Toward a Psychology of Being

HOW CAN WE REALLY KNOW WHATS HAPPENING AROUND US CLEARLY UNTIL WE CAN CLEARLY KNOW OURSELVES? THIS BOOK PORTRAYS THE ENLIGHTENED INDIVIDUAL AS A WELL ADJUSTED HUMAN BEING WHOSE PERSPECTIVE MAKES IT FAR EASIER FOR HIM TO RELATE TO HIS ENVIORMENT AND THOSE IN IT. THIS BOOK WILL DRIVE HOME THE IMPORTANCE OF REACTING TO YOUR EXPIERIENCES WITHOUT CLOUDING YOUR MIND WITH UNRELATED THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS. AN INTERESTING AND EASY READ.

A better understanding Maslow can best be accomplished if we are able to set aside preconceptions about what a human being is. Dr. Maslow wrote for his colleagues, not for the masses. His work is very hard sledding for laypersons. However, those who make the effort will find it a rewarding journey. "Toward a Psychology of Being" is a valuable read for psychologists and scientists, as well as religionists and philosophers. But perhaps patient lay persons will be best rewarded because they will be less hampered by the logic tight compartments of science, religion and philosophy. Maslow defied the Aristotelian barriers between the disciplines and suggests a model of humankind that is vastly more profound than Freud or Watson or Skinner. He observes in "Toward a Psychology of Being" that a biologist had recently announced that he had found the missing link between anthropoid apes and civilized man: "It is us!" Indeed, we are in the process of becoming, and in this book he begins to unfold his more astonishing concepts about peak experiences and metamotivations. Dr. Maslow declares in this book that his "Psychology of Science" will carry his expanding vision of human possibilities even farther, and clearly demonstrate "... that the life of science can be a life of passion, of beauty, of hope for humankind, and a revelation of values." Maslow's life was all these things. Regrettably perhaps, as Colin Wilson pointed out, his most valuable later works (such as "Toward a Psychology of Being," "The Psychology of Science: a reconnaissance," "The Farther Reaches of Human Nature," and "Religions, Values and Peak Experiences,") are generally stuff for the 21st century.

...and easier going than the more technical FARTHER REACHES. A good intro to Maslow's thought and to humanistic psychology in general, it lays out many of his key ideas in a plain and simple style.