The Evolving Self
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THE EVOLVING SELF A PSYCHOLOGY FOR THE THIRD MILLENNIUM MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI HarperPerennial A Division ofHarperCoW'msPublisbers A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1993 by HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. THE EVOLVING SELF Copyright © 1993 by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quota tions embodied in critical articles and reviews For information address HarperCollins Publishers, Inc , 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022 HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use For information please write Special Markets Department, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc , 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022 First HarperPerennial edition published 1994 Designed by Innng Perkins Associates The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly The evolving self, a psychology for the third millennium / Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi — 1st ed p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-06-016677-0 1 Genetic psychology 2 Behavior evolution 3 Social evolution I Title BF701 C676 1993 155 7—dc20 95-56220 ISBN 0-06-092192-7 (pbk ) 96 97 98 CC/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION xi PART I THE LURE OF THE PAST 1 THE MIND AND HISTORY 3 The Perspective of Evolution 3 The Global Network 5 At the Hinges of the New Millennium 8 Chance, Necessity, and Something Else 13 Are We Hopelessly Bad? 15 The Good and the Bad 18 The Emergence of the Self 20 Further Thoughts on "The Mind and History" 24 2 WHO CONTROLS THE MIND? 28 Eternal Dissatisfaction 29 Chaos and Consciousness 32 Why Is Happiness So Elusive? 34 The Limits of Reason 37 The Addiction to Pleasure 42 Stress, Strain, and Hormones 46 Further Thoughts on "Who Controls the Mind?" 52 3 THE VEILS OF MAYA 55 Illusion and Reality 55 The World of the Genes 63 The World of Culture 69 The World of the Self 76 Further Thoughts on "The Veils of Maya" 83 viii CONTENTS 4 PREDATORS AND PARASITES 86 The Forces of Selection 86 Power and Oppression 89 The Exploitation of Women and Children 95 Individual Differences in Power 98 The Transmission of Inequality 101 Parasitic Exploitation 105 The Strategy of Irresponsibility 107 Exploitation Through Mimicry 109 Further Thoughts on "Predators and Parasites" 114 5 MEMES VERSUS GENES 119 The Competition of Memes 120 Memes and Addiction 126 Memes and Media 131 The Competition of Ideas 136 Memes and Materialism 139 Further Thoughts on "Memes versus Genes" 143 PART II THE POWER OF THE FUTURE 6 DIRECTING EVOLUTION 149 Some Principles of Evolution 150 The Nature of Complexity 157 Morality and Evolution 159 The Control of Population 162 Eumemics: Limiting the Reproduction of Memes 165 Complexity of Consciousness 169 Further Thoughts on "Directing Evolution" 172 7 EVOLUTION AND FLOW 175 The Elements of Flow 179 Why Is Flow Rewarding? 187 The Consequences of Flow 192 What Happens When Flow Is Absent? 197 Flow in Everyday Life 199 Further Thoughts on "Evolution and Flow" 204 CONTENTS ix 8 THE TRANSCENDENT SELF 207 What Transcenders Are Like 208 What Is the Self? 216 Evolving Images of the Ideal Self 219 The Development of the Self Through the Life Span 234 Flow and the Growth of the Self 237 The Skills of Spirituality and Wisdom 238 The Challenges of the Future 244 Further Thoughts on "The Transcendent Self" 249 9 THE FLOW OF HISTORY 252 Flow and the Evolution of Technology 254 Flow and Historical Change 258 The Good Society 266 Creating a Good Society 269 Educating for the Good Society 272 Further Thoughts on "The Flow of History" 277 10 A FELLOWSHIP OF THE FUTURE 279 Forging a Fellowship 281 Cells of the Future 285 A Faith of the Future 289 Further Thoughts on "A Fellowship of the Future" 294 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 297 NOTES 299 REFERENCES 335 INDEX 351 INTRODUCTION What follows is a sequel to Flow, a book I wrote three years ago. Flow reported a quarter century of psychological research on happi ness. It presented a summary of the principles that make living worthwhile. It dealt with questions such as these: Why do some people love their work, have a great time with their family, and relish the hours spent thinking in solitude while others hate their jobs, are bored at home, and dread being alone? How can the routines of everyday life be transformed so that they feel as exciting as skiing down a mountain slope, as fulfilling as singing the Hal lelujah Chorus, as meaningful as taking part in a sacred ritual? The studies I and others had done suggested that such transformations were possible. After many yean of systematic research, the time came to take stock of what we had learned, and present it to a wider audience. Flow has been successful beyond expectation in reaching this aim; however, in order to complete its argument, many issues that could not be dealt with in that book still had to be explored. To do so is the aim of the present volume. My interest in enjoyment began in 1963, when I was working on a doctoral dissertation in human development at the University of Chicago. The thesis revolved around a central issue in creativity: How do people go about thinking up new questions? How do they identify problems that no one else thought of before? To answer these questions, I resolved to observe artists at work. By taking notes and pictures of how paintings developed and then asking questions of the artists afterward as to what went on in their minds while they worked, I hoped to gain useful insights into the process of creativity. Though my research into creativity proved successful, something even more important emerged from my observations of artists at work. What impressed me was how totally involved the artists xii INTRODUCTION became with what was transpiring on canvas. An almost hypnotic trance seemed to seize them as they struggled to give shape to their vision. When a painting was beginning to get interesting they could not tear themselves away from it; they forgot hunger, social obliga tions, time, and fatigue so that they could keep moving it along. But this fascination lasted only as long as a picture remained unfinished; once it stopped changing and growing, the artist usually leaned it against a wall and turned his or her attention to the next blank canvas. It seemed clear that what was so enthralling about painting was not the anticipation of a beautiful picture, but the process of paint ing itself. At first this seemed strange, because psychological theories usually assume that we are motivated either by the need to eliminate an unpleasant condition like hunger or fear, or by the expectation of some future reward such as money, status, or prestige. The idea that a person could work around the clock for days on end, for no better reason than to keep on working, lacked credibility. But if one stops to reflect, this behavior is not as unusual as it may seem at first. Artists are not the only ones who spend time and effort on an activity that has few rewards outside itself. In fact, everyone devotes large chunks of time doing things that are inexplicable unless we assume that the doing is enjoyed for its own sake. Children spend much of their lives playing. Adults also play games like poker or chess, participate in sports, grow gardens, learn to play the guitar, read novels, go to parties, walk through woods—and do thousands of other things—for no good reason except that the activities are fun. Of course, there is always the possibility that one will also get rich or famous by doing these things. The artist may get a lucky break and sell her canvas to a museum. The guitarist may learn to play so well that someone will offer him a recording contract. We may justify doing sports to stay healthy, and go to parties because of possible business contacts or sexual adventures. External goals are often present in the background, but they are seldom the main reason why we engage in such activities. The main reason for playing the guitar is that it is enjoyable, and so is talking with people at a party. Not everyone likes to play the guitar or go to parties, but those who spend time on them usually do so because the quality of INTRODUCTION xiii experience while involved in these activities is intrinsically reward ing. In short, some things are just fun to do. This conclusion, however, does not get us very far. The obvious question is, Why are these things fun? Strangely enough, when we try to answer that question, it turns out that contrary to what one would have expected, the enormous variety of enjoyable activities share some common characteristics. If a tennis player is asked how it feels when a game is going well, she will describe a state of mind that is very similar to the description a chess player will give of a good tournament. So will be a description of how it feels to be absorbed in painting, or playing a difficult piece of music. Watching a good play or reading a stimulating book also seems to produce the same mental state. I called it "flow," because this was a metaphor several respondents gave for how it felt when their experience was most enjoyable—it was like being carried away by a current, every thing moving smoothly without effort.