A book by
Arasteh which discusses the
development of personality at its fullest extent. This important work draws from the most enlightened minds of both eastern and western cluture and explores how a personality integrates.
"Freud discovered the unconscious force in the individual's life, Marx in society and history, Darwin in evolution, the prophets in man's helplessness, and the enlightened men like Buddha and Rumi in positive attitudes and action in the inner evolutionary process..." (41)
In the first section of his book, Arasteh begans to argue that these previously mentioned theories, which he refers to as "fragmented," are actually keen observations into human nature. Each theorist discovers that there is a force which drives the personality forward, but this force is attributed to lesser elements, elements that are driven in fact by individual personalities.
*****
Before examining the mechanisms of personality integration, Arasteh builds a three-tier system which looks at natural, socio-cultural, and trans-cultural (or existential) states, placed in that order, and observes, for instance, that the drive of preservation leads to hunger and thirst in the natural state, and moves up the chain to anxiety, fear, and self-love to culminate in power and certainty. The same progression is observed with the drive of activity and the sexual drive, which culminate in the search for truth and satisfaction respectively. Arasteh mathematically describes this in the following way:
Natural state: Immediate action = f(drive)
Here, the actions of the individual do not differ from the drive.
Socio-cultural state: Voluntary act = f(interest)
Interest = f(perception of value)
Perception of value = f(natural drive)
Here, actions of the individual become related internally to the organs, and externally to the perception of an object's value. The perception of value can develope interest in an object.
Trans-cultural state: Creative acts = f(insight)
Here, the individual realizes that norms and values are artifical means to promote growth. "The perception of values, interest, and voluntary acts all resolve into one" (50). Creative acts in this state are functions of insight, which, while derived from drives, acts as a result of integration.
*****
Arasteh says, "The problem of maturity becomes to decipher oneself, rather than to 'know oneself' as Socrates and others would have us do" (77). This is a dynamic process, and it is in this process that motivation occures. This is triggered from crisis, one when "man feels that reason alone cannot give him certainty" (89). Enter existential existance--and man must look beyond reason and remake himself--a final integration.
*****
"There exists a general law of identity and rebirth which governs all stages of growth. This general law begins with separateness and ends with the state of relatedness to an object of desire" (150-1). Arasteh continues with his concept of an existential mechanism, which occures in the following order: detachment from previous state; quest, anxiety, and vague awareness of new state; increases anxiety and love for new state; devotion, trust, and hope in identifying with it; and rebirth.
Final Integration in the Adult Personality
by A. Reza Arasteh, Ph.D., M.R.S.M.
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine,
George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1965 by E. J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Section I:
A Critique of the Literature on Developmental Psychology
I. Introduction
II. Some Problems of Developmental Psychology: A Critique of the Literature
III. Some Problems of Developmental Psychology: An Analysis of
Theoretical Assumptions
Section II:
Psychological Laws and Mechanisms of Final Integration in the Adult Personality
IV. Final Integration in the Adult Personality: An Explanation
V. Further Characteristics and Creative Media in the Fully-Integrated Personality
VI. Mechanisms and General Psychological Laws of Final Integration in the Adult Personality
VII. Principles of
Psycho-Cultural Analysis: A New Technique for Developing Fully-Integrated Individuals
Section III:
The Application of Psycho-Cultural Analysis to the Rebirth of Individuals
VIII. An Analysis of
Rumi: The Universal Man of the East
IX. An Analysis of
Goethe: The Universal Man of the West
X. An Analysis of
Kamal: The Case of Two Cultures
Section IV:
Application of the Trans-Cultural State to Health, Social Change, and Leadership
XI. The Trans-Cultural State as a Measure for
Mental Health and
Peace
XII. Trans-Cultural Qualities as a Measure for Social Change
XIII. Application of the Trans-Cultural State to Intelectual and Social Leadership Training
XIV. Conclusion
Index
Arasteh, A.Reza. Final Integration in the Adult Personality. Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1965.