- The Concept of Personality
Revealed Through The Pancanikaya
- Ven. Thich Chon-Thien
- Part Three: The Concept of
Personality Revealed Through The Pancanikaya
- III.1 Chapter 1
- Contemporary Personality
Theories
As described in Part two, the truth of man
and the world is Dependent Origination which says that a man, or the world, is
conditioned, selfless, and belonging to nobody, it is but the operation of the five
aggregates (Pancakkhandha). So what is called "Concept of personality" is just
empty. The author’s effort is not to search for any personality theory revealed
through the Pancanikàya, but to observe individuals’ mental, oral and bodily
activities, which he calls the operation of "Name - and - Form" element or of
the five aggregates, to find out the way of life leading to happiness for individuals in
the here - and - now. However, he believes some of contemporary personality theories in
education remain useful in helping man understand others’ behaviours and some
psychological aspects, he comes to take a review of them for their improvement before
entering into the deep operation of the aggregates
Most of personality theories applied in
modern schools were formed in the second part of nineteenth century A.D. and in the
twentieth century A.D. All of them aiming at discovering what a man really is are
relatively practical and useful. Here, the author only mentions the typical theories
through three basic steps: concept of personality, features of personality and his reviews
of them.
III.1.1 CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY
Calvin S.Hall and Gardner Lindzey in their
book titled, "Theories of Personality", wrote:
" ... Allport (1937) in an exhaustive survey of the
literature extracted almost fifty different definitions that he classified into a number
of broad categories. Here we will concern ourselves with only a few of these definitions.
It is important initially to distinguish between what
Allport calls biosocial and biophysical definitions. The biosocial definition shows a
close correspondence with the popular use of the term as it equates personality to the
"social stimulus value" of the individual. It is the reaction of other
individuals to the subject that defines the subject’s personality. One may even
assert that the individual possesses no personality but that provided by the response of
others. Allport, ..., suggests that a biophysical difinition that the personality firmly
in characteristics or qualities of the subject is much to be preferred. ...
Other definitions place primary emphasis upon the
integrative or organizational function of personality... In other definitions, personality
is equated to the unique or individual aspects of behavior...
Finally, some theorists have considered personality to
represent the essence of the human condition... Allport’s suggestion that
"personality is what a man really is" illustrates this type of definition".
(1)
All the above concepts of personality come
from man’s thinking of self - thought and from the sources of information given by
the six sense - organs of man. Both man’s thought and sense - organs are unbelievable
agents as the author discussed before, so all conclusions about personality achieved must
be reviewed in the light of Dependent Origination.
In real life, a man is the existence of
mental and physical processes of becoming. All personality theorists’ efforts to
define what he is only means stopping those processes: This is not what he really is, and
not a good way to understand a man himself, wherefore any research for personality as
entity is always on the way. This point will be proved when one follows the features of
personality theories and their reviews.
III.1.2. FEATURES OF PERSONALITY
From what Larry A. Hjelle and Daniel J.
Ziegler wrote about the features of personality in their book titled "Personality
Theories" (2), the following common features may be mentioned:
1.Most definitions emphasize the
importance of individuality or distinctiveness. Personality represents those distinct
qualities that make one person stand out from others.
2.Personality is something abstract based
on inferences derived from behavioral observation.
3. Personality represents an evolving
process subject to a variety of internal and external influences, including genetic and
biological propensities, social experiences, and changing environmental circumstances.
4. Personality definitions differ
substantially from theorist to theorist. We should add that definitions of personality are
not necessarily true or false, but are more or less useful to psychologists in pursuing
research, in explaining regularities in human behavior...
Each definition of personality, or each
personality theory, evolves a feature of personality. Sigmund Freud believed that human
behaviour is determined by irrational, unconscious factors. Maslow believed most of our
actions result from reason and free choice. Carl Gustav Jung claimed that people have two
types of personality: introvert and extrovert. For Carl Rogers, who supposed, differently
from Freud, that it is our present interpretation of past experiences rather than their
factual existence that influences our current behaviour.
It may be said that psychologists,
psychotherapists or personality theorists can discover many different features of human
beings’ personality according to their points of views, or their own professional
experiences. This fact proves that the true nature of human beings, or true personality,
really is selfless: because of the existence of selflessness, personality may appear in
various factual aspects as it has been viewed. Therefore, the more features of personality
are discovered, the more knowledge of human beings can be gained. There is only one thing
to be noticed that is a man himself appears as a river flowing on and on, and the features
of personality mentioned here are but the river watering places it passed through. This
can be seen plainly in the contemporary personality theories themselves.
III.1.3. REVIEW OF TYPICAL PERSONALITY
THEORIES
There are many personality theories used
in the study of educational psychology of today. All of them belong to either behaviorism
or humanism. The following are some of them considered as the typical by the writer.
Sigmund Freud’s theory (1856 - 1939)
In the middle of nineteenth century, in
Germany, Psychology was understood as "the analysis of consciousness in the normal
adult human being". Freud had a different point of view. For him, the mind appears as
an iceberg in which the smaller part showing above the surface of the water symbolizes the
region of the activities of consciousness, and the much larger part of iceberg below the
water symbolizes the area of the existing unconsciousness, where the urges, the passions,
the repressed feelings and ideas strongly influencing on the individual thoughts and deeds
exist.
In Freud’s opinion, the structure of
personality includes three parts: id, ego and superego.
The id:
... The id cannot tolerate increases of
energy that are experienced as uncomfortable states of tension. Consequently, when the
tension level of the organism is raised, either as a result of external stimulation or of
internally produced excitations, the id functions in such a manner as to discharge the
tension immediately and return the organism to a comfortably constant and low energy
level. This principle of tension reduction by which the id operates is called the pleasure
principle..." (3)
The ego
" The ego comes into existence
because the needs of the organism require appropriate transactions with the objective
world of reality. The ego is said to obey the reality principle..
The reality principle suspends the
pleasure temporarily although the pleasure principle is eventually served when the needed
object is found and the tension is thereby reduced..., it decides what instincts will be
satisfied and in what manner..." (4)
The super ego:
"It is the internal representative of
the traditional values and ideals of society...
It represents the ideal rather than the
real...
The main function of the super ego are:
(1) To inhibit the impulses of the id,
particularly those of a sexual or aggressive nature, since these are the impulses whose
expression is most highly condemned by society.
(2) To persuade the ego to substitute
moralistic goals for realistic ones, and
(3) To strive for perfection." (5)
In concluding the introduction of the
"id", "ego" and the "superego", Hall and Lindzey added:
"... They work together as a team under the administrative leadership of the
ego". (6)
In the author’s opinion, the id Freud
mentioned is the root and very important part of human personality. It exists only under
the form of sexual instincts or sexual desires. So a man, for Freud, is but the existence
of sexual activities: sexual desires and the response to their requirements. Such a man is
nothing but a forever slave of the "id" and the "superego" and the
contradictions happening between them, or he is but a slave of the inborn of the past and
of conventional values created by speculations which is called the good or morality of
society. If people do not want to accept such a destiny, they will never accept
Freud’s theory of personality. In reality, people are free to make every choice they
want for their actual lives, they even can control or deal with sexual desires without
pain or tension.
According to the truth of Dependent
Origination, every thing cannot exist by itself, but it is conditioned, or it is the
existence of temporary or immediate conditions. This shows that sexual instincts must be
conditioned, so they cannot be regarded as the basis of what is called personality.
Moreover, with regard to the truth of
life, when a thing exists,the opposite of it also exists. This supposes that mental states
dealing with sexual instincts, which may be called non - sexual desires, comes into
existence as well. This is what Sigmund Freud did not mention in his personality theory.
For Freud’s principle of pleasure or
the tension reduction principle, it is but the manifestation of making love repeatedly
again and again in a man’s life which will remove tensions or pains from him, and
bring pleasures or happiness to him, but this result is doubted about, because in daily
life people always are on the way to search for happiness: Searching for it says that it
really does not exist; it still is out of the reach of men. So, how can people say the
pleasure principle removes mental tensions ? Again, people’s experiences disclose
that making love may cause tiresome of it or cause another tension stronger, how can
people explain the meaning of reducing tensions of it ?
In life, a man’s tensions may come
from other sources than sexual problems. In these cases, pleasure principle built up by
Freud can bring tension reduction ?..
From the above questions, the writer comes
to the following estimates:
* Sexual drive really is important to a man, but it is not
all; it is not the factor determining what is called personality or the wholeness of him
* Making love or pleasure principle mentioned by Freud can
bring pleasure to a man, but it can also bring unsatisfaction. The response to its
requirement cannot resolve the problem of suffering and happiness of men.
* Freud’s personality theory may be useful to modern
schools, but a good course of education cannot be based on it.
* The discovery of unconsciousness of man by Freud may be
accepted as the very important part of an individual to be concerned, but what a man
really is, is another problem the writer will discuss about in (III.2.)
Carl Gustav Jung’s theory: (1875 -
1961)
Carl Gustav Jung was a young psychiatrist
in Zurich. In 1907, after his visit to Freud in Vienna, he was claimed by Freud to be
Freud’s successor. Three years later the relationship between Jung and Freud was
completely broken, because Jung rejected Freud’s pansexualism as Jung said, "The
immediate reason was that Freud identified his method with his sex theory, which I see to
be inadmissible" (7). Jung then proceeded to build his own theory of psycho-analisis
and his own method of psychotherapy.
Calvin S.Hall and Gardner Lindzey wrote:
" ... For Freud, there is only the endless repetition
of instinctual themes until death intervenes. For Jung, there is constant and often
creative development, the search for wholeness and competition, and the yearning for
rebirth". (8)
And:
" The total personality of psyche, as it is called by
Jung, consists of a number of differentiated but interacting systems. The principal ones
are the ego, the personal unconscious and its complexes, the collective unconscious and
its archetypes, the persona, the anima and animus, and the shadow. In addition to these
interdependent systems there are the attitudes of introversion and extraversion, and the
functions of thinking, feeling, sensing and intuiting. Finally, there is the self which is
the center of the whole personality". (9)
For Jung, ego means conscious perceptions,
memories, thoughts and feelings; the unconscious consists of experiences which were once
conscious but have been repressed, suppressed, forgotten or ignored, and experiences too
weak to make up conscious impression upon the person; collective unconscious means the
storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from one’s ancestral past...; the
persona is a mask a person wears in response to the demands of social convention and
tradition, and to his (or her) own inner archetypal needs; the anima and animus are terms
showing a person as a bisexual animal (masculine and feminine characteristics are found in
both sexes); the shadow archetype consists of the animal instincts that human beings
inherited in their evolution from lower forms of their lives; and finally the self,
according to Jung, means the total personality or the mid-point of personality, around
which all of the other psychological elements of a person are constellated.
Jung’s effort, the author feels, is
to show the limit of Freud’s theory of personality, but the personality theory built
by him, as mentioned above, is also limited. It can only introduce to us the subjective
and objective influences put on the human beings’ mind, but cannot say what human
personality really is. So it cannot be considered either as an ideal personality theory or
a pattern of education.
Alfred Adler’s theory (1870 - 1937)
Alfred Adler, born in Vienna in 1870 and
died in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1937, was a psychiatrist, a member of the Vienna
psychoanalytic Society and later its president. He followed Freudian Psychoanalysis then
terminated his connection with it and formed his own group called Individual Psychology.
He published over a hundred books, among them "The Practice and Theory of Indvidual
Psychology" may be the best introduction to Adler’s theory of personality.
Calvin S.Hall and Gardner Lindzey
appraised that :
" In sharp contrast to Frend’s major assumption
that human behavior is motivated by inborn instincts, Jung’s principal axiom that
human conduct is governed by inborn archetypes, Adler assumed that human beings are
motivated primarily by social urges. Human are, according to Adler, inherently social
beings. They relate themselves to other people, engage in cooperative social activities,
place social welfare above selfish interest, and acquire a style of life that is
predominantly social in orientation...
Freud emphasized sex, Jung emphasized primordial thought
pattern, and Adler stressed social interest.
Adler’s second major contribution to personality
theory is his concept of creative self...
A third feature of Adler’s psychology that sets it
apart from classical psychoanalysis is its emphasis upon the uniqueness of personality...
Finally, Adler considered consciousness to be the center
of personality, which makes him a pioneer in the development of an ego- oriented
psychology"... (10)
The most interesting discovery of
Adler’s theory of personality is the emphasis upon social interest, creative self and
consciousness as the center of personality. This discovery can give a significant
contribution to the sphere of personality theories. However, in the light of Dependent
Origination as the truth of life, consciousness is but theresult of the operation of
Ignorance (avijja) and Activities (Sankhaàra) elements, but not the center of
personality. Somehow his theory needs to be adjusted as well as Freud’s and
Jung’s.
Erich Fromn’s theory (1900 - ...)
He was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1900.
He got Ph.D. degree from the university of Heidenberg in 1922; then came to the United
States of America in 1933 and taught at Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute as a lecturer. He
also taught at a number of Universities in the U.S.A. and Mexico. His essential points of
view, as Calvin S.Hall and Gardner Lindzey pointed out, are as follows:
-" Any form of society that humans have fashioned
whether it be that of Feudalism, Capitalism, Fascism, Socialism or Communism represents an
attempt to resolve the basic contradiction of humans. This contradiction consists of a
person being both an animal and human being. As an animal, one has certain physiological
needs that must be satisfied. As a human being, one possesses self - awareness, reason and
imagination. Experiences that are uniquely human are feelings of tenderness, love and
compassion, attitudes of interest, responsibility, indentity, integrity, vulnerability,
transcendence and freedom, and values and norms". (11)
And:
-" One’s personality develops in accordance with
the opportunities that a particular society offers one". (12)
So, Erich Fromn’s regard to men in a
society is very practical and rather open. His theory just synthesizes the attitudes and
ways of life of men that he believes they can exist in an individual. The first attitude
and way of life to respond to physiological needs and desires requires food, water,
physical comfort and sex and some other things relating to them, such as money, attention,
affection and success (or good grades). The second attitude and way of life manifesting
the qualities of a human being responds to mental requirements as the above quotation
mentions. Those things belong to what is called Name - and - Form (Nàma - Ruøpa)
following the operation of Ignorance (avijjaà) leading to sufferings and troubles only.
Fromn cannot make any further steps in opening a way to true man and happiness in the here
- and - now. As many other theorists, he really fell into troubles of individual and
social problems.
Skinner’s theory (1904 - ...)
He really was a very well - known
behaviorist who refused the existence of unconscious impulses, archetypes, traits as the
presumed existence of internal factors determining a man’s behavior, as he wrote:
" I defined theory as an effort to explain behavior
in term of something going on in another universe, such as the mind or the nervous system.
Theories of that sort I do not believe are essential or helpful. Besides, they are
dangerous, they cause all kinds of trouble. But I look forward to an over all theory of
human behavior which will bring together a lot of facts and express them in a more general
way. That kind of theory I would be very much interested in promoting, and I consider
myself to be a theoritician (Evans, 1968, p.88)". (13)
He continues:
-"We do not need to try to discover what
personalities, states of mind, feelings, traits of character, plans, purposes, intentions,
or the other prerequisites of autonomous man really are in order to get on with a
scientific analysis of behavior (Skinner, 1971, pp.12 - 13." (14)
-" In a behavioral analysis, a person is an
organism... which has acquired a repertoire of behavior... [He] is not an originating
agent; he is a locus, a point at which many genetic and environmental conditions come
together in a joint effect (Skinner, 1974, pp. 167 - 168)". (15)
So, Skinner theory regards
"personality" as nothing but a group of behavior patterns which are
characteristics of an individual, and regards an individual behavior as a product of prior
reinforcements: we do what we have been reinforced to do.
Such is a very pratical contribution of
Skinner to the branch of educational psychology in understanding human beings’
behaviours and such is the limit of his theory in realizing what a man really is, because
a man’s behaviours are far different from a man himself.
As a behaviorist, B.F. Skinner cannot do
any otherbetter thing to help men recognize themselves, the real causes of troubles and
the way to enter into mental peace and happiness in the here - and - now. All behaviorist
theories are based on the philosophical point of view of Scientific Realism governed by
self - thought and the limit of the six sense - organs of men, as what the writer can take
out of the U.S. Educational Psychology. In this branch of study, on the other hand, all
humanist theories of personality are based on the philosophical point of view of
Existentialism and Phenomenology which sounds much better, but they cannot either say the
truth of man, life and the way to happiness. Let’s continue examining the latter.
Maslow’s theory (1908 - ...)
Abraham Harold Maslow was born in
Brooklyn, New York, in 1908. His parents were uneducated Jewish who had emigrated from
Russia with their seven children, Maslow is the eldest. Maslow wrote:
"With my childhood, it’s a wonder I am not
psychotic.
I was a little Jewish boy in the non - jewish
neighborhood.
It was a little like being the first Negro enrolled in the
all-white school. I was isolated and unhappy. I grew up in libraries and among books,
without friends" (Hall, 1968, p.37).
There was some bitterness and animosity in the
relationship between Maslow and his mother, while his father was considered a man who
"love whisky, women and fighting" (wilson, 1972, p.131)"
He studied psychology at Wisconsin
University, obtained B.A. degree in 1930, his M.A. in 1931 and his Ph.D. in 1934. Maslow
also worte:
" Life didn’t really start for me until I got
married and went to Wisconsin" (Hall, 1968, p.37)
In the book titled "Personality
Theories", Larry A. Hjelle and Daniel J. Ziegler wrote about Maslow that:
" After receiving his Ph.D., Maslow returned to New
York to work with the famous learning theorist E.L. Thorndike at Columbia University. He
then moved to New York during this period... It was here that he personally encountered
the cream of European intellectuals who were forced to flee from Hitler. Erich Fromn,
Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Ruth Benedict, Max Wertheimer, ... were a few of those whom
Maslow sought out to enhance his understanding of Human behavior. The informal
conversations and challenging experiences afforded by such distinguished scholars helped
shape the intellectual foundations for Maslow’s later humanistic views." (16)
In the world of educational psychology, if
Skinner was known as one of the best - known behaviorist theorists of personality, Maslow
was considered as one of the best known humanist theorists of personality whose point of
view is based on the philosophical course of Existentialismand Phenomenology, as mentioned
above, generally expressed as follows:
" ...Existentialists stress the idea that ultimately
each of us is responsible for who we are and what we become. As Sartre put it, "Man
is nothing else but what he makes of himself". Such is the first principle of
Existentialism." (17)
And:
" The most important concept that humanistic
psychologists have extracted from Existentialism is that of becoming. A person is never
static; he is always in the process of becoming a new person". (18)
" Humanistic psychologists recognize the quest for a
meaningful and fulfilling life is not an easy one. This is especially true in an age of
profound cultural change and conflict, where traditional beliefs and values no longer
provide adequate guidelines for the good life or for finding meaning in human existence.
Finally, existentialists assert that the only "reality" anyone ever knows is
subjective or personal, not objective. This outlook may be designated in a shorthand way
as the phenomeno - logical or "here - and - now" perspective". (19)
According to Hjelle’s and
Ziegler’s regard to Maslow’s point of view written in their book mentioned above
(p.461), Maslow’s belief is that a human being is fundamentally free and responsible
in choosing a way of life to lead. His freedom helps him decide how and what to be.
Maslow’sview is therefore really optimistic, he did conclude that a self -
actualizing person, who appears as a good pattern for education, manifests the following
characteristics:
(1) More efficient perception of reality. ...
(2) Acceptance of self, others and nature. ...
(3) Spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness. ...
(4) Problem-centered. ...
(5) Detachment: need for privacy. ...
(6) Autonomy : independence of culture and environment.
(7) Continued freshness of appreciation. ...
(8) Peak or mystic experiences. ...
(9) Social interest.
(10) Profound interpersonal relations. ...
(11) Democratic character structure. ...
(12) Discrimination between means and ends....
(13) Philosophical sense humor. ...
(14) Creativeness.
(15) Resistance to enculturation. ... (20)
Human nature or personality, according to
Maslow’s point of view, seems to be very human, existential and positive, but in fact
it is just a concept of what is compounded by a couple of characteristics as conditions of
mental development. It is not a man himself. Maslow cannot show the subject creating the
above characteristics and the root cause of man’s troubles and sufferings, how can an
individual train himself for those characteristics? How can he deal with troubles ? There
seems to exist something like fog in his theory ? In his thought ?
Carl Ransom Rogers’ theory (1902 -
1987)
Carl Ransom Rogers was born in Oak Park (a
Chicago suburb), Illinois, in 1902. He was the fourth of six children of a family of
financial success and happiness. In high school, he had no close friends outside his
family and spent much of his time on reading books - any book he could find, even
dictionary or encyclopedia. He received straight "A" grades in almost all his
courses he attended. He obtained his B.A. degree in History in 1924, at Wisconsin
University, then got married and found such happy life with his wife and lover, Helen
Elliot Rogers wrote, "I made friends, found new ideas, and fell thoroughly in love
with the whole experience" (1967, p.353)
Rogers followed educational psychology
courses and got his M.A. degree in 1928, then Ph.D. in Clinical psychology in 1931. He
accepted a position as staff psychologist at Child Study Department in Rochester, New
York, then was offered a Faculty appointment with the rank of full professor in the
Psychology Department at Ohio State University in 1939. He published his book entitled
"The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child" also in 1939, his "Counseling
and Psychotherapy" in 1942; took a position as Professor of Psychology and Director
of the University Counseling Center at the University of Chicago. Here, from 1945 to 1957,
he completed his major work, "Client - Centered - Therapy: Its Current Practice,
Implications and Theory". (1951).
In 1957, Rogers returned to the University
of Wisconsin and worked there in the Department of Psychology and Psychiatry. In 1964, he
worked in Western Behavioral Sciences Institute (WBSI) in Lajolla, California.
In 1969, he left WBSI for working in the
Center of Studies of Person, in Lajolla, Calif. until he died in 1987 by a heart attack.
During his lifetime Rogers received many
awards:
* In 1946, he was selected as the
President of the American Psychological Association (APA) and was awarded the APA’s
First Distinguished Professional Contribution Award. In this occasion he gave an address,
in which he said: "I expressed an idea whose time had come, as though a pebbe was
dropped in water and spread ripples. The idea was that the individual has vast resources
within himself for altering his life and these resources can be mobilized given the proper
climate" (1937, p.4.)
Rogers published a couple of books.
* Psychotherapy and Personality Change (1954).
* On Becoming a Person (1961).
* Person to Person: The Problem of Being Human (1967).
* Freedom to Learn: A View of what Education Might Become (1969).
* Carl Rogers on Encounter Groups (1970).
* Carl Rogers on Personal Power (1977).
* A Way of Being (1980).
* Freedom to Learn For the 80s (1983).
As Hjelle and Ziegler (Ibid. pp. 488 -
489) appraised, Carl Ransom Rogers may be the best known Psychologist and Psychotherapist
of the time from 1950 to 1983. Let’s follow his thoughts on human nature or
personality:
* "Each person construes reality in accordance with
his private world of experience, and this experiential world can be completely known only
to the person". (21)
*"This expression of Rogers reflects the
philosophical point of view of Phenomenology which holds, "what is real to an
individual is that which exists within that person’s internal frame of reference, or
subjective world, including everything in his awareness at any point of time. It follows
that subjective perceptions and experiences not only constitute the person’s private
reality but also form the basis for his actions"". (22)
And:
" For the most part, Rogers rejected Freud’s
position that historical aspects or derivatives of behavior are the primary factors
underlying personality. Behavior is not determined by something that occurred in the past.
Instead, Rogers emphasizes the need to understand the person’s relationship to the
environment as he now exists and perceives it.
It is our present interpretation of past experiences
rather than their factual existence that influences our current behaviour". (23)
The above quotations proves that for
Rogers, a human being can perceive reality through the limit of what he is, and only that
reality is real to him. It is his subjective perceptions and experiences constructing that
reality and the basis of his actions. Such is the world (or experiential world) and such
is personality!
His point of view, on the one hand,
manifests the regard to things of Phenomenology and Humanism which sounds very human and
very impressive, on the other hand, indirectly recognizes the limit of that regard which
is governed by the wrongness of man’s subjective perceptions and experiences. Rogers
accepts those perceptions and experiences as truth of life, while in reality, under the
light of Dependent Origination, they are false and only lead human beings to sufferings.
This is a big gap of his theory of personality. However, in the meaning of helping
individuals reduce troubles caused by their negative regards or attitudes of life, it
remains rather interesting when Rogers suggested a pattern of "a fully functioning
person" in 1980 which requires a person to follow the following factors: (24)
(1) Openness to experience: "To be open to experience
is the polar opposite of defensiveness. People who are completely open to experience are
able to listen to themselves, ..., are acutely aware of their own deepest thoughts and
feelings..."
(2)Existential living: "This is the tendency to live
fully and richly in each moment of existence as it comes. By doing so, each experience in
the person’s life is perceived as fresh and unique..."
(3)Organismic trusting: "Organismic trusting thus
signifies the person’s ability to consult and abide by his (or her) inner feelings as
the major basis for making choices".
(4)Existential freedom: "Existential freedom thus
refers to the inner feeling that "I am solely responsible for my own actions and
their consequences"".
(5) Creativity: "For Rogers, the person who is
involved in "the good life" would be the type from whom creative products
(ideas, projects, actions) and creative living would emerge. Creative people also tend to
live constructively and adaptively in their culture while at the same time satisfying
their own deepest needs. They would be able, creatively to flexibly adapt to changing
environmental conditions."
For the first attitude of life,
"openness to experience", to the author, means it always is open but not stops
at or grasps anything. This attitude can expect an experience of emptiness of things which
is the highest experience of thought and feeling. It needs only the right way to go, as
the way Lord Buddha taught, that Rogers couldn’t imagine.
For the second attitude of life,
"Existential living", it can help a person get out of troubles caused by
histhought of past and future, and concentrate his thought on the very present moment
which is always new, fresh and unique. But his experience of this truth exists only when
he can control completely his wrong thoughts and desires. Rogers couldn’t show the
way to do as Lord Buddha did introduce the Eightfold Noble Path or the Four Noble Truths
to human beings.
For the third one, "Organismic
trusting", it means a person should make a choice for his course of actions on the
basic of what he feels right, but not on any external source of influence or any judgment
of others. This is a good sense. But there are various thoughts, feelings and desires
arising in him, at first he should make a choice among them before he could make a choice
for the course of action. What is the standard for the rightness to follow? What is the
subject of making a choice ? - Rogers did not and could not mention these things, so his
theory needs to be completed as well as possible.
For the fourth one, it means self -
responsibility. This is necessary for any good way of life.
For the last factor, it sounds truly
creative, wise and human. It works mainly for the deepest needs of a person. But which are
the deepest needs leading to true happiness for a person in the here - and - now ?
Rogers’ theory lacks this point which will be clarified by Lord Buddha’s
teaching the writer will introduce in the Part Four of this work.
In short, Rogers’ ideas on human
nature, on his way of "client - centered therapy" and on a "fully -
functioningperson" are very interesting. They could help the people in education open
a course of education for good educational spirit for the development of individuals. But
the soul of that course of education must be looked for in the doctrine of Dependent
Origination (Paticcasamuppàda) and the Five Aggregates (Pàncakkhandha).
REFERENCES:
(1): Calvin S.Hall and Gardner Lindzey, "Theories of
Personality" Wiley Eastern Limited, New Delhi, 110002, 1991, pp. 8-9.
(2): Adapted from "Personality Theories", by Larry A.Jelle and Daniel J.Ziegler,
Mc Graw - Hill, Inc., New York, 1992, p.5.
(3): Calvin S.Hall and Gardner Lindzey, Ibid., p.36.
(4): Ibid., pp. 37-38.
(5): Ibid., p.38.
(6): Ibid., p.39.
(7): Ibid., p.114.
(8): Ibid., p.116.
(9): Ibid., p. 118.
(10): Ibid., pp. 159-160.
(11): Ibid., p. 170.
(12): Ibid., p. 172.
(13): Ibid., p. 297.
(14): Ibid., p. 298.
(15): Ibid., p. 301.
(16): Ibid., p. 442.
(17): Ibid., p. 444.
(18): Ibid., p. 444.
(19): Ibid., p. 445.
(20): Ibid., pp. 477 - 478.
(21): Ibid., p. 496.
(22): Ibid., p. 496.
(23): Ibid., p. 497.
(24): Ibid., pp. 508 - 509