Psychological Richness and Redefining Our Value System
摘要
The first requirement for developing psychological richness is to let go of the idea that we have just “one identity,” “one personality,” or “one perspective on life.” More than ever, we are located in fields of tension that emerge on the interface of positions and values that differ not only between people but even within the domain of the individual self. Our personal positions and values are not purely individual “possessions.” They are located at the interface of self and society. To protect and increase our psychological richness in a society of difference and polarization, the triad position-shadow-counter-position was described. This triad is a response to the risk of “over-positioning” (e.g., from autonomy to loneliness or from consumption to consumerism) that results in shadows in the self unless counter-positions are brought into arms. To broaden the limited mainstream notion of success, four identity levels were introduced: individual, social, human, and ecological, each with their corresponding responsibilities. By taking the value of the individual and group levels into account, dominant in our striving for success, this model has the advantage that the broader levels, human and ecological, transcend the more restricted individual and group levels. Dialogical relations among the different identities are needed to determine which identity is significant in which situation.