Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1993.

Abstract

Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1993. Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium. New York, MI: Harper Collins Publishers, ISBN 0-06-016677-0, $25.00, hardcover, pp. 358.What happens in the third millennium depends on what is in human consciousness now: on the ideas. you and I believe in, the values we endorse, the actions we take. (p. 11)...unless a person learns to control consciousness, he or she cannot achieve harmony with the cosmos, but will forever remain prey to the random forces of biology and society. (p. 170)Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium is an ingenuous, thought provoking book aimed at helping us better understand and direct that small voice within each of us called the Evolving Self is a manifesto for human survival written in the format of a textbook complete with questions at the end of each chapter.Part I is titled The Lure of the Past. It is enjoyable and gives the reader a good account of our animalistic origins. Csikszentmihalyi points out that we human beings are not as far removed from the animal world as we would like to believe. (Indeed, 94% of our genetic materials overlap those of the chimpanzee.) Our evolutionary past is indelibly imprinted on the neurophysiological processes, the circuitry of the brain which motivates and directs our energies. However, the very genetic information which once insured our continued survival now threatens to destroy us. As Csikszentmihalyi says, The genes don't really care about us at all, and if it helped their reproduction, they would just as soon have us live in ignorance and misery. Genes are not our little helpers; it is we who are their servants. (p. 65)According to Csikszentmihalyi, dysfunctional genes are part of a larger problem. Existing cultures, it seems, place too much importance on the acquisition of artifacts and goods that have no real survival value. overemphasis on the acquisition of these material things have resulted insociety that, ...looks up to the likes of Donald Trump, Ivan Boesky, and Michael Milken because they have amassed large herds of dollars; worships General Norman Schwarzkopf because he bombed the enemy into submission; pays millions to a basketball player because he jumps higher than anyone else; and swoons at the feet of entertainers who serve as symbols of youth, beauty, and a happy life, even though the person behind the smiling mask is more often than not a confused and unhappy wretch. (p. 73)Doomed by eternal bondage to amoral genes we now find ourselves living in a fatuous culture characterized by waste and greed. Wait, there is more. There is consciousness...there is the self.Csikszentmihalyi tells us that we are threatened by our own consciousness, our evolving self. At some point in evolutionary time he says that we became aware of the fact that we had thoughts. That is to say we realized we were thinking. At that point, ...it was possible for people to emancipate themselves from the rule of genes and of culture. A person could now have unique dreams, and take an individual stance based on personal goals. (p. 77)In essence, we gradually developed and finally recognized the non-physical entity or reflective consciousness that we have come to call the self. Csikszentmihalyi defines consciousness as, ...like a magnetic field, an aura, or a harmonic tone resulting from the myriad of separate sensations collecting in the brain. (pp. 22-23) This non-physical reflective consciousness or reflective self seems to literally inhabit our brain, directing our thoughts, interpreting our emotions, while all of the time selectively storing and retrieving information without explanation or justification. …