The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium
I love a book that challenges me to think differently. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a psychologist and author whose book The Evolving Self pulled me in new directions. Mihaly asks meaning-of-life questions and seeks to present psychological and rational answers. Mihaly does not affirm any faith traditions. He approaches life with a focus on creativity. Approaching life from a creative perspective allows each of us to find new ways of embracing a meaningful life.
Mihaly wrote the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience a few years earlier. He describes how the conscious state of flow is beneficial for evolving into more fulfilled people. Activities like setting goals and life rules create a healthy, transformative flow of life. Goals provide direction for actions that make a lasting difference. Flow also requires honest, clear information about our progress. Finally, experiencing a flow state requires a process for diminishing distractions and deepening concentration. Mihaly’s hope for the reader is for us “To transform the entirety of life into a unified flow experience, it helps to have faith in a system of meanings that give purpose to one’s being.” While I haven’t read Flow, his chapter in The Evolving Self provides enough information to help us learn and grow.
Mihaly has chapters on the problem of illusion and on how to clarify our perception of reality. I also appreciated his discussion of why we should examine the principles of evolution and how they develop culture, meaning, and societal structures. These areas reorganize our consciousness with increased complexity, yet in a way that organizes perception. Further, Mihaly brings a sense of joy to the process of self-evolution. For Mihaly, it is a rewriting of one’s story, evolving it with new expectations and visions.
Part of me questions why I am recommending The Evolving Self. I have read other reviewers who do not appreciate Mihaly’s view of flow, because no one can live in the flow state continually, which leads to despair. First, I disagree that the person must live in their flow state continually for it to be meaningful. Second, why am I recommending a book on the self that does not believe in God? I love the complexity of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s argument about personal evolution, and I believe there is profound knowledge we can glean from asking Mihaly’s questions and from posing our concepts of evolving the self from a faith perspective. Instead of reading only for information, read Mihaly’s book with an eye on including faith as part of the evolving process of becoming more faithful.