Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 The Moral Life. First there was nothing.

Then there was light. Then there was matter. Then there was life. Then there was consciousness, beauty and glee. Now here I am, and I am me.
[From my Humanistic Psychology paper, 2009].

My Story: [Who am I and What will I do on this planet? How will I live my life? Life story and life history.] I'm on the road, the grand road of life. On the hero's journey, the voyage of the soul. It is without destination, but not without intention. In my journey, all ends are means to ends, which are still means. Put simply, there is no ultimate goal, because the way life is lived is circular. But it's an ever-changing and expanding circle, so it's more like a spiral (see pg. 13). I'm on a quest for individuation, a secure balance accomplished by learning to let my shadow dance, controlling my persona and taming my ego, and living in a way that enhances self-actualization and allows for frequent peak experiences. But the quest of the soul has to expand to reach the rest of the world, of which I am undeniably interconnected. In light of the variety of our world's problems, my personal empowerment and growth is essential to the solutions and the battle against exploitation and corruption in the name of freedom, justice, thriving viability, and (dreaming big), in the name of the creation of my ideal thriving world, populated with coexisting global citizens who assert love and equality effortlessly and integrated into every action, word and breath. I have big dreams, big ambitions, and, with the help of seeing their essential necessity in the context of our current environment and sociopolitical history, I plan to turn the imaginary into reality. My Keirsey Personality types are the Champion and the Idealist. And though I don't always feel like a champion and sometimes run out of

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 ideas, this personality type is my set point, that by psychological homeostasis, I return to, like a home within myself. It is a consistant reminder that there is work to be done, and that I have the power and responsibility to do it. I am also an Aquarius, apparently meaning (for I don't follow astrology unless others explain it to me), that I am a facilitator of the point of connection in the double-helix of human consciousness and genetic evolution. I am a merger of ideas; I take what resources are available and use it to connect humanity and facilitate the evolutionary process. Sounds about right. And that is my goal, to help humanity reach a point of conscious realization that we are all inherently equal beings and need to work together to care for our earth, lest it wipes us out and becomes uninhabitable. My big question is: How will I live my life. I am getting ready to leave the life of intellectual, creative and social paradise that is college, and move on to whatever awaits me in the future. College has been a time of metamorphosis, and a time of transition. And the clock is ticking, reminding me that soon I will have to spread my wings and finally leave the nest. The choices I make during this critical period will largely shape where I go and who I will become. And these choices rest heavily on questions of morality. They are the choice of what to do and why, in the context of the current state of the world and my place here. As time pushes and pulls me closer to graduation, deep questions and pressing thoughts about the rest of my life arise. There are so many possibilities, so many paths that call to me. In this complex, dynamic world that is full of both opportunity and struggle, I honestly don't know what lifestyle is best, not just for me, but for the world and the global community (which many fail to actually acknowledge as interconnected). It is important to maintain my own happiness and well being, but as one individual amongst billions, I also feel that the best thing I can do with my life is to dedicate it full-force to mending the world's problems and assisting the evolution of humankind. At this point it's a fact that our world is undergoing huge changes, and the actions of humanity are drastically effecting the health of the earth and life upon it. As

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 a Psychology and Cognitive Science major, I have been struggling with my place amongst all of this. I could live a comfortable life, working and living just for myself and my family, or I could live a lifestyle that fundamentally runs on the basis of helping others, supporting our relationship with our environment, and strengthening our ties to each other and our earth. But I don't know how to do that, how to find the right path, if it's even worth it, if I'll end up losing motivation, and where my responsibility lies. The expression Don't carry the weight of the world upon your shoulders, makes sense; I can't do everything and there's no reason to stress myself out or set standards that are well out of my reach if it will cause distress. However, I have a feeling within my depths that drives me to want to do something for this world that allowed for my life to exist. I need an equilibrium between my care and nurturing for myself and for others. After all, if man is innately capable of both egoistic and altruistic motivation (Hoffman), what will I choose to motivate me? My moral conflict boils down to this: How do I create a lifestyle for myself that is morally just in relation to what I'm doing for the world and humankind, and how far must I take it? There is a lot that I want to build into my personality and lifestyle. My ideal personality is multifaceted and versatile. When I have conversations with others, I want to be able to look across the table at someone who is looking across the table at someone interesting. What will that person look like? I want to intrigue my company, and I want to impart some gift of knowledge, optimism, inspiration, or motivation to everyone I meet. I want to be like Siddhartha Gautama, leaving his castle walls to seek the truth and attempt to alleviate global suffering as much as possible. I want to know how to do many things, know of many things, and apply it practically in both globally and locally beneficial ways. I want to achieve much and foster an impeccable, adaptable, and reliably actualized personality. I want to be radically alive, feeling life fully, acting and reacting fully consciously, and riding the waves of my highest creative ambitions. My shoot-for-the-stars goal is to save the world

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 from all of its problems and remain humble, lovable and loving. To illustrate the life of this individual with high hopes and big dreams, I will now present to you my autobiography. I was born to two healthy and loving parents in a central california small town called San Luis Obispo. They had just moved from Los Angeles to give me a healthy, unpolluted life. They are musicians and play in a band together, performing at various cafe's and venues. They had a few local friends who soon birthed friends for me, and two and a half years after I was born, my parents birthed a brother for me. Growing up, I was very eccentric. I was excited about everything, and ready for anything. I loved art and music, learned to play guitar and piano, and would dance and sing to bands that my parents put on the stereo, such as the Beatles, all the time. I had plenty of family members to play with and learn the art of living from. All things considered, I had a great childhood. When school started, I had to adapt to a new way of life. In my memory, pre-school was fun, everything was novel and interesting, and it was perfect for my growing curiosity. Elementary school was when social relationships really started to develop, and I made friendships that are still alive and well today. I was on the chess team and achieved first place in the chess championship four years in a row, winning one hundred dollars each time. I was shy and introverted to most, but excitable and exciting around my friends. Then came middle school, the pubescent battleground to prove oneself as the coolest top-dog alpha male kid. But I hadn't been raised in a very competitive environment. I grew up in with a lifestyle in which competition was for fun and everyone was a winner in the end. Shame was just part of the game, not something to be taken seriously. But the clash of different family values on the playground created an environment for war, especially when it was a battle to win the attention of a beautiful girl. During these middle school years I was faced with many challenges, especially ones of identity and maturation. I made some new friends in middle school that became part of my pre-existing friend

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 group, and a few alternative friends who were slightly more rebellious. I had one friendship that fluctuated from being best friends one day to being worst enemies the next. Pushing him in the lockerroom after he taunted and intimidated me resulted in me having detention during lunchtime on my birthday. But I was smiling the whole time because I had stood up for myself, and I felt pretty badass doing so. I also remember him getting me in a headlock one day during lunch, and we literally threw each other against lockers from one side of the courtyard to the other until one of the yard duty volunteers made us stop and apologize to each other. We also had a group science project together on mag-lev bullet trains that he wasn't putting effort into, and our presentation was horrible. So I asked the teacher if I could present by myself during the next class, which boosted my grade on the project from a C to an A. I decided not to hang out with people who held me back so much, and stopped going over to his house. I also had a few crushes on girls during those years, neither of which actualized. I didn't really like middle school for the most part, but I did enjoy some aspects of it, such as my spanish, english and history classes. I was one year ahead of most students in math, but so were about twenty other students in my grade, but that still meant that I got to take classes with older students which I enjoyed. Once I arrived in the mysterious and versatile world of High School, things were much better. I joined cross country and made new friends. My original group consisted of friends from elementary and middle school. They were very in to sleep-overs, video games, and having fun the safe and acceptable way. They were pretty straight-laced, though as we grew up some of them started to move away from that. But when I found my other group of friends, that's when my life started to change a lot. I became friends with a very exciting group who were into playing music, staying downtown until late at night, making jokes about things that are inappropriate, and eventually smoking, drinking, and experimenting with various taboo things. I sort of found an important part of myself within this group

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 of banditos. The problem was that there was a discrepancy between this group and the other one. I would often invite some friends from my original group to hang out with my new friends, and they just wouldn't co-habituate very well. So I would have to divide my time between friend groups. I also had many crushes on girls during high school, but again, none of them actualized. I went to prom with a very cute, somewhat shy girl who I had been introduced to because we both needed someone to go to prom with. It was fun, but pretty much all for show. My first kiss was with a girl from Ohio who I met in France in the summer before sophomore year of high school. My second kiss wasn't until the summer after I graduated high school. I was a late bloomer into the world of romance. I was also very introverted and pretty shy within the school setting. I was very open and able to have a lot of fun with my friends while off campus, and I was very energetic at home. By holding everything in during the school day, I was compelled to let it all out when I got home, so I would often throw my backpack on the ground upon entering my living room, and run around, do handstands on the carpet, and yell with excited energy. I also had a cat named Gemini growing up who died in sixth grade, and a new cat named Sonja who we got from the pound in eighth grade, but unfortunately died last year. My cats offered unconditional love to me. I could count on them for warmth, softness, purring, and attention. I loved falling asleep and waking up cuddling with my cat Sonja. I also lived near a few gorgeous hills, mountains and creeks, which I would explore when I had time. I had amazing adventures, especially once I had my ipod, running and exploring the close-by world that I didn't know existed. I found a ranch with horses, cows, llamas, an emu and a peacock, and a tower by the train-tracks with a ladder that I could climb and look over the landscape of the area I lived in, and off into the horizon. I loved to run along the train-tracks, past the vineyards, and past the parked boxcar trains. The train track ran right behind my house, so I could see trains pass from my kitchen window. This brings me to the train tracks dilemma. Watching trains pass and gazing at parked boxcars

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 presented me with an option of running away. With the urge to escape the unnatural repetitive drudgery of middle school and sometimes high school, I began to fantasize about hopping onto a boxcar and seeing where it took me. In eighth grade I wrote a ten page research paper on being intentionally homeless and travelling the world, complete with benefits and ideological reasons for living such a lifestyle. I frequently struggled with the question: Do I run away and explore the world that I know exists out there? (The world is my oyster approach.) Or do I wait it out, cultivate what I can, experience bourgeoisie white middle class life, learn as much as I possibly can, have fun, and then take that knowledge with me and explore the world as a mature, intellectual with more purpose and more knowledge to apply to what I find in my travels? There are two dilemmas within this dilemma: 1. If I stay: What if I get too drawn in, conform too much, and am pulled in by the bells and whistles of the capitalism game, tempting me to continue this comfortable, self-serving lifestyle? 2. If I do travel: What if I become too much of an adventurer, always seeking the next high, the next orgasm (same applies to dilemma 1)? How do I do what I want and also contribute to something greater? Finally, I got to college. I applied and got into UC Santa Cruz. This was my opportunity to really find myself (within the context of a pre-established system), to create a person who I would become, to learn as much as I could about myself and the world, apply it, and figure out how I wanted to live my life. I chose to go to Stevenson College and take the core class titled Self and Society, in hopes to find my place in the world. Many of the classes I have taken have been incredible, enriching, and thought-provoking experiences. Many of the friends I have made have been incredible and compelling companions throughout the adventure of college. I had many mind-expanding and uplifting experiences, both in Santa Cruz and in travels over the summers and breaks. I visited friends in Los Angeles and learned what the LA life was like, both up in the hills and down in the streets. I visited friends in Berkeley and Oakland and learned about the bay area lifestyle. I travelled to Israel on

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 Birthright, a program that sends anyone with even a quarter of Jewish ancestry to The Holy Land, in which I saw the Red Sea, the Med Sea and the Dead Sea, went to Jerusalem and saw the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and after the program was over, I extended my trip with some friends and went to Petra in Jordan, and Ramala and Bethlehem in the West Bank. I had travelled to Europe twice, once to Italy Spain and France with a Student Ambassador group in High School, and once to Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland and a little bit of Germany with my family on a guided tour. But I had never been to the middle east, and never travelled on my own terms, making my own decisions about where to go next. All of these adventures fed me so much. The freedom to explore fulfilled my dreams of adventure and built up my plans for further travels that I would eventually embark upon, one being a bike ride in Big Sur to Esalen, which was an incredibly magical experience. Another important part of my life is music camp. Starting in High School, I went to a Balkan music camp in the Mendocino Woodlands. It was all ages and very open and free. That was where I met the girl. Her name was Clio Wilde, a beautiful blonde girl with an astoundingly incredible voice, a very down to earth, unique and holistic personality, who I instantly connected with and was intrigued by. Unfortunately, she had a boyfriend from back home, who came from a rich family, so it was hard to compete. But over the next year, she had broken up with him, and Clio and I had decided to go to a larger camp with more people our age called Lark. It was the same idea, but three times as large and encompassing music everywhere from Ireland to Hungary to Greece. Within the first couple of days, the two of us became extremely close. I was so happy being with her, enamored by everything she did, and infatuated with who she was. By the end of the week when we had to say goodbye, after we kissed in the meadow outside of the tents, everything was glowing, colorful and surreal, and she looked so beautiful, and I could see her so clearly. But then we were separated by the forces of time and space. And the next year at camp, it wasn't the same. She told me on the third night that if I couldn't already

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 tell, it wasn't going to work out. She said that last year had been one of the best weeks of her life, but that it was too hard afterwards, and she didn't want to repeat it. When she told me that, I went to sit alone at a picnic table, and felt my heart literally break. It was a heavy and horrible feeling, and I didn't know how to handle it. She had told me that she didn't want this to stop me from seeing other people, and told me of a particular girl who was interested in me. I did not like that idea at all. And then Clio started seeing one of my friends. That completely tore my heart apart. I had brought Clio with me to a new and exciting camp, and she ended up with someone else. I felt betrayed, confused, inadequate, but with time, help from friends, walks in the woods, and reflective understanding, I was able to forgive her, forgive myself, and move on. I am now very good friends with both her and her boyfriend, and have told them that I approve of their relationship, which gave them a sense of relief. I was able to continue enjoying camp for the friendships, the music, the dancing, and the freedom, without being tied down by desires, jealousies or feelings of inferiority. And thus I was able to focus again on myself. I learned that love has to come from the inside, and I can't rely on external sources for true happiness. As a third year University student, I have experienced a lot of transformations and life lessons. I have had to think a lot about my place in the world and what life direction I want to take, how I want to live my life, and who I want to be. So the question that I have to tie into all of this is: How shall I live my life. What is most needed right now, and what will be needed in the world? What can I do that will utilize my skills and passions, fulfill and satisfy me consistently, and contribute to the currently and constantly changing revolution in human consciousness and social order? What do I really want to be, what does the world need that I can and want to do?

Analysis: [What does this mean, what do the experts say?] Growing up, I experienced shame, guilt, existential guilt, feelings of inadequacy and of not

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 being able to cope with or accept good things fully. These were all inhibitions that created more inhibitions continuously. At home, rules were established, and I would experience a lot of guilt when I transgressed the boundaries created by them. At school, an ego-ideal was established and I would feel shame when I didn't live up to it. Guilt and shame created guilt-shame cycles that I went through, very similar to the cycles laid out by G. Piers and M. B. Singer in the psychoanalytic perspective. When I disobeyed a rule, either at home or at school, I would feel guilty, which lead to an inhibition of that action or behavior. My outlets for these inhibitions would be music, running, games, wrestling with my brother, and having fun with friends. The inhibition, when not satisfied by an outlet, lead to passivity of action, which lead to shame for not being rebellious or interesting enough. Shame lead to overcompensatory aggression, which lead to guilt for acting out, behaving like a beast, and acting abnormal or inappropriate. There were two cycles of shame, mostly existent at school. One was the cycle of aggression, the other, the cycle of sexual impulse. The cycle of aggression is as follows: Aggression (towards bullies) leads to guilt (superego saying you cant do that! Its inappropriate!) leads to inhibition, leads to passivity, leads to shame (you coward! or feelings of inadequacy), leads to a big action of aggression (pushing my friend in the locker-room), leads to guilt (reinforced by punishment). The cycle of sexual impulse is as follows: Sexual impulse (towards girls) leads to guilt, leads to inhibition/regression, leads to shame (at not being able to get the girl), leads to sexual acting out (masturbation), leads to guilt, and repeat. Being stuck in this cycle was not fun, and I needed to be liberated. I was dancing the dance of Shiva, also known as the game of life, unaware that there is a way to jump off of the wheel of shame/guilt cycles. I was, as James Gilligan would put it, a Hutterite amongst Kwakiutl, or, a guilt-cultured innocent child amongst warmongering shame-cultured savages. From this discrepancy, I developed

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 issues with my body image (being skinny, wondering if I was attractive), was shy and introverted at school, (but extroverted at home and amongst close friends), lacked confidence and a feeling of worth (subconsciously asking myself, Do I deserve to be with a girl that I find beautiful?), and had maturity issues (struggling to fit the social norms of maturity because of not being as competitive as others). And a big issue arose later in life: I was able to make lots of friends, but had a hard time really getting close with people, really having deep and intimate connections. I often feel that it is hard to find someone who really wants to get to know me. But that is mostly because I tend to close myself off to close relationships due to a deep introversion hidden beneath my extroverted exterior. I eventually began to experience existential guilt whenever I started to lose my inhibitions, due to the humility acquired from my guilt ethic background. Existential guilt, according to Martin Hoffman in the social-learning perspective, is guilt experienced even when no wrong has been done. For me, this appeared as guilt from success. My internal critic would ask, Why should it be me? Will my success mean anothers failure? Will it expose their lack of success, leaving them 'naked?' James Gilligan states that one experiencing this may feel guilty if he feels he is far better off than others. Existential guilt may hinder competence at times, and it often erodes competitive, individualistic (traditional) ethics. It overrides shame, probably due to empathy for others gained from similar experiences. Being that I was afraid to be seen in a positive light and as better than others meant that I didn't compete well in the shame game at school. This, in turn, lead to inhibition, regression and repression. I grew up hiding my strong points, afraid to explore them. Fortunately, this existential "guilt over being relatively advantaged (Hoffman), can lead to altruistic action, intending to alleviate the negative conditions of the less fortunate. The Siddhartha Guatama in me wanted to find the truth and alleviate the suffering, and the Robin Hood in me wanted to radically equalize the standards of well-being between the rich and the poor, the first-world and the

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 third-world, and the happy/healthy and the sad/sick. I had a strong feeling that if I did nothing, I would become personally responsible. This feeling manifests itself when I can't help with the problems of others, even personal or relationships problems. I have experienced taking on other people's heartbreaks, which I call secondhand heartbreak. This is being uncontrollably drawn into others' emotions and being unable to separate them from my own emotions, in other words, hyper-empathy. But that feeling of empathy can turn into altruism, and over time I have learned to be empathetic without having to physically feel pain from the pain of others, which is a shift to sympathy. So to answer the question of why I feel I must help, I shall reiterate existential guilt. True (existential) guilt is when I associate myself with the class that causes the plight, or when I enjoy the luxuries I know others don't have. I want to have solidarity, because I feel empathically connected to everyone on a level that can only be justifiably described as spiritual. Hoffman states that alleviating existential guilt may require continued activity in the service of alleviating human suffering, not just one discrete act to continue a sense of self-worth. Existential guilt for some may be an obstacle to personal competence, achievement and success, wishing that others could be up here with you, seeing the injustice in the suffering of others (Hoffman). This makes me wonder, is my desire to be a transient (the train-track dilemma) due to cognitive dissonance, to identify myself with the "lowly," to deny my privilege? My heritage? Well, that may be part of the explanation, but to be complete, the explanation must be combined with my curiosity to explore the world and experience everything. A desire for the novel and the numinous. Doctor Ernest Rossi, a psychotherapist from Los Osos, California, adds psycho-spiritual neuroscience into the mix by proposing that novel and numinous experiences expand and heal the mind and the brain. In four steps, he articulates that, (1) art, beauty, and truth, novel and numinous dreams, and the psycho-spiritual metaphors of meditation and psychotherapy (2) heighten the activity of mirror

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 neurons to (3) activate the experience-dependent gene expression/protein synthesis cycle, which create the building block of life to (4) facilitate brain plasticity and mind-body healing. That is to say, beauty, the novel and the numinous can heighten and intrigue our consciousness. He sees consciousness as a novelty-seeking modality and experience-dependent process that drives the co-evolutionary spiral of mind and brain. With elevating assistance from mind and consciousness... the co-evolution of mind and brain increases with activity and experience-dependent gene expression and brain plasticity. This model proposes that activity and experience, especially that which is novel and numinous, increases our mental abilities and mental health. This sort of experience intrigued me to delve into the realm of Spirituality. I joined a Buddhist mystic group, learned a lot, but didn't wish to subscribe after being disillusioned with some of their ideals. Adding to this, humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers states, If the human species is to survive at all on this globe, the human being must become more readily adaptive to new problems and situations... The psychologically mature person... has the qualities to value experiences which would facilitate the survival and enhancement of the human race, illustrating the necessity of conscious evolution and psychological maturation amongst our species. So my desire to explore the world and experience everything may be a very innately human need to expand and evolve, encouraged by new experiences, and rewarded with understanding and a larger grasp, which, evolutionarily speaking, could facilitate survival. Finally, where does my desire for altruism (rescuing or helping someone, in need or distress), fit into the picture? Hoffman suggests that socialization experiences increase empathetic tendencies and that altruism is a naturally evolving process, assertions which can be tied to Rossi's claims of the benefits of positive new experiences. Hoffman also proposes four hypotheses for altruistic motive development, those being: 1. Sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others from relatable distress experiences. 2. Role taking experience (with corrective feedback). 3. Imagining self in other's

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 place/position and noticing similarities and differences. 4. Exposure to "Love models." Experiencing love, altruism and helping. In my case, the fourth is most prevalent. My parents raised me in a loving environment, so I consequently feel guilty (and ashamed) when not exercising altruism if an opportunity for it arises. I also relate to the first hypothesis, because I have had a number of distress experiences myself, and even if they aren't to the extent that others have suffered, I can imagine my hunger on a one-hundred-fold scale, or my heartbreak in a married-with-kids situation, and thus sympathize. But altruistic action is more likely when the appropriate thing to do is obvious and within the person's repertoire, and less likely when there is little that he can do. Conclusively, my sense of curiosity and knack for adventure is intertwined with my need to attain a way of life and status of power in which I have the means to help those less fortunate than me, initiated by my existential guilt and fueled by my conscious sympathy and the love from my love models.

Solution: [Moving forward into the future, plans, processes, and ways to live.] The easy answer to how I want to live my life is: I want to have fun! I want to feel good and make people feel good! I want my life to be rich with experience, I want to discover new truths, new heights, new feelings and sensations. I want to understand the vast complexities of the universe, from the mechanics of the smallest atoms and seeds, to the incredible wonder of the cosmos. I want to sink my teeth deep into life's nectar, and explore every last crevice and unexplored territory, as long as my heart is in it and it feels right. I have to figure out what my passions are. I have to think about what makes me happiest and feels right, and about what feeds me and grants me the ability to feed others. I can see myself being a

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 high school teacher, a college professor/research professor/researcher, a therapist, a fireman, head of an orphanage, working in a third world country or inner-city, working on a sustainable living ecocommunity, working at Esalen or a similar Humanistic center, traveling the world, an English professor in a foreign country, a journalist/newspaper reporter/social documenter/gonzo journalist, an EthnoBotanist/Cultural Anthropologist, or even an anti-capitalist anti-industrial insurgent. But what may be more important than a definite life occupation, or a planned out destination, is a solid set of life values to strive to live by, which will guide me in my decisions. A compass is better than a map because it points me in the right direction depending on the given context. A friend of mind crashed his boat near Australia because he was using an outdated map, and a coral reef had appeared that wasn't there before. Luckily, local Frenchmen saved them, but their boat and many surf boards didn't survive. But I can't risk relying on an outdated map. I can always trust a compass. A compass magnetically influences my value directions. It points me in the right direction is malleable to any situation, and is not a list of commandments. To start out, this compass will consist of three things. James Gilligan's Love Ethic, Erich Fromm's Humanistic Conscience, and Carl Rogers' Organismic Valuing Process (OVP). James Gilligan proposes that one no longer needs the guilt/shame moral paradigm when he can move past them into the Love ethic. The love ethic simply goes by the motto: Meet one's own needs (in order to) another's and vice versa, which can be accomplished only through love, not through morality (Gilligan). Erich Fromm's Humanistic Conscience is the internal voice of our autonomous, loving care for ourselves, asserting that one provide for (one)self an internal climate (or relationship) in which 'I have worth as a human being (Fromm).' This voice contains the principles we have discovered ourselves or learned from others and found (for ourselves) to be true. Carl Rogers' OVP is an adjustable value-direction system that originates in as an organism's basic survival unit and pleasure-

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 seeking device, and later can become a conscious, fluid, flexible, processes that bases values on the particular moment to the degree in which that moment is experienced as enhancing and actualizing (Rogers). A brief, but necessary supplement to this compass is a solid definition of love. Professor Frank Andrews defines loving as the experience of a heart-felt 'yes,' stating that one goal (transcends/heightens/brings joy to) all others: to love fully and without conditions. He explains that Conditional loving means Ill love if you fit my pictures. Unconditional means I love you as you are. Dont take something for granted because its reliable. Dont take (anything) for granted, appreciate it. Andrews discusses the power of exercising loving in all aspects of life, including in relationships. In relationships, he asserts, he works for the values of loving and being loved, and of supporting and being supported. He works toward personal growth for self and other... to nurture the relationship, thereby putting good memories into it, and if things don't go as planned, seeing the relationship as a blessing and a growth opportunity. With love, it is much easier to learn from life and let all encounters be some sort of lesson, and all people be teachers. So my solutions are to Be a participant and guide in the process of human evolution. This phases out the feeling of existential guilt, because by being both a participant and a facilitator or guide, I am both helping and being part of the group that is being helped, because we're all in this together as a global community. I will help to facilitate universal values, emerging from open experiences of actualization of the humanistic conscience, exercising the love ethic, and moving towards Roger's psychologically mature value directions. My ultimate goal is to Facilitate the survival and enhancement of the human race (Rogers). I will work on myself, enhance my spontaneity and improvisation, and to consistently practice being grounded, balanced, healthy, intuitive, and joyous. I will practice motivating myself and

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 motivating others in novel and creative ways. Knowing the importance of self love and appreciation will keep me going. But inspiration from others will help to regenerate that engine when it starts to lose fuel, and I will exercise gratitude which will remind me the importance of giving, and encourage me to fuel the tanks of others whenever possible. Because I know that it's tied to something bigger than just a moment of smiling, but to an accumulation of inspirations and motivations that can transform into positive and revolutionary actions. I will strive to live a life in which I am in touch with my OVP and open to new experiences, and can learn something every moment and every interaction. I will strive to have respect and compassion for myself and others. And I will live in a way which creates a climate and personality that is genuine, shows unconditional positive regard, and empathy for others. This will be accomplished by intentionally using these goals to decide where to go in life, who to spend time with, and what kind of life I want to lead. If I stick to my humanistic, organismic, love-bliss-tic moral compass, I know that wherever I go will be where I want to be. And if not, I'll know how to navigate my way to where I want to go. I will direct myself to an environment and amongst people in which I can learn how to love as deeply as possible, exercise love, and strive to appreciate every single moment, even the one's that don't go too groovy. And when the going gets rough, I will step to the side, close my eyes, and meditate or reflect, so that when I'm ready, I can jump back in, and continue to soar.

Robin Liepman Psych 179A June 2, 2011 References From the Reader Fromm, E. Man For Himself (Chapters II & IV) Gilligan, J. Beyond Morality: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Shame, Guilt, and Love Hoffman, M. L. Empathy, Role Taking, Guilt, and Development of Altruistic Motives Piers, G. & Singer, M. B. Shame and Guilt (Chapters 1-10). Rogers, C. A Modern Approach to the Valuing Process

Outside Sources Andrews, F. (1991). The Art and Practice of Loving: Living a Heartfelt Yes. Palo Alto, CA: Magic. Rossi, E. et. al. (2010). What Makes Us Human? A Neuroscience Prolegomenon for the Philosophy of Evolution and Consciousness. Bikaner, India: Yash Publishing.