sadness is always noticeable, their humor is aimed at stupidity, shortcomings, pretentiousness, they are amused by the arrogance of a person who imagines himself the crown of creation and the “navel of the Earth”, who has forgotten how negligibly small a place is assigned to him in the universe. A self-actualizing person is capable of self-irony, however, it never develops into masochism or buffoonery. Lincoln’s sense of humor can be taken as an example of such a sense of humor. I am sure that Lincoln never indulged in an insulting or humiliating joke. In my opinion, most of his humorous statements that have come down to us necessarily contain some subtext, some kind of allegory, his jokes are not only funny, but also instructive, like parables and fables are instructive.

If I go to the trouble of quantifying sense of humor, I have to admit that my subjects joke much less often than the average person. With all my desire, I would not dare to call them merry fellows or jokers, they do not shine with wit in companies, do not poison jokes, do not arrange funny practical jokes. The philosophical humor of a self-actualizing person can cause a smile, but not Homeric laughter, it is generated by the situation and woven into its canvas, it is inseparable from it, it is natural and spontaneous, it cannot be planned or repeated. It is not surprising that the average person, whose sense of humor is not so refined, who is used to laughing until he drops, until his stomach cramps, perceives these people as too serious.

The sense of humor of these people encompasses the most diverse aspects of human existence and manifests itself in a variety of forms. We can say that humor permeates the very perception of the life of these people. Vanity, pride, striving for success, vanity, ambition, struggle — all human shortcomings may seem funny and comical to them. I fully realized their attitude to life when one day, by the will of fate, I ended up in the studio of the so-called «kinetic art». In a small room, I found a lot of various objects that randomly, with a rattling and roaring, moved in different directions. In this crazy, chaotic, rumbling whirl, I saw a wonderful parody of our lives. Just as easily, with humor, these people perceive their professional activities. Work, no matter how responsibly they treat it, serves for them both entertainment and play.

Creativity

Creativity is a universal characteristic of all self-actualizing people. In each of my subjects, I found some form of creativity, which can be called originality, ingenuity, or a creative streak. The creativity of self-actualizing people has a number of specific features. To fully appreciate all the originality of the creative abilities of these people is possible only in the context of their other features, which will be discussed below. The creativity of these people is not the creativity of Mozart, it is not a genius, not a specific gift. Genius is practically not connected with the personal qualities of a genius, it is incomprehensible. Looking at a genius, we can only state that he is endowed with genius, that it is characteristic of him from birth. Abilities of this quality do not need mental health support, and therefore we will not consider them. The creativity of a self-actualizing person is akin to the creativity of a child not yet spoiled by the influence of culture. Creativity is the most fundamental characteristic of human nature, it is an opportunity given to every person from birth. As socialization progresses, most of us lose the capacity for an innocent and naive perception of life, very few people carry it out of childhood or, having already matured, regain it. Santayana called this ability «secondary naivety.»

Creativity does not look for confirmation, it does not necessarily manifest itself in music-making, versification or painting. It is rather a special way of perceiving the world, a special way of interacting with reality. Creativity helps a healthy person to express himself outside, its traces can be found in any activity of a self-actualizing person, even in the most ordinary, in the farthest from creativity in the usual sense of the word. Whatever a creative person does, whatever he does, he brings to everything an attitude inherent only to him to what is happening, his every act becomes an act of creativity. In this sense, any self-actualizing shoemaker, tailor or confectioner can earn the title of creator. Even a single act of visual perception, the act of seeing, can be creative.

I singled out creativity as a separate characteristic for demonstration purposes only, realizing that it is inseparable from other characteristics of a self-actualizing person. It may very well be that creativity in this case is only one of the manifestations or one of the consequences of the special efficiency of perception, which we spoke about above. We have the right to say that self-actualizing people have a more accurate and truthful vision of the world, and that is why they are creative.

In addition, as we have already said, these people are much less influenced by culture, its prohibitions do not become absolute for them, do not go into the category of internal prohibitions and restrictions, they are much less “cultivated” compared to the average person. It is clear that this «uncivilization» is positive, and I am inclined to call it spontaneity. The self-actualizing person is sincere and natural, and perhaps this is part of the reason that ordinary people often tend to consider him a gifted, talented person. Observations of children give us reason to believe that each of us once possessed this spontaneity and, perhaps, deep down is still sincere and natural, but cannot show this, bound by heavy chains of prohibitions and restrictions imposed on us by culture. . But if this is the case, then are we not right to assume that, throwing off the shackles of culture, we will find ourselves in the realm of universal creativity?

Resistance to cultural influences; transcending culture

Self-actualizing people cannot be called «adapted» in the usual sense of the word. Adaptation involves the unconditional approval of culture and blind identification with it. Of course, a self-actualizing person exists within a particular culture and gets along well with it, and at the same time he resists its influence, he is somewhat detached, internally independent of it. In the literature devoted to the problems of the interaction of culture and personality, the question of the resistance of the individual to cultural influences is almost not studied, but meanwhile there is a problem here. Riesman, using the example of American society, clearly showed how strong the leveling influence of culture on a person can be. Therefore, I think that even my rather meager data can be of some use.

The relationship of a self-actualizing, healthy person with the surrounding culture, which, as a rule, is less healthy than him, is rather ambiguous. In this relationship, I would like to highlight several aspects.

All of my subjects are quite «fit» into the framework of their culture. Their behavior, their inherent manner of communication and manner of dressing, their addictions to food are not much different from the behavior, tastes and passions of their fellow citizens. But at their core, these people are unconventional; they are by no means elegant, graceful, trendy or chic.

The reason for this lies in the fact that they do not attach much importance to the external side of phenomena; mores, customs and laws adopted in society, not that they do not cause irritation or resistance in them — rather, they do not think about them, they treat these institutions in the same way as the rules of the road, they see them only as a means to help them live in peace with your surroundings. Here again their tendency to accept the established order of things is revealed, of course, if this order does not contradict their principles and convictions. Fashion, hair style, forms of politeness — all these things are insignificant for them, they do not affect their moral principles and therefore these people do not consider it necessary to challenge them, they are ready to obey them with a good-natured smirk.

This tolerance by no means means a blind identification with the mores and customs of culture. The humility of a self-actualizing person is superficial and does not affect the essential aspects of his personality. A self-actualizing person obeys the norms of behavior accepted in society only because it is easier for him to live this way, he does not want to waste energy on fighting insignificant, secondary things. But if suddenly this or that convention becomes burdensome for him, if it requires him to step over himself, lays claim to his strength or time, he will throw off the mask of decency like a frock coat that constrains him, and we will clearly find how superficial she was its conventionality.

I would not call any of my subjects a revolutionary or a rebel. The youthful need to overthrow the existing order of things is either not at all characteristic of self-actualizing people, or has long been outlived by them. They do not clench their fists and do not demand immediate change, they do not grumble about the imperfection of the social order, although these or other manifestations of injustice deeply revolt them. One of my subjects was a real rebel in his youth, he was one of the founders of the trade union movement (at that time it was a very dangerous occupation), but in the end he was filled with disgust for any manifestations of revolutionism. Realizing that in our time and in the conditions of our culture, social reforms cannot be carried out overnight, that this is a matter of slow, gradual development of society, he devoted himself to teaching. The position of my other subjects can be characterized as a calm, sober preoccupation with issues of social improvement. These people, recognizing the desirability and necessity of changes in the social structure of society, also understand that it takes time.

This by no means means that they are passive. When they see that change is possible, when a particular situation requires them to act decisively and courageously, they will not sit idly by. They cannot be called radicals in the usual sense of the word, but I believe that they can easily become so. Firstly, as a rule, these are highly intelligent people, almost every one of them is ready to take on a certain mission, each of them is inclined to do and is doing important and significant things that contribute to the correction and reorganization of the world. Secondly, these people are realists, they take a sober look at life and will not make senseless sacrifices. However, in critical situations they are able to sacrifice what they love and engage in active social activities, as the organizers of the anti-fascist movement in Nazi Germany and the leaders of the Resistance in France serve as examples of this. . I get the impression that these people are not against the struggle as such, they do not accept the senseless and ineffective struggle.

I want to express one more consideration, which can partly explain the “serenity” of self-actualizing people. The fact is that they are very fond of life and all the joys associated with it. And love of life is simply incompatible with rebellion and participation in insurrectionary movements, which require complete self-denial from a person. It seems that these people do not find it possible to sacrifice the pleasures bestowed upon them by life in the name of abstract ideas and hypothetical goods. In their youth, many of them participated in various social movements, actively expressed their dissatisfaction, protested against the existing order of things, demanded radical reforms, but with age they gradually realized that they could not count on quick changes. Self-actualizing people calmly and good-naturedly accept the culture in which they live and work daily to improve it. They do not oppose society and do not try to fight it, they feel part of this society and try to make it better.

In talking with my subjects, I found that almost everyone had some degree of detachment from the culture around them, and this detachment was especially evident in conversations about American culture, when we tried to compare it with other cultures of the world. These people talked about the culture that raised them as if they did not belong to it, their attitude was neither positive nor negative. They approved in it what seemed to them good, right, positive, and criticized what they considered bad. In a word, they showed the ability for an impartial assessment of culture, they sought to identify its positive and negative features, and only by comparing its various aspects, they made their judgment about it.

It is clear that this kind of detachment is fundamentally different from the so-called ethnocentrism, the manifestations of which are found, for example, in people of an authoritarian disposition, which implies not only the absolute acceptance of one’s own culture, but also passive submission to its leveling influence. But the detachment of a self-actualizing person has nothing to do with the ever more widespread nihilism in our society in relation to culture, with its total, blind rejection. In my opinion, our culture is not so bad after all, if, of course, we compare it with other real-life cultures, and not with the mores that reigned in Eden. (The slogan «Give Nirvana!» illustrates this trend quite clearly.)

Apparently, it is precisely the love of solitude that we described above, which is characteristic of self-actualizing people, as well as their non-adherence to the familiar and familiar, and can be considered the true reasons for their inherent detachment from culture.

Detachment from culture means a high degree of personal autonomy. A self-actualizing person builds his life not according to the laws of society, not according to the laws of culture, but rather according to universal human laws and the laws of his own human nature. Unlike the average American, who feels like an American first and foremost, the self-actualizing person is universal, belonging to humanity. Perhaps, I would even say that he is above his culture, if he were not afraid that they might take me too literally — after all, these people live in America, work in America, communicate with Americans, eat in American restaurants, etc. d.

However, comparing these people with other members of our society, overly socialized, robotic, ethnocentric, we are forced to admit that if their worldview does not allow us to consider them the creators of a special subculture, then we are still dealing with a special group of «comparatively uncultured» individuals who have managed not to succumb to the leveling influence of the culture around them. Such a complex relationship with culture implies that the members of this group cannot relate to it equally, which means that if some of them are inclined, to some extent, to accept the culture, then others are equally inclined to shun its influences.

If we agree with the above, then we have the right to put forward another hypothesis. We can assume that racial, ethnic and national characteristics are not so significant for self-actualizing people, that a self-actualizing citizen of the world is more like his equally self-actualizing friend of a different race than like a less developed, less healthy compatriot.

Thus, we can finally answer the age-old question: “Is it possible to be a good (healthy) person living in an imperfect society?” If we talk about American culture, then we have the right to say that it gives a person the opportunity to develop. Healthy people, accepting the external attributes of culture, remain internally independent of it. Obviously, such independence, detachment from culture is only possible if culture itself is tolerant of independence, of personal freedom.

Of course, there are not so few people who do not accept blind self-identification with culture, but we cannot say about all of them that they are distinguished by excellent psychological health. Even some of my subjects cannot be called completely free from the prohibitions and restrictions that our imperfect society imposes on them. The degree of their spontaneity and the degree of self-actualization is inversely proportional to the extent to which they are forced to conceal, restrain or suppress one or another of their urges. In addition, it should be noted that in our culture (as, probably, in any other culture), psychological health is the lot of the chosen ones, which means that they, these chosen ones, are inevitably lonely, and if only for this reason they are not so spontaneous, not so self-actualized. as they could be.