| The purpose of this work is to present a holistic view of the interactional aspects of human growth, and specifically, a view that is based upon the interactional view of "psychological growth" offered by Carl Rogers and the interactional view of "spiritual growth" offered by the ancient Taoists. The method is essentially theoretical synthesis, and the views that are brought together include, in the end, not only Rogers's and the Taoists', but the holistic "new psychology" of Ken Wilber and the interactional psychology of Will Schutz as well.; The first focus is an interactionally oriented exploration of "what facilitates growth." Based on the views of Rogers and the Taoists, it is argued that what is helpful--what facilitates growth--is essentially what is healthy; and this, in turn, it is argued, is what is whole, what is characterized by "loving nonjudgmental acceptance." Three specific aspects of this healthy helpfulness are identified: nondefensive genuineness, nonjudgmental acceptance of others, and the ability to transcend subject-object barriers.; Based upon Wilber's work, it is argued that there are, in fact, three successive levels of loving nonjudgmental acceptance, each corresponding to one of the successive levels of wholeness identified by Wilber (egoic wholeness, organismic wholeness, and identification with Wholeness itself--essentially, the goals of conventional psychotherapy, existential-humanistic psychotherapy, and transcendental religion, respectively). These successively healthier, successively more integrated levels are achieved, it is argued, as loving nonjudgmental acceptance embraces, first, the "unacceptable" aspects of the self-image, then, the ("unacceptably") mortal physical body, and finally, the always-life-threatening "other," the "not-self." It is also argued--concerning the interactional aspects of "what growth facilitates"--that these three steps facilitate, respectively, community, cooperation, and interpersonal closeness.; Finally, in an exploration of Schutz's work, it is argued that community, cooperation, and closeness are the happy and harmonious resolution, respectively, of inclusion, control, and affection issues, the issues Schutz has identified as the fundamental issues of human interaction It is concluded, then, that the capacity for happy and harmonious interaction grows only as fast as we do--just as does the capacity for facilitating growth. |
