Summary of Abraham H. Maslow's Toward a Psychology of Being

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The new conception of human sickness and health is based on the assumptions that we have an essential, biologically based inner nature that is good or neutral, and that it is best to bring this out and encourage it rather than to suppress it.#2 The classical approach to personality problems considers them to be problems in an undesirable sense. Struggle, conflict, guilt, bad conscience, anxiety, depression, frustration, and tension are all symptoms of sick and undesirable people. But all of these symptoms are found in healthy people, or people who are growing toward health.#3 The classical Freudian notion of a superego is entirely authoritarian and relativistic. It is the internalization of the wishes, demands, and ideals of the father and mother, whoever they may be. But there is also another kind of conscience, which is based on the unconscious and preconscious perception of our own nature.#4 The question of whether or not it is possible to grow and self-fulfill without pain and grief is also important to consider. If these are to some extent unavoidable, then to what extent. If grief and pain are sometimes necessary for growth, then we must learn not to protect people from them automatically.