Dmitry Leontiev read Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book «Evolution of Personality» for us.
This continuation of the bestseller «Flow» the author considers the best of the two dozen books written by him. And I agree with him. The convincing and very clear idea of personal evolution helped me a lot to structure my own thoughts.
Combining facts from biology, psychology, synergetics and history, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi offers a completely new understanding of the personality, which is very different from most theories of the XNUMXth century. He calls personality not a set of qualities, but the ability of our brain that arose in the course of evolution to recognize and control the processes that occur in it.
Yes, we are still hostages of our biological program, imprinted in the genes, we are limited by cultural settings, dependent on the power of our own created memes. But we can overcome genetic or cultural precepts through the ability to look at ourselves from the outside. Although without personal effort can not do. Csikszentmihalyi recalls that evolution is the story of the increasing complexity of living matter. And a person also needs — in order to simply survive — to answer this challenge. “By reading more sophisticated magazines… by voting for candidates with more complex agendas, by preferring more sophisticated leisure activities… humanity will create for itself a more complex and harmonious future where entropy will be kept to a minimum.”
He also draws an ideal image of a person following the path of complication, calling him a «transcendental personality.» This is a person who consistently combines the ability to enjoy life, the desire to choose complex alternatives, mastering the depths of wisdom, self-discipline and a sense of responsibility — including in relation to the future. Such individuals are rare, but they do exist. The author cites as an example the Hungarian poet Gyorgy Faludi, mother Teresa, Nobel laureate Linus Pauling. Each of us has a chance to become one. “Oddly enough, life becomes cloudless and clear when selfish pleasures cease to guide a person. When a person dissolves into a transcendent goal — creating beautiful poetry or excellent furniture, exploring the movement of galaxies or caring for the happiness of a child — he becomes invulnerable to everyday fears and difficulties. The best example is the author himself, whom I have had the good fortune to know for many years.
Unfortunately, many are unaware of this path, and the book is unlikely to push them to go beyond momentary needs, desires and fears. But for those who have a taste for the authentic, complex, and time-expanding life, this book will be an invaluable guide.