chapters 4-8 Flow

There is ample evidence that suggests that, how parents interact with a child will have a lasting effect on the kind of person the child grows up to be. The family context, promoting the optimal experience could be described as having 5 characteristics.
1.Clarity. The teenagers feel that they know what their parents expect from them – goals and feedback in the family interaction are unambiguous.
2.Centering. The childrens’ perception that their parents are interested in what they are doing in the present, in their concrete feelings and experiences, rather than being preoccupied with whether they will be getting into a good college or obtaining a well-paying job.
3.Choice. Children feel that, they have a variety of possibilities from which to choose, including that of breaking parental rules – as long as they are prepared to face the consequences.
4.Commitment. The trust that allows the child to feel comfortable enough to set aside the shield of his defences, and become unselfconsciously involved in what ever he is interested in.
5.Challenge. The parents dedication to provide increasing complex opportunities for action to their children. (page 88)
( studies by Chicago psychologist Kevin Rathunde)

Do some net search on Richard Logan.

CHAPTER 5 : THE BODY IN FLOW

“ A man possesses nothing save a brief loan of his own body. Yet, the doby od man is capable of much curious pleasure. “ J.B.Cabell.

The almost unlimited potential for enjoyment that the body offers often remains unexploited. Few learn to move with the greace of an acrobat, see with the fresh eye of an artist, feel the joy of an athlete who breaks his own record, taste with the subllety of a connoisseur, or love with a skill that lifts sexs into a form of art ! ( page 94)

The easiest step towards improving the quality of life consists in simply learning to conrol the body and its senses.

Every thing the body can do is potentially enjoyable. Yet, many people ignore this capacity, and sue their physical equipment as little as possible and leaving its ability to provide flow unexploited.

To break the bonds of gravity is one of the oldest dreams of mankind. (96)

Every person, no matter how unfit he or she is, can rise a little higher, go a little faster, and grow to be a little stronger. The joy of surpassing the limits of body is open to all ! ( 97)

The urge to have sex is so powerful that, it can drain psychic enery away from other necessary goals. Therefore, every culture has to invest great efforts in rechanneling and resraining it, and many complex social institutions exist only in order to regulate this urge. The saying that, “ Love makes the world go round” is a polite referne to the fact that, most of our deeds are impelled, either directly or indirectly, by sexual needs. (101)

CHAPTER 6 : FLOW OF THOUGHT

To remember a long list of elders, going back a dozen generations, is particularly enjoyable in that, it satisfies the need to find a place in the ongoing stream of life. To recall one’s ancestors places the recaller as a link in a chain that starts in the mythical past and extends into the unfathomable future.
Net search : Johann Huizinga, the great Dutch cultural historian.

People lost the ability for a good conversation , which is a pity. Because, it could be argued that , the main function of conversation is not go get things accomplished, but to improve the quality of experience !

Do some net search on : Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, the influential phenomenological sociologists.

The major creative use of language, already mentioned several times in earlier contexts, is poetry. (130)

# Do some net search on : Kenneth Koch, the New York poet and social reformer.

Observing the events of life and preserving both the larger and smaller events of life is one of the oldest and most satisfying ways to bring order to consciousness. ( 132)

There are several levels at which, ‘ history as a flow’ can be practiced. The most personal involves simply keeping a journal. (133)

In the 20 th century, Science has become a highly institutionalised activity. (134)

The basic framework that makes science enjoyable, is available to everyone. It involves curiosity, careful observation, a disciplined way of recording events, and finding ways to tease out the underlying regularities in what one learns. It also requires the humility to be willing to learn from the results of past investigators, couples with enough scepticism and openness of mind to reject beliefs that are not supported by facts. (137)

CHAPTER 7 : WORK AS A FLOW

# Do some net search on : Professor Fausto Massimini and Dr.Antonella Delle Fave , the Italian psychologists who did research on Work aspect of life.

To read books like ‘ How to win friends and influence people’ and yearning to be accepted by the ‘in’ crowd – reflects an extrinsically motivated desire to manipulate others. But people are not important ONLY because they can help make our goals come true ; when they are treated as valuable in their own right, people are the most fulfilling source of happiness ! ( 167) <>

The way to grow, while enjoying life is to create a higher form of order out of entropy that is inevitable condition of living. This means, taking each new challenge, not as something to be repressed or avoided, but as an opportunity for learning and for improving skills. When physical vigor fails with age, for example, it means that, one will be ready to turn one’s energies from the mastery of the external world to a deeper exploration of inner reality. It means that, one can finally read Proust, take up chess, grow Orchids, help one’s neighbors, and think about God – if these are the things one has decided , are worth pursuing. But it is difficult to accomplish any of them , unless one has earlier acquired the habit of using solitude to good advantage. ( 172)

No social change can come about, until the consciouness of the individuals is changed first. When a young man asked Carlyle how he should go about reforming the world, Carlyle answered, ‘ Reform yourself. That way, there will be one less rascal in thew world”” The advice is still valid. Those who try to make life better for everyone without having learned to control their own lives first, usually end up making things WORSE all around !

Flow - Chapter 3

Wealth , status, possessions and power, have become in our culture, all too powerful symbols of happiness. But symbols can be deceptive. They have a tendency to distract from the reality they are supposed to represent. ( page 44)

PLEASURE : Pleasure is an important component of the quality of life, but by itself, it does not bring happiness. Sleep, rest, food, and sex provide restorative homeostatic experiences that return the consciousness to order , after the needs of the body intrude and cause Psychic Entropy to occur. But they do not produce psychological growth. They do not add complexity to the Self. Pleasure helps to maintain order, but by itself, cannot create new order in consciousness. ( page 46 )

To gain personal control over quality of experience, one needs to learn how to build enjoyment into what happens day in, day out. ( page 48)

PHENOMENOLOGY OF ENJOYMENT : has at least 8 components.

1.Enjoyable experience usually occurs , when we confront tasks , we have a chance of completing.
2. WE must be able to concentrate on what we are doing.
3 & 4. Concentration is usually possible , when the task we undertake has clear goals and provides immediate feed back.
5.One acts with deep but effortless involvement that removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life.
6. Enjoyable experience allow people to exercise control over their actions.
7.Concern for the self disappears, yet, paradoxically, the sense of self emerges stronger after the flow experience is over.
8. Finally, the sense of duration of time is altered ; hours pass by in minutes, the minutes can stretch ot to seem like hours.
(page 49)

COMPETING : The challenges of competition can be stimulating and enjoyable. But when, beating the opponent takes precedence over performing as well as possible, enjoyment tends to disappear. Competition is enjoyable only when it is a means to perfect one’s skills ; when it becomes an end in itself, it ceases to be fun.

In a conquest, you don’t conquer anything except things in yourself.

Objective and Subjective dangers : Objective dangers are outside dangers that are beyond our control ; such as sudden storm, floods, earth quakes etc. Subjective dangers arise out of our own lack of skill.

Loss of consciousness does not mean loss of Self. Being able to forget who we are, seems to be very enjoyable. When not preoccupied with ourselves, we have a chance to expand the concept of who we are. Loss of self-consciousness leads to self transcendence, to a feeling that, the boundaries of our Being are pushed forward.

Afterwards, when the self-consciousness has a chance to resume, the self that the person reflects upon, is not the same as the self that existed before the FLOW experience. Now it is enriched by new skills and fresh achievements. ( page 66)

AUTOTELIC EXPERIENCE : The key element in optimal experience is that, it is an end in itself. Although initially undertaken for other reasons, the activity that consumes us becomes intrinsically rewarding. ( page 67)

Most things that we do are neither purely Autotelic nor Exotelic ( activity undertaken for purely external reasons and goals and rewards) but are the combination of the two.
Some things that we are initially forced to do against our will, eventually turn out to be intrinsically rewarding. ( page 68)

Much of what we label as ‘ Juvenile Delinquency – car theft, vandalism, rowdy behaviour in general – is motivated by the same need to have flow experiences not available in ordinary life. As long as a significant segment of society has few opportunities to encounter meaningful challenges, and few chances to develop the skills necessary to benefit from them, we must expect that, violence and crime will attract those who cannot find their way to more complex autotelic experiences. ( page70)

Flow Chapter 2

“ The simple truth . ‘ Control over consciousness determines the quality of life’. This has been known for a long time.
(page 20 )

The last great attempt to free consciousness from the control of impulses and social mores, was – psycho-analysis. As Freud pointed out, 2 tyrants that fought for control over the mind were, the ID and the SUPER EGO, the first, a servant of the genes, and the second, a lackey of society – both representing ‘ the Other’. < page 20 >

The Yogic approach of India, the Taoist approach to life developed in China, and Zen varieties of Buddhism of Japan, all seek to free consciousness from the deterministic influence of outside forces- be they biological or social in nature.

Why are we not happier than our ancestors, with all this progress ? There are 2 explanations here.

One. The kind of knowledge, or wisdom , that one needs for emancipating consciousness is not cumulative. It cannot be condensed into a formula ; it cannot be memorized and then routinely applied. It must be earned through trial and error by each individual , generation after generation. Control over consciousness is simply not a cognitive skill.

Second. The knowledge of how to control consciousness must be reformulated every time the cultural context changes ! The wisdom of the mystics, of the Sufi, of the great Yogis, or of the Zen masters might have been excellent in their own time – and might still be the best, if we lived in those times and in those cultures.

But when transplanted to contemporary California, those systems lose quite a bit of their original power. They contain elements that are specific to their original contexts, and when these accidental components ar not distinguished from what is essential, the path to freedom gets over grown by brambles of meaningless mubo jumbo. Ritual forms win over substance, and the seeker is back where he started.

Control over consciousness cannot be institutionalised. As soon as it becomes a part of a set of social rules and norms, it ceased to be effective in the way it was originally intended to be. Routinization, unfortunately, tends to take place very rapidly.

( page 21)

Consciousness has developed the ability to override genetic instruction and to set its own independent course of action. ( page 24)

We all know individuals who can transform hopeless situations into challenges to be overcome, just through the sheer force of their personalities. The ability to persevere, despite obstacles and setbacks , is the quality that people most admire in others and justly so ! It is probably the most important trait not only for succeeding in life, but for enjoying it as well. ( page 24)

The information we allow into our consciousness becomes extremely important. It is, in fact, what determines the content and quality of life. ( page 24)

My ‘ Self’ exists solely in my consciousness ; and in that of others who know me, there will be a version of it. Most of them probably unrecognisable likeliness of the ‘ original’ – myself as I see me. ( pae 34)

Every piece of information we process, gets evaluated for its bearing on the self. Does it threaten our goals, does it support them, or is it neutral ? ( page 39)

Differentiation and integration : Complexity often has negative connotations. But, a complex engine, for instance, not only has many separate components, each performing a different function, but also demonstrates a high sensitivity because each of the components is in touch with all the others. Without integration, a differentiated system would be a confusing mess. ( page 41)

A self that is only differentiated – not integrated – may attain great individual accomplishments, but risks being mired in self-centered egotism. But, by the same token, a person whose self is based exclusively on integration will be connected and secure, but lack autonomous individuality. Only when a person invests equal amounts of psychic energy in these two processes and avoids both selfishness and conformity is the self likely to reflect complexity.

Paradoxically, it is when we act freely, for the sake of action itself rather than for any ulterior motives, that we learn to become more than what we were ! ( page 42)

FLOW - CHAPTER 1

" The best moments of our lives, are not the passive, receptive,relaxing times - although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.

Optimal experience is thus, something that we make happen ! For a child, it could be placing with trembling fingers the last block on a tower she has built, higher than any she has built so far ; for a swimmer, it could be trying to best his own record ; for a violinist, mastering an intricate musical pasage. For each person, there are thousand of opportunities, challenges to expand ourselves.

Such experience are not necessarily pleasant at the time they occur. The swimmer's muscles might have ached during his most memorable race, his lungs might have felt like exploding, and he might have been dizzy with fatigue - yet, these could have been the best moments his life !
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To achieve greater precision we developed with time, a new method for measuring the quality of subjective experience. This technique is called ' Experience Sampling Method'. This involves asking people to war an electronic paging device for a week and to write down how they feel and what they are thinking about when ever the pager signals.
( do net search on ' Experience Sampling Method' )
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Optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is ORDER in consciousness. This happens when psychic energy is invested in realistic goals, and when skills match with the opportunities for action !
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The primary reason it is so difficult to achieve happiness centers on the faact that, contrary to the myths mankind has developed to reassure itself, the universe was NOT created to answer OUR needs ! Frustration is deeply woven into the fabric of our Life. and when ever some of our needs are temporarily met, we immediately start wishing for more ! This chronic dissatisfaction is the second obsstacle that stands in the way of contentment.

This universe was not designed - with the comfort of human beings in mind ( !!?? Whose 'mind' ?).

It is almost immeasurably huge, and most of it is hostilely empty and cold. It is the setting for great violence, as when , occasionally, a star explodes, turning to ashes - everything within billions of miles ! The rare planet whose gravity field would not crush our bones is probably swimming in lethal gases ! Even planet Earth, which can be so idyllic and picturesque, is not to be taken for granted !

To survive on earth, men and women have had to struggle for millions of years , against ice, fire, floods, wild animals, and invisible micro-organisms that appear out of nowhere and snuff us out.

( Now , where does that leave Rhonda Byrne's " Law of Attraction" ? Which tries to 'sell' us the idea that, we can get all we want by ' just sending our wish to the Universe ( with capital U ) ? )

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" The universe is not hostile towards us, nor is it unfriendly. It is simply indifferent ! " J.H.Holmes.
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Whether or not we are happy, depends on our inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the greater foreces of the Universe !
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As people move through life, passing from the hopeful ignorance of youth into sobering adulthood, they soner or later face an increasingly nagging question : " is this all there is ? "

Childhood can be painful, adolescence confusing, but for most people, behind it all , there is teh expectation that, after one grows up, things will get better. During the years of early adulthood, the future still looks promosing, the hope remains that , one's goals will be realised. But inevitably the bathroom mirror shows the first white hairs, and confirms the fact that , those extra pounds are not about to leave ; inevitably, eyesight begins to fail and mysterious pains to begin to shoot through the body. Like waiters in a restaurant, starrring to place breakfast settings on the surrouding tables while one is still having dinner, these intimations of mortality plainly communicate teh message ; " your time us UP, it's time to MOVE ON ! ! When this happens, few people are ready. " Wait a minute, this can't be happening to ME ! I haven't even begun to live. Where is all that money I was supposed to have earned ? Where are all good times I was going to have ? "

A feeling of having been cheated by Life, is an understandable consequence of this realization. From childhood, we have been conditioned to believe, that a benign fate would provide for us.

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