Psychic
Closet
“We
fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even
more to know the godlike qualities in ourselves.”
Abraham
Maslow
Abraham
Maslow was a pioneer of the American Psychological movement. He is best known
for his human growth pyramid describing the Hierarchy of Human Needs. It begins
with food, clothing and shelter and culminates with self-actualization. But
Maslow also wrote extensively about human potential, saying that “the story
of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.”
He admitted that psychology as a science is better at describing the negative
aspects of human beings than the positive and does not do enough to explore
human potential.
Maslow
knew that humans have a sophisticated use of language; not only can we speak ourselves
clearly, but we can also use language to obfuscate, to conceal our motives, and to lie about our intentions and our thoughts. We have the capacity to lie even to
ourselves. All these negative uses of language are intended to hide the truth,
and therefore are not aids to communication at all, but prevent it .
We also can use language to support, uphold, inspire, and encourage both
ourselves and others.
We try
hard to hide the aspects of ourselves that are difficult to accept. We do this
as individuals and as a nation. It’s not easy to look yourself in the eye and
admit to wrongdoing. The problem is that our wrongdoing does not go away; it
simply gets tucked into the closet of our psyche. When enough bad stuff gets
tucked in there, it begins to intrude into the room where we live, our persona.
It comes out at times unexpected and violent, resentful of being hidden for so
long. We are getting a good long look at that in the form of a video, one of
far too many, of a policeman in Minneapolis, with his knee on the neck of a
black man who is begging for his life. The camera shines a light on our indiscriminate
brutality, and our thinly veiled fear of black people. This fear has more to do
with what is tucked into our psychic closet than with the people who are being
systematically targeted.
We have
the potential for godliness. We have the capacity to love, and to heal the
wounds of ourselves and others. We are selling ourselves short when we submit
to our lowest instincts. We are so much better than this. But first, we must
look at ourselves with clear eyes and allow entry into that psychic closet. This
requires a sorting process—what to keep, what to give away, and what to destroy.
Racism is what we must destroy if we are ever to live in the light of our human
potential or climb to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy—self-actualized as human
beings and as a nation.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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