The Farther Reaches of Human Nature

by Abraham H. Maslow, Henry Geiger (Introduction), Bertha G. Maslow (Preface)

Abraham H. Maslow was one of the foremost spokespersons of humanistic psychology. In The Farthest Reaches of Human Nature , an extension of his classic Toward a Psychology of Being , Maslow explores the complexities of human nature by using both the empirical methods of science and the aesthetics of philosophical inquiry. With essays on biology, synergy, creativity, cognition, self-actualization, and the hierarchy of needs, this posthumous work is a wide-ranging synthesis of Maslow's inspiring and influential ideas.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science, Self Help, Leadership, Spirituality

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow developed the theory of a hierarchy of needs and contended that satisfying basic physiological needs afterward motivates people to attain affection, then esteem, and finally self-actualization.

The first of seven children to Russian immigrant Jewish parents, he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1930, his Magister Artium in 1931 and his Philosophiae Doctor in 1934 in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Maslow taught full time at Brooklyn college, then at Brandeis, where he was named chair of psychology in 1951. People know humanist-based Maslow, for proposing for an individual to meet to achieve ably. Maslow analyzed and found reality-centered achievers.

Among many books of Maslow, Religion, Values, and Peak-Experiences , not a free-thought treatise, neither limited "peak experiences" to the religious nor necessarily ascribe such phenomena to supernaturalism. In the introduction to the book, Maslow warned that perhaps "not only selfish but also evil" mystics single-mindedly pursue personal salvation, often at the expense of other persons. The American humanist association named Maslow humanist of the year in 1967.

Later in life, questions, such as, "Why don't more people self-actualize if their basic needs are met? How can we humanistically understand the problem of evil?," concerned Maslow.

In the spring of 1961, Maslow and Tony Sutich founded the Journal of Humanistic Psychology with Miles Vich as editor until 1971. The journal printed its first issue in early 1961 and continues to publish academic papers.

Maslow attended the founding meeting of the association for humanistic psychology in 1963 and declined nomination as its president but argued that the new organization develop an intellectual movement without a leader; this development resulted in useful strategy during the early years of the field.

Maslow, an atheist, viewed religion.

While jogging, Maslow suffered a severe heart attack and died on June 8, 1970 at the age of 62 in Menlo Park, California.

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_...

http://www.maslow.com/

http://psychology.about.com/od/profil...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/...

http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslo...

Reviews

[Corinne · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, the three chapters that spoke to me the most are: Neurosis as a failure of personal growth, emotional blocks to creativity, and a holistic approach to creativity.

I shall try here to enumerate how they apply to me.

Personally, I feel the most restless, fastidious, and anxious when I feel I’ve hit a wall in my personal or professional life. I agree with Maslow how, at the initial stages, I used to ignore the inner signals, and run away with what we call ‘fate’. All this changed, however, when I saw that the true scale of measuring personal growth is not external, but internal.

I agree with all those childhood blocks to creativity Maslow is talking about, but the worst block I felt was in my adulthood, after I started working in the corporates, and I completely drowned my inner voice in the noise of outside. It was a result of what they call ‘fitting in’, until, one day, I decided to tramp all over that and free myself.

Maslow applies the term ‘holistic’ in the sense of the society, that is, where the creativity also takes into account the full context of the creation, i.e., where the artistic creator is not an isolated entity, but a part of the whole. Seems natural, but so easy to forget in action!

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh man oh man have I underestimated Maslow! This is the kind of psychology I wish there was more of. That is, psychology of the supreme human beings, the self actualised human being, the transcendent human being.

[Teri Temme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite quote from this book: Notes on Innocent Cognition: "You can't "undo" knowledge, you can't really become innocent again; once you have seen something, you can't undo the seeing. Knowledge is irreversible, perceiving is irreversible, knowing is irreversible; in this sense you can't go home again. You can't really regress, not even by giving up your sanity or strength altogether."

Thought provoking and mind expanding, this text is wonderful.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was first exposed to Abraham Maslow's psychology in college. Being unwilling as a vegetarian to participate in the dread "rat lab", Grinnell's sympathetic psychology department allowed me to do the introductory course as a guided reading project with Professor Morse. Although I avoided laboratory work, I was probably forced to read a lot more than the average beginning student and, given possible prejudices on the part of the professor, I probably was directed more towards traditional depth psychologies and what then was called "humanistic" psychology.

Maslow was a big deal back then amongst the humanists because of his rather upbeat approach to psychology. This posthumous collection of his essays (he died in 1970, in the middle of the project which was ultimately finished by his wife) represents an overview of the work he's primarily known for, being a series of revised versions of previously published essays.

[Sarah]

One of my top ten read. Therefore, it has a special spot to remain when not being read, and is re-read for pleasure every few years. Truly, one of the books all people of the literate world should have read this by twenty or fifteen, but we do not. I love this (and all of Maslow's work), because he had the courage to put what some think into an amazing classic of knowledge about our inner-self. Plus he has constructing the ideal person, and the feasibility of people being amazing. Great read.....please check it out. :) It is one I never can put down.

[Alec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense and academic but filled with gems of wisdom—if you can find them.

"Being independent of other people’s evil or ignorance or stupidity or immaturity even when this is directed toward oneself is possible, though very difficult. And yet one can, in such a situation, gaze upon the whole situation—including oneself in the midst of the situation—as if one were looking upon it objectively, detachedly from a great and impersonal or suprapersonal height." Pg. 262

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maslow's works are classicism in thought and substance..because neither can be defined when speaking of cultures..it is mutable...and connected in every scientifically developed theory in the area of psychology..when followers of the hard sciences -observe human behavior cross culturally
the realization that culture impacts on the development of thought which therefore skews any statistical hard evidence of why people behave they way they do.. read this book many times.. it is my reference point when I need to detox from non classical thought based on authors who are not "self-actualized" i.e. living and being strong, independent and free.

Love Maslow.

[Henric Svenningsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about the definition of humanity and the importance of seeing the world from the eyes of the human being. Maslow´s theory about humans basically born as good and moral really appeals to the you and the aim in life to be "fully human" is a positive and stimulating alternative to other psychological theories negative or neutral perspective on the human being. Maslow presents his theories and explain them in a logical and convincing way and you´ll find yourself reading the chapters over and over again, not because you don´t understand what Maslow tries to tell you, but because the truth in his words stimulates a new way of thinking.

[Owlseyes]

The human pyramid of needs was fine. But this next article is subversive, somehow.


http://bigthink.com/videos/nichol-bra...

[Aayush Kucheria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book builds on Maslow’s previous, “Towards and psychology of being”. He takes the self-actualization framework he built in that book, and explores/speculates its implications in different facets of life.

I adore Maslow’s ideas, and believe he should be read much more. I’d recommend the psychology of being book to most people though. While this book is still interesting, especially the section on communication, it’s more of an exploratory read.

[Bjarne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough one. Bored me out of my mind at some parts. Some were however very interesting. Felt like I was missing foundational base knowledge of psychology and its different schools to fully grasp some points made.

[Doc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have learned a great deal about Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. But this was my first time reading him directly. There were some brilliant insights in this book. But altogether, I found it to lack parsimony. A longwinded, though in depth, look at the humanistic psychology that Maslow championed, this book just wasn't what I was hoping for. Perhaps this is because it isn't so much a book as a series of writings compiled into what felt like a disjointed read. Perhaps I just was not the right audience, as I tend to lean towards empirical investigation and the book is a bit dated. Still, I am glad I read it.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very dense read - sometimes I had to question whether Maslow had reached a new level of consciousness (haha) or whether it was words for the sake of words, concepts just because. Initially I let Maslow humour me but after a while I had to put him away and seek solace in Skinner. I really appreciate the gist of Maslow's hierarchy of needs (in fact I have used it as a foundation in some of debates) but I cannot accept all of it. And I had more questions than insight (some of them answered in his book of summary). More conflicts than coherence.

[Kirk]

How could young people not be disappointed and disillusioned? What else could be the result of getting all the material and animal gratifications and then not being happy, as they were led to expect, not only by the theorists, but also by the conventional wisdom of parents and teachers, and the insistent gray lies of the advertisers?

[ZaRi]

سازمان دادن جامعه ي خوب كه در فوريت قرار دارد نيز مشكل بزرگي است. بين جامعه ي خوب و شخص خوب، نوعي پسخوراند وجود دارد. يعني اين دو به يكديگر نياز دارند و لازم و ملزوم يكديگرند. كاري ندارم كه كدام يك در اولويت قرار دارد، اما بديهي است كه جامعه ي خوب و شخص خوب همزمان و به دنبال هم پيدا مي شوند. در هر صورت به دست آوردن يكي بدون ديگري ممكن نخواهد بود. منظور من از جامعه ي خوب، انسان و يك دنيا است.

[Ric Underhile · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I review and reflect on over and over. Timeless and profound, it is a guide to personal and professional enlightenment.

[DoubleM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking and educational.

[Oliver Go · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to stress that, while I really enjoyed the book personally, I gave it 4 stars because the final chapter is pretty much a rehash of the previous chapters, and it doesn't seem like it fit as a concluding chapter (though perhaps that was the fault of Maslow dying before the book was complete and unable to put together a strong concluding chapter).
This book is fascinating because it can be considered along the lines of philosophical psychology. There isn’t a very large amount of empirical data or studies backing Maslow’s hypotheses on the human condition, rather there is more of a philosophical influence on Maslow than past psychologists (aside from Jung and Freud). The Platonic essences, Aristotelian virtue, and Nietzsche's ideas of ressentiment play large roles in Maslow's philosophy. In general, this book is a work founded on some studies done by Maslow but with those results being influenced by Maslow's personal views and philosophical perspectives. I think that's completely fine, but it's important to note as one shouldn't go in expecting a completely objective academic view (and the term of "objective" science is one that Maslow disputes in the book as well). In fact, I think the way Maslow justifies his seeming perceptive biases on human nature makes the nature of science far more interesting. He believes that the idea that science should be "objective" and not offer answers (leaving that up to interpretation) is ridiculous and plain false. If science is objective, it will point to the right answer: a problem known in full should point to its proper solution. I believe he used some example like "people don't like me because I'm being mean"; naturally, he believes the problem points to the solution that you shouldn't be mean. I think this perspective on objectivism and its role in science makes his points even more interesting. It's important to keep this in mind as one reads the book.
Furthermore, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature is an important argument in favor of the humanistic lens of science rather than an objectivist perspective. He stresses a Taoistic understanding of the world, emphasizing holism rather than an examination of the world through individual, disjointed parts. Through this view he uses his observations on human nature to make several comments about what society should do to create a better society that will allow every individual to intellectually grow at their pace and to their leisure. This also gets back to his point about how facts point to solutions; if one was a conservative, they might denounce this book as really being a push for liberal policies through psychology. However, Maslow believes that the facts point to these solutions as being the proper ones; therefore, it isn't really a personal work.
While the book should be incredibly important for understanding human nature as a whole and applicable to human groups, it is also extremely helpful on the micro level. In one chapter, Maslow writes that the ideal therapist will not point you to the right things to do but will get you to talk about yourself so that you will come to your own solutions. This is exactly what Maslow's book does for anyone interested in self help or advice books: the book is full of Maslow's writings and lectures that provide information on "metamotivations" (higher ambitions/desires in people, i.e. justice or truth), overcoming extreme anxiety, and becoming the ideal person. While he never gives steps on how to do these things exactly, he gives the factual information necessary for the reader to come to their own conclusion on what they need to do to become the kind of person they want to be.
Overall, I would say that The Farther Reaches of Human Nature is a very unique psychology book and a crucial book for anyone looking to understand their own inner motivations and goals on a deeper level. I think another thing that sets apart this book from other psychology books is that it has a very optimistic and positive outlook on human nature, unlike more cynical schools of psychological thought (like the Freudians) who tend to think humans are more motivated by their fears and flaws than by their higher ambitions (which is what Maslow argues against).

[Max Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many great ideas in this. Some of the most interesting to me were:

1. Synergistic work: work that transcends the selfish/selfless dichotomy and serves both ends simultaneously. Work like this is often viewed as an end in itself rather than mere means.

2. Synergistic societies: societies wherein individuals pursuing their own interest also benefit the society as a whole. It's a nice idea but we've seen how this logic applied in capitalism has led to as many negative outcomes (inequality, environmental destruction, addictive products) as good ones (lifting many out of poverty, innovation). Perhaps some other approach to society/economics is possible or capitalism can be reformed in a way to make it more synergistic. The chapter which asks "How good a society does human nature permit? How good a human nature does society permit?" has an excellent list of questions that would need to be addressed to produce Eupsychia.

3. Being-values (B-values) are ends in themselves. Peak experiences can both be instances of experiencing B-values and catalysts for living day to day life more attuned to B-values.

4. Self-actualizing people have more peak experiences but peak experiences are not completely closed off to those who are not yet meeting their basic needs of food, shelter, etc.

I appreciate that Maslow is willing to ask "how good can people be?" and make it clear that being better individuals and constructing societies that allow individuals to be their best should be a top priority. In the feedback loop of human nature and societal structure, Maslow lands firmly in the camp that individual betterment is the primary lever to pull to achieve better outcomes. There's something a bit uncomfortable about the way he compares trying to find the tallest people with trying to find the most ethical people because it implies that people not yet meeting their basic needs are not 'as good'. Empirically, this doesn't hold up; there are good people who don't have their needs met and bad people who do.

Maslow's ideas about creativity and education resonate strongly. Education especially seems like an important opportunity to help the species become better. According to Maslow, we should allow children to learn for its own sake, discover their interests and passions, and only then insist that they develop the technical skills to pursue that profession. This reminds me of David Epstein's book "Range" and I would love to see our education system move in this direction.

This one will be worth another read at some point; lots of great ideas to think about further and find ways to apply to our current societal problems.

[Dan Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an admittedly dated compilation of Maslow’s musings and essays, mostly centred around the idea of the fully self-actualized human.
Maslow is most well known for his hierarchy of human needs, and in these pages he expands the list to concentrate on the meta-needs of the peak, since modern humanity in the developed world has largely handled the base of the pyramid.
A very interesting read, full of points that resonated with me as a reader. There were many that missed the mark, psychology and anthropology have come a long was since his day.
It’s hard to read a book like this and not evaluate your own life.

[Luke Mohnasky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt very distant and numb reading this.

“I have used the words “therapy,” “psychotherapy,” and “patient.” Actually, I hate all these words and I hate the medical model that they imply because the medical model suggests that the person who comes to the counselor is a sick person, beset by disease and illness, seeking a cure. Actually, of course, we hope that the counselor will be the one who helps to foster the self-actualization of people, rather than the one who helps to cure a disease” (49).

"Since spontaneity is difficult, most people can be called the "human impersonators," i.e., they are "trying" to be what they think is human, rather than just being what they are" (126).

[Lynne Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing read by an intriguing man, and a nice surprise in that the style of writing was reasonably accessible for a lay reader outside the academic field of psychology, with some quirkily human expressions and clarfications which provided some unexpected humour - something I haven't come across before in other psychology or humanist philosophy works.

As an artist and writer, I especially liked his chapters on creativity, values, and transcendence, but much there was much food for thought overall. In a nutshell, the book more than lived up to its title and it now has a special place in my mini 'library' of psychology books.

[Jorge Garibay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Godhood is within our grasp, we need only open our eyes...

Frankl, Huxley and now Maslow. They all knew this and, believe it or not, they all agreed: being an actual good person, living in balance with nature, abandoning selfishness; everything we've been told we should aspire to be since we were born are the actual and very real steps needed to reach illumination.

I understand myself today way better than ever before. I feel my purpose and a deep connection with my soul.

Transcendensce is the ultimate goal of life and this book proves it.

[Mike Lovato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Maslow's taostic version of psychology. I read Toward a psychology of being as intro to Maslow. I was fascinated with his views on psychology and human nature in general. He does a great job of incorporating spirituality in a demystifying way. Out of all types of psychology I resonate most with the humanistic and transpersonal. This book is kind of long, slow and technical but it is a good read. I was already aware of most of the insights but it was good to go over it again

[PERMADREAM. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maslow is an absolute legend. I will be honest though, this should not have been my first Maslow book. It is very detailed, in terms of the terminology he used in regards to his concepts of Humanistic Psychology. However, it provoked a ton of interest in me, to study deeper into Peak Experiences, Self-Actualization as well as B-Values or B-Cognition.

Are there any present day researchers following up on the work Maslow did in the Humanistic Psychology space now? Or is this now up to us?

[Larry Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Farther Reaches of Human Nature by Abraham H. Maslow is an expansion of his well-known work on self-actualization. In this posthumous work, Maslow discusses the concept of transcendence. The self is a critical concept in spirituality, and Maslow suggests that the final step in realizing our selves is to transcend our selves.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 - it was amazing

Most parts of this piece are hard to chew, but some sections made me feel ecstatic, so it would feel like a crime to rate it any less than 5 stars. It is a life-affirming, humanness-affirming book, describing the potentialities of human individuals. Plus it made me understand my fascination with Icarus a little bit better. Great book.

[Ozge Sahin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came through a very random suggestion at a time like no other. I find it weird that his heirarchy of needs was the first framework i came across and internalized yet his work beyond, I left undiscovered.

It is not particularly an easy read and I feel another round is very much needed. And also, wanted.

[Rhythima · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it would be just another book on societal developments, but it was so much more - in fact it helped me find myself the need to cherish my own creativity. It reflected inside a person, to reflect on the society!

[Harrison Wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

En extension of Toward a Psychology of Being. Some of the essays felt illuminating, some incredibly redundant, and some unrelated or uninteresting.

Overall, glad I read it (7-8 of the 23 essays were fascinating) but wouldn’t necessarily recommend.