"My granddaughter just looks intrinsically beautiful, fascinating, lovable, and charming. I enjoy endlessly looking at her, kissing her, hugging, holding--and get a [huge] and ultimate happiness when she suddenly smiles at me in her baby way, or opens her mouth silently in a laugh without sound, and when she looks merry...
"And {I felt} a perpetual sense of good luck, of gratuitious grace, of not really deserving it, of not really having earned it--a pure gift...I thought of the thousand terrible things that could have happened to an embryo, to the bad luck and bad accidents at births, to the tragedies and sicknesses and other blows--as if any baby had to run a gauntlet of a thousand blows, and I had a sense of miracle." (1969)
* * * *
Maslow was by nature highly sentimental, who could weep
unashamedly at hearing beautiful music or seeing nature's wonders. But as this diary-entry shows, he had an intensely emotional reaction in being with his baby grand-daughter.
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Abraham Maslow on January 18:
The Need for Proactive People "Real and compassionate democracy needs a large proportion of active agents, rather than pawns, and produces them well. With too many pawns, it would break down into authoritarianism...The Theory-Y boss is non-controlling, the Theory-X boss or manager or leader is even less so. And yet all this is compatible with sternness, real justice, firing employees, not to mention the upholding of justice, order, excellence, and all the other Being-values. [We need} both totally accepting love and Being-justice." (1970) * * * * * At the end of Maslow's life, he was insistent that his psychological system involved accepting human flaws and weaknesses, as well as their strengths and talents. To view all people as capable of growth and self-actualization is not the same as stating that all people are growing ande self-actualization. The key for Maslow is seeing potential, and seeing reality. Abraham Maslow on January 17:
Humanistic Management and Politics "The Theory X-atmosphere {in an organization} is split, secretive, separative, win-lose, jungle philosophy=atomistic. The Theory-Y atmosphere is holistic. Dynamic means also norms. Politics has a goal and a direction: that is, self-actualization for all. Also a criterion by which to judge how healthy or diminishing-regressing the political institutions are. Politics=who gets what?=zero-sum game, adversary, win-lose, anti-synergistic...The good leader makes followers feel stronger, not weaker." (1970) * * * * * During Maslow's final months, he was working on the application of his system of self-actualization to large organizations and political systems. He was convinced that it was necessary for workers, managers, and all citizens to transcend win-lose dichotomies--and develop a vision and path of self-actualization for all. Abraham Maslow on January 16
Abraham Maslow on January 15
Abraham Maslow on January 14
"To see paradise when one is in paradise is realistic, what I call eucognitive. But to see either a jungle when one is in paradise or paradise when one is actually in a jungle is dis-cognitive, incorrect, blind, and neurotic....Likewise, to trust an untrustworthy person is dis-cognitive; to mistrust a trustworthy person is also dis-cognitive. Both amount to bad judgment and intuition...The real question (1970) * * * * * Throughout Maslow's writings, he emphasized the importance of perceiving the world accurately and realistically. In this sense, discernmenent is a crucial trait of self-actualizers. In Maslow's cogent view, the wise see both the good and the bad, and act accordingly. In contrast, the foolish or immature fail to make clear distinctions. This is true in many realms ranging from business and organizational psychology to education. Abraham Maslow on January 13
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ABRAHAM MASLOW'S INSIGHTS DAY-BY-DAY |
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