Some time ago wrote an article "The Meeting of Hellinger and Maslow". It talks about self-transcendence being a higher state than self-realization, and self-transcendence is especially important in today's world. Recently, I watched a documentary about the famous Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa listening to the famous Chinese song "Erquan Reflecting the Moon". When Ozawa Seiji listened to Jiang Jianhua play "Erquan Yingyue" at the Central Conservatory of Music, he suddenly burst into tears and knelt down. He explained that he heard the voices of the souls of suffering people. After Jiang Jianhua finished playing "Erquan Reflecting the Moon", he was ready to play Japan's "Sakura", but Seiji Ozawa said that there was no need.
This behavior of Seiji Ozawa vividly reflects the characteristics of being a self-transcendent.
I think that among musicians, the familiar Lang Lang also has a characteristic.
Appendix: "The Meeting of Hellinger and Maslow"
Continue reading Mr. Burt Hellinger's "Meditations – Echoes of the Heart". This is a book that records his philosophical and psychological thoughts. Read about Master J's thoughts on the "greatest commandment." The "greatest commandment" means:
1. Love God with dedication, dedication, and dedication.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
These two are inseparable. In addition, the English "GOD" here can be understood as the "Dao" of Chinese Taoism. In the English version of the Tao Te Ching, some translators directly translate it as GOD.
Hellinger explained that what is meant by "dedication, dedication, and love to heaven with all your heart." This means that we should obey GOD's commands with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our strength.
What are the commands?] Are these divine commands or human commands? Who announced these orders in the name of GOD? Did God give them these jobs? What kind of God does this? Did God really command the tribes of Israel to invade Canaan: "Kill all men; Men and women, children and animals "as a massacre for the sake of heaven? And those who felt mercy on their enemies in the massacre really violated God's command and disobeyed their love for God?
But it is possible for us to fall in love with God in different ways by examining the commandments, because another commandment adds: "Love your neighbor as yourself." It is correct to say, "If you love your neighbor as yourself, then you can love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength." Then this God is not just my God, but the heavens of everyone. In this way, no one can claim to be the exclusive spokesperson of God when he launches a war against others in the name of God.
But why does the precept of "love your neighbor" have such a small impact and influence in the world of politics? For the gods who give this command of love are gods who belong to a nation or race; And the neighbors mentioned here are just familiar neighbors in the group. Imagine the transformation that might occur if we rewrote the command of love like this: "You should love your neighbor or your homeland as you love your country, and love the religion of others as your own." That way, no one can claim GOD as their exclusive property, and we can't take possession of heaven anymore. 】
(Burt Hellinger, "Meditation ---- Echoes of the Heart", translated by Zhang Huimeng, Aomori Culture Publishing, p16-17)
Here, Hellinger first questioned that all orders from heaven are understood by man, so how to judge whether it is the order of GOD or the order of self-righteousness?
He went on to ask a very practical question: "Why does the precept of "loving your neighbor" have such a small impact and influence in the world of politics?" - In today's ever-changing world and constant wars, this problem is deafening for at least many people.
But Hellinger doesn't just ask questions; he takes a closer look at the causes and the direction of the solution: "Imagine the transformation that could occur if we rewrote the command of love like this: "You should love your neighbor or your homeland as you love your country, and love the religion of others as your own." In this way, no one can claim that heaven is their exclusive property, and we can no longer possess heaven. ”
"Love your neighbor or your homeland as you love your homeland, and love the religion of others as your own." It may seem impossible, but if not, how can this earth be too peaceful? Being able to do so means not only self-actualization, but also self-transcendence.
Hellinger (December 16, 1925 – September 19, 2019); Maslow (1 April 1908 – 6 June 1970). They have not met. But with the help of "mason", we can meet them. Fortunately, they all left behind writings, and with the help of their writings, we can communicate with them.
After reading Hellinger's above thoughts, I am reminded of the first article written not long ago, "The Importance of the Realm of the Personality of a Politician", which Maslow's ideas can be said to coincide with Hellinger:
[In today's globalization, the closer relations between countries, the exchanges between nationalities, and the lives and exchanges of people in different countries and regions have also undergone tremendous changes. What are the new demands on politicians in the era of globalization? What impact does their personality realm, level of need, psychological quality, energy state, etc., as well as the entire state of "body, mind and soul" health, have on their political activities?
Before his death, Maslow thought a lot about these questions, most of which were reflected in his last book, The Realm of Human Ability, and Maslow's Diary. In his later years, Maslow distinguished between "self-actualization" and "self-transcendence," and even in an unpublished article, he explicitly proposed that in addition to the "need for self-actualization," there was also the "need for self-transcendence." Maslow's statement is instructive:
Maslow said that transcendent people "have a more holistic view of the world than 'healthy' or pragmatic self-actualizers." Humanity is one, the universe is one, and concepts such as 'national interest', 'religious beliefs of my ancestors', 'different levels of man', 'different levels of intelligence' and so on no longer exist or can be easily surpassed. If the view of all men as brothers and the right to rule the state (the power to make war) as a form of folly or immaturity is in keeping with the ultimate political needs and the urgent needs of the day, the transcendent holds these views more easily, naturally, and introspectively than the average person. Although they can also think in our 'formal', stupid or immature way, it is an artificial effort for them. ”
Is Maslow's statement suitable only for thinkers, not politicians? Because politicians have their own nationalities, their status has determined that he must put the interests of his own nationals first. However, this situation is one of the reasons for the current international disputes and wars.
I think Maslow's phrase "more than a 'healthy' or 'practical' self-actualizer" itself implies a different difference from a person from a self-actualizer. "The view of the world is more holistic", even beyond the views of "national interests" and "ancestral religious beliefs". In today's trend of "globalization", this idea may be more relevant. For example, how to look at the behavior of politicians from this point of view? In today's world, can politicians only be self-actualizers at most, not self-transcendents? Is it possible for them to "transcend themselves" in a sense, and then transcend their own "national interests" and even national culture and religious beliefs, and look at the problem from the perspective of harmonious coexistence and even long-term development of all mankind?
Although the vast majority of people are just ordinary people who know very little about complex politics and all kinds of complex insiders, this does not prevent people from thinking about these issues through news, videos and other information. An extremely important and rich reference to these reflections is history and historical figures. We can compare today's politicians by knowing history and historical figures. At a critical moment in history, we can see the merits of his personality and even his health. All politicians who have caused great failures and influences at critical moments in history can find pathological aspects of their personality traits. For example, from Hitler's body, we can see the inferiority complex, insecurity, desire for control, and adaptation to violence formed in his childhood violent native family. - Here, I won't say more for the time being.
I think Maslow's statement is suitable not only for thinkers, but also for politicians. In other words, self-transcendent politicians can exist. The so-called "not seeking the overall situation, not enough to seek a corner; If you don't seek a lifetime, you will not be able to seek a moment. They can proceed from the future development of the world, and after first considering national interests, they can consider and deal with various conflicts and problems more from benign competition, from win-win and win-win cooperation as much as possible, and from a longer-term peaceful coexistence.
Maslow said: "The natural tendency of man to synergize within the psyche, interpersonal, intercultural, and cross-national, and this tendency is reinforced in the self-actualizer, partly confirms the above holistic understanding." It is not possible to make this sufficiently clear here, as it would take a long time. Simply put, perhaps not very explicitly, synergy transcends the dichotomy of selfishness and selflessness and subsumes the two under a single high-level concept, a transcendence of competition, of small actions to win or lose. ”
——Today, when international disputes continue to break out and wars continue to break out, does Maslow's exposition have any practical significance?
I believe that it is not only relevant, but also worthy of our further consideration of this issue. The so-called "man naturally has an intrinsic psychological, interpersonal, intracultural and cross-ethnic synergy tendency, and in the self-realizer, this tendency is strengthened..." This ability to promote cross-ethnic and cross-cultural synergy depends first of all on the synergy of strong intellectual, emotional and willpower of politicians.
We can assume that the higher the level of a politician's need to meet, the stronger his personality strength and even the three elements of personality, he is not only self-realized, but also can achieve "self-transcendence" and even "self-realization", can he emphasize "coordination" and effectively promote "synergy"? Are different countries, different cultures, such politicians? Are there any contradictions between them? Do they handle conflicts between countries better than other politicians? Is their existence more conducive to the betterness of the world than other politicians?
But it is somewhat regrettable that there have not been many such politicians throughout the ages. After the earth becomes a "global village", it seems that such politicians will be more difficult to appear due to the limitations of the level of personality development and cultural differences of the people of various countries. 】
Maslow made a groundbreaking statement that human beings have the potential for self-transcendence: "Man naturally has an intrinsic psychological, interpersonal, intracultural and trans-ethnic tendency to synergy, which is reinforced in the self-actualized..."
The development of the personality and the level of needs of the individual human being are uneven. As a universal personality, it seems that the earthlings have developed the potential for self-transcendence, and the need to meet the need to achieve self-transcendence is still a long historical period. But as individuals, including politicians, it should be possible to do this first. We need such politicians who can promote the universal development of the personality of the people of the earth.
As a politician, Mr. Kissinger clearly connotated with "self-transcendence". He put forward a political idea based on "equilibrium". This idea of his is somewhat related to the Chinese Confucius' idea of "gentlemen are harmonious but different". Unfortunately, however, this idea of his has been rejected by some politicians in the United States who advocate superior control. Kissinger is an American, and it's hard to say that he loves Americans as much as Chinese, but at least he thinks about Chinese's interests.
In 2019, Kissinger was 96 years old, and he chose to skydive to celebrate his birthday! "Age has never been an issue for me," he says. - What is this not "self-transcendence"?
Skydiving Live Video: