The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium

by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Book Overview

Explains how science can offer a basis for morality in the coming millennium. Evolution and our cultural heritage have left us with behaviours that, while once crucial for survival, have now become maladaptive. The book proposes a set of values to guide us to a rational future.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060166770
• ISBN13: 9780060166779
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 358 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

If you can muster it...... life changing

I read a lot, and never post reviews. This book is special though. A very well researched and articulated book, the author throws light on the most important subject - you. It will teach you about your evolutionary past and what drives and motivates you (in more detail than I have read in most other books). He tells you everything you need to know about "flow." This book will take your thoughts (however they are) and make them more positive, productive, and happy. In doing so, you will become all of these. The basis for the book is essentially that we are evolutionarily programmed to enjoy challenges. Absence of challenges = boredom. Challenges far beyond our reach = Stress. But challenges just above our skill level are what makes us grow and become more complex individuals. This book also throws light on morality and how that should (and can easily) guide your every move. It is heavy reading, so be prepared for that. I read it when I was 19 and I think it is perfect for young people. A person of any age, however, will find this book of great value as it will challenge you to become a better and more complete person. If you don't need this, then don't buy the book. But, most of us do.

A new landmark for the third millenium

Flow experiences, human peak experiences and high synergetic states are introduced in such an original and practical way in this book that, while readind it, one really experiences flow. Genes are the information units of life; they are associated with the genetic code, while "memes" are the equivalent information units when dealing with consciousness, with mind, with the noosphere, and they are coded in this master piece, from beginning to end, so that the "I" is challenged continually to evolve and to know how to obtain wisdom, "because wisdom is a cognitive skill, a special way of acting and a personal good, because the practice of wisdom leads to inner serenity and enjoyment". Complexity is certainly a fashionable catchword but again Mihaly makes it graspable and human, a practical tool, so to speak, because the final principle of evolution is an increase in both differentiation and integration ... Differentiation refers to the parts that differ in structure or function and integration refers to the whole in which the different parts communicate and enhance one another's goals. Flow, memes and complexity are presented in this work in such a unified framework that we can think that with it we have finally a truly complementary work for the "I", or some sort of evolutionary ontology, while with Ken Wilber work Sex, Ecology and Spirituality we have the corresponding philosophical counterpart, for the "we", and with Physics and the Principle of Synergy by Epsilon Pi, we have the corresponding scientifical counterpart, for the "It". But the important point to recall is that they all three are integral proposal; they really complement each other in this new stage of mankind in which the integration of the big three is a main concern. Synergy is a principle that when applied produces harmony and when not produces entropy, and when synergy is obtained, flow is experienced and a "field" is created, a field that can be used as a medium to detect a higher ordered state or an increased complexity, as "a good society is one that encourages the individuals to realize their potentials and permits complexity to evolve".After reading this most influential book you will be not the same again because its "memetic" influence will start working by itself in your own evolving self.

An essential for powerful citizenship.

What is most signficant about this work is its exploration of the veils that our culture and its members live with, and what could be beyond them. It summarizes the concept of Flow and then takes us beyond into what we can actually do in communities to make a difference in the evolutionary epic. I find this book to be very practical.

THE first book to start understanding who you are

While "everyperson" might not find this entertaining reading, I think this book is the first one I would/will give my children as they try to become adults. It ought to be required reading for every adult in every culture, especially those who think they're "right." Csikszentmihalyi's insight and ability to weave a powerful story from myriad perspectives is simply awesome. We may think we are "people" but until we understand the interconnection of our genetic heritage and our mimetic heritage, and develop our own sense of flow in the world, we are little more than reproductions of other (dead) people's thinking. The concepts of memes and complexity and the invitation to become a transcender ranks Csikszentmihalyi right along side Carl Rogers as the most informed about how we can become truly individual, contributing human beings. Don't miss this book!

Oh, Just Evolve!

Forget superstitions of faith, forget cynicism -- Dr. C. melds two theories, that of flow and of evolution, into a prescription for hope. He shows how people of conscience and spiritual hunger can seek meaning and purpose of being through a fellowship with others. He shows how this may be attained without resorting to religious and other vestigal human belief systems. This book also provides an entertaining read, thanks to Dr. C.'s clarity of thought and intellectual agility.