Coan:Hero Artist Sage or Saint (Cloth)

Hero, artist, sage, or saint?: A survey of views on what is variously called mental health, normality, maturity, self-actualization, and human fulfillment

Coan, Richard W.

Columbia University Press

How has human consciousness evolved from its primitive origins, and what course will it take in the future? How should it develop in an individual from infancy and through childhood and the adult years? Such questions have been the focus of many writers and many religious and philosophical traditions, both Eastern and Western. Most writers and traditions conceive of psychic evolution in terms of one universal pattern, and the evolutionary goal considered by a given writer or tradition may be one of rationality, love, or transcendence of one's individual separateness. The author contends that we may conceptualize the goal of psychic evolution in terms of any of five different modes of fulfillment. We can recognize higher and lower levels of attainment in each of these modes. Whatever mode an individual emphasizes, it is easy to recognize a value in having access to other modes. In the author's view, we need to recognize alternative pathways of psychic evolution. The pathways will differ with respect to the modes that are emphasized and the nature of the interplay of different modes.

Human Consciousness and Its Evolution: A Multidimensional View (International Contributions in Psychology)

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Praeger

The Optimal Personality (Psychology Library Editions: Personality)

Routledge

The terms mental health, maturity, personality integration, self-actualization have been used by psychologists to represent the realm of the ideal or optimal personality. Originally published in 1974, Professor Richard Coan here describes a method of analysing this domain, and examines the important theoretical implications of his findings. He developed instruments to measure various characteristics, including personal consistency, the experience of control and openness to experience, which are associated with current concepts of sound psychological functioning. A battery containing these instruments was administered to several hundred subjects and analysed. The results, reported here, are enlightening. It was found, for example, that the different characteristics viewed by psychologists as traits of the ideal person do not constitute a unitary pattern. There is no evidence of a general dimension of personality integration or mental health. A number of independent components or factors of sound functioning were isolated. Some desirable traits were discovered to be inversely related to each other, many of these relationships appearing to involve a choice between an open or spontaneous orientation and a more ordered and controlled orientation. The author's view, fully supported by his findings, is that if people are to achieve maximal realization of their potentials, a clear requisite is the flexible utilization of various modes of experiencing and acting.

Psychologists: Personal and Theoretical Pathways

Halsted Press

A Princess for Larkin by Richard Coan: This is a fantasy novel with many fairy-tale elements. Larkin, the hero of this story, is a romantic youth who matures through encounters with women and with the images that spring from his own imagination. Like all young men, he experiences many strivings, hopes, fears, frustrations, and conflicts as he seeks to relate to the feminine side of life. At the outset, Larkin dreams of a beautiful woman. Believing his destiny lies with her, he leaves home to find her. He hears of a sleeping princess inside a castle. Naive and reckless at this stage of his journey, he tries to hack his way through the surrounding shrubbery. The bushes trap him, however, and as he struggles he meets a peasant girl named Shanna. After leaving that setting, he faces new challenges in the heart of a forest. They include an ogress and an overprotective giantess. Seeking to escape from their clutches, he meets and rescues a young boy named Billum. His subsequent travels bring him face to face with a woman of quiet spirituality, with a seductress, and with a hag whose beauty lies hidden beneath the surface. He has still more adventures with Brinna, an agile young woman accompanied by a wolf. She comes to his aid at a crucial moment and enlists his help in rescuing Selador--her father, a great sorcerer--from Morlon, his sinister rival. Together, Larkin, Brinna, and the wolf must confront not only Morlon but the evil sorcerer's son and daughter as well. Larkin comes to regard Brinna as a sister in spirit and to recognize the feminine as an ally in his own quest. After departing from his companions, Larkin plunges into a dream world in the heart of a mountain, where he encounters three singing maidens, a mysterious feminine guide, and an old wise woman. As a result of this immersion, he realizes that to fulfill his quest he must seek "the face behind the face" of the princess of his dreams.

A Princess for Larkin

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Fantasy

1st Book Library

Irvington Pub.

Masculine, Feminine, and Fully Human: Developmental Paths Through the Adult Years

Science & Math

AuthorHouse

Human Consciousness and Its Evolution: A Multidimensional View

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