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a) prototaxic experience (characterized by loss of ego);

b) parataxic experience (characterized by the production of images whose meaning is not clear or categorical);

c) syntaxic experience (where meaning is more or less fully cognized symbolically, with ego present).

Within the prototaxic mode are the procedures of dissociation, trance, possession, mediumship, hypnosis, psychedelic drug experiences, automatisms, organ possession including glossolalia and automatic writing. These varied states have in common the excursus of the ego with loss of memorability of the incident, an altered state of consciousness involving trance or dissociation.¹ There is obviously a "hierarchy" or taxonomy involved in the list of procedures above, which appear to go from "heavy" to "light," with the former procedures involving more characteristic behavior, and the latter less.

Between the primary stages of the prototaxic mode manifested in trance and gross somatic behaviors, expressing the dreadful and uncanny aspects of the numinous element, and the terminal cognitive levels of the syntaxic mode in meditation, peak experiences, and theophanies, all reflecting benign aspects of the numinous, there is certainly a great gulf fixed. This neutral area is occupied by the parataxic mode in which the "awful" aspects of the numinous element are veiled, and the syntaxic glories not yet unfolded. Although archetypes, dreams, myth, and ritual are also in the mode, in the popular mind these outlets are stereotyped as "art."

"Parataxic" according to Sullivan (1953:xiv) is a mode of representation using symbols and images in a private or idiosyncratic manner, similar to Bruner's "iconic" representation. Parataxic representation is identified by a presentational form or image, which has a hidden meaning or one not clearly evocated, and generally ambiguous in that it may often be understood in different ways or at several levels of meaning. The representation is not a reproduction of nature, but some transformation or interpretation of it. The form is figural and non-verbal and tends toward action, but the action is not definitive or a solution to the psychic tension; it is more like a rehearsal of it. The form may have numinous or uncanny qualities, but these are commonly more muted than in the prototaxic mode, as though they were veiled; and there is a gradual increase of ego control from the ASC and dim cognition of the procedures of archetype and dream,

surfacing in OSC in myth and ritual and finally expressed in the creative products of art.

In the parataxic mode, encounters with the numinous element are veiled in archetype, myh and dream. There is veiling first of the numinous element itself in archetype; there is veiling of the ego's cognition of the numinous element so that the product appears as an incompletely differentiated image, and finally there is veiling of the mysterium tremendum quality so that the numinous is gradually stripped of its awe-full-ness and hence appears in a more benign and aesthetic guise. The result is not ecstatic nor awe-inspiring, but is diminished to the human dimension. As art is nature transformed, so the parataxic mode represents the numinous element transformed. There is an element of magic in this change: representations of the parataxic are not so much gods, asuras, or demons, as they are fairies, sprites, and sylphs.

We come now to the culmination of our search, for if there is any fit vessel in the universe to receive the numinous element in propria persona it is the human consciousness in the syntaxic mode. All that has gone before, the trance miracles of the prototaxic, and the magical art of the parataxic, are like the dumb show and the music before the play - the mere overture to the cognitive powers and the affective glories of the syntaxic mode. Creativity is the popular name for the mode, as were trance and art for the earlier ones, but this mode is creative with a vengeance. For it displays besides creativity, escalation, emergent capacities undreamed or unheard of before, intuition, transcendence, ecstasy, metamorphosis, and salvation.

The syntaxic mode embraces three levels or stages. The first is the creative (including mediation) which we identified earlier (1972) as the sixth developmental stage, and the occultists call the third state of consciousness. This level generally involves the ordinary state of consciousness, although there may be momentary intuitive intimations of something higher. Siddhis (psychic powers) are generally absent, although a few are found in creative states, some in biofeedback and orthocognition, and perhaps more in meditation.

The next level we have called earlier (1972) the psychedelic (for mind expansion), and have identified as developmental stage 7. (The occultists call it the fourth state of consciousness). This level has the property that those in it experience a transient altered state of consciousness known as an ecstasy in which there is loss of self, time, or space, the infusion of a special knowledge, and purification of self. Siddhis are often seen. There are six procedures in this level (see Table VIII).

a) Response Experience (Jhana -1) (nature-mystic, oceanic, or peak experience);
b) Adamic Ecstasy (Jhana 0) ("cleansing of the doors of perception");
c) Knowledge ecstasy (Jhana 1) (illumination through special instant knowledge);
d) Knowledge-contact ecstasy (Jhana 2) (contact with numinous element);
e) Knowledge-contact ecstasy (Jhana 3) (rapture ceases);
f) Knowledge-contact ecstasy (Jhana 4) (all feelings cease).

Finally there exists a highest level which we now call the unitive (earlier we had called it the illuminative). It is development stage 8, and the 5th level of consciousness for the occultists. Words fail to be of much use in describing this high level and its four procedures (Table VIII.) Those few who may dwell here are in a permanent altered state of consciousness, with attendant siddhis (which they evidently disdain to use). Since there are very few of them, and they shun publicity, we know very little about this level. Goleman says there are four procedures, all involving self-transcendence, and the last two Union. They are:

a) Ineffable Contact (Jhana 5) (consciousness of infinite space);
b) Transcendental contact (Jhana 6) (objectless infinite consciousness);
0 Ineffable Union (Jhana 7) (awareness of "no-thing-ness");
d) Transcendental Union (Jhana 8) (neither perception nor nonperception) (see Table VIII).

4.37 Creativity as Evidence of Mental Health and Self-Actualization

a) Introduction.A final way of looking at creativity is to regard it as early evidence of progress in mental health and self-actualization. The amount of creativity, other things being equal, may be regarded as a barometer of one's mental health. Maslow (Anderson, 1958:88) elaborates this idea further in saying: "The creativity of my subjects seemed to be an epiphenomenon of their greater wholesomeness and integration, which is what 'self-actualized' implies." It is as natural to express creativity under conditions of high mental health as it is for a black object when heated to radiate electromagnetic waves of heat and light.

The creative person is not necessarily perfect and without flaw. Actually, creativity occurs early in the development of the mentally healthy individual and promises the continuation of such mental health, much as ego strength predicts the successful termination of therapy. Creative performance tends to influence development in the direction of mental health, as fruit on a tree or dividends on a stock promise the future vitality of an organism.

After a careful case study investigation of the influence of mental health on creativity, Fried (1964) concluded that increased mental health as established through therapy improved artistic work habits, freed and sublimated aggressive, destructive tendencies into productive work patterns, reduced omnipotent fantasy which had caused the artists to destroy many of their works which were below the masterpiece level, and improved human relations which tended to preserve creative

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energy. The creativity increase in these artists undergoing therapy appeared as an early dividend resulting from their increased mental health.

The essence of process toward both greater mental health and greater creativity lies in the strengthening and developing of the preconscious so that it enlarges to assume a more important share in the tripartite membership of the individual psyche. This aggrandizement signals improved mental health and progress toward self-actualization, of which creative performance is an early indication. McLuhan and the existentialists emphasize a better balance between rational and pararational aspects of the psyche, and perhaps in this instance they are merely restating the thesis which has just been illustrated here.

b) General Research on Self-Actualization. Damm (1970) after analyzing studies of Arnold (1961), Blatt (1964), MacKinnon (1964), Barron (1963), Roe (1963), and Gerber (1965) on the relationship between creativity and mental health in adults, concludes that a strong relationship exists. Damm (1970) found students high in intelligence and creativity are more self-actualized as measured by Shostrom's (1966) Personal Orientation Inventory than students who are high in intelligence only. He concluded that students who obtained high scores on both areas were superior in self- actualization and recommended that the development of both intelligence and creative abilities should be a prime educational goal.

Hallman (1963), speaking about self-actualization, says:

Empirically, this criterion is supported by the great wealth of data which has been reported. Maslow (1956) has spoken most forcefully on this theme. He equates creativity with the state of psychological health, and this with the self-actualization process. There is no exception to this rule, he says. "Creativity is an universal characteristic of self-actualizing people." This form of creativeness reaches beyond special-talent creativeness; it is a fundamental characteristic of human nature. It touches whatever activity the healthy person is engaged in.

Craig (1966) reviewed trait theories of creativity and listed four personality correlates which were congruent with Maslow's holistic scheme of self-actualization and character integration. Newton (1968) in doctoral research found high correlation between progress toward self-actualization and intelligence.

Moustakas (1967) attempted to conceptualize creativity in terms of self-growth and self-renewal by stressing the uniqueness of the individual and his potentialities for mental health.

Helder, in doctoral research (1968) contrasted mystical and peak

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experiences found in the more open creative stance with traditional perceptual-cognitive consciousness. It is interesting to note that Maslow in his famous study of self-actualizing persons, found none who were not creative. In imitation of Maslow's work, we present some characteristics of self -actualizing persons which seem to be related to their creativity as follows: a) introduction b) general research on self-actualization, c) joy, content, and expectation of good, d) serendipity, e) increased control over environment, f) sense of destiny, g) acceptance of self, others, and nature, h) spontaneity, i) detachment and autonomy, j) Gemeinschaftsgefuhl, k) a philosophical and unhostile sense of humor, 1) psychological and semantic flexibility, and m) the "witness-phenomenon." These aspects represent the maturing of the creative phase of development, or the spread of the function through man's mind which signals increasing readiness for the next level of mind expansion.
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Rogers (1968) in unique doctoral research investigated the childhoods of self-actualizing persons (identified on the POI), using the high and low fifteen out of 183 undergraduate males. The degree and variety of common participation among members of the family was significantly greater in the families of the self-actualizing students, with their parents more approving, more trusting, and more lenient. Fisher (1972) using the POI on nominated paranormals, found a trend for paranormals to score in the direction of self-actualization. McClain and Andrews (1969) has 139 students write about their most wonderful experience, and found evidence that those who wrote about peak experiences were more self-actualized than those who did not. Thorne and Piskin (1968) did a factor analysis on successful executives and found five factors which they claimed were related to self- actualization: secure individualism, egocentrism, doing right, self-determination, and independent self-assertion. Garfield (1968) in doctoral research found that subjects whose mental health and growth were improved by a psychotherapy treatment of fifteen weeks, showed significantly greater gains in creativity than a control group. Blanchard (1970) investigated the psychodynamics of the peak-experience and reported that "the creative act pushed the boundaries of the self . . . " He stressed both the exhilaration arid danger in the greater creativity which the peak-experience releases. Frankl (1966:97ff) in talking about self-transcendence says that motivational theories based on homeostatic principles overlook the satisfaction which is intrinsic to finding more meaning and order in life as a result of peak-experiences.

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The self-actualization explanation of creativity is not just another way of looking at the subject; for some it is the only way. The mind expanding aspect is seen as a fundamental property of life, with creativity the aurora of the new dawn. Barron (1968:305) echoes this view:

The tendency of life then is toward the expansion of consciousness. In a sense, a description of means for the expansion of consciousness has been the central theme of this book, and it is in this evolutionary tendency that such diverse phenomena as psychotherapy, surprising or unexpected self-renewal, the personally evolved and deepened forms of religious belief, creative imagination, mysticism, and deliberately induced changes of
consciousness through the use of chemicals find a common bond.

c) Joy, Content, and Expectation of Good. One of the most interesting aspects of creativity is that affective development seems to go along with cognitive development, so that positive feelings about oneself, others, and the universe are felt by most creative persons. There is in particular an absence of generalized fear, anxiety, and insecurity, which is perhaps related to a wider competence, but seems more due to a dawning realization of the beneficence of the cosmos. The optimist is luckier than the pessimist, and creative people tend to be optimists. Perhaps this is because creativity represents the ability to solve new problems so that one is not fearful of the future. One is reminded of Bucke's characteristics of illumination (White, 1972:87ff) which mentions joy, assurance, a sense of immortality, the vanishing of the fear of sin and death. One is also reminded of the reply of Thoreau on his death-bed when asked if he wanted to make his peace with God: "We have never fallen out."

d) Serendipity. The princes of Serendip upon being sent on missions by their father to discover certain things, discovered, instead, other things for which they were not looking. The word has entered the language since it expresses a phenomenon which occurs to creative people: namely the situation of which Einstein speaks: if we quiet the mind and relax, we find to our surprise that "a new idea modestly presents itself." The discovery of things for which one was not looking, indicates that the collective preconscious is wiser than we are, for it seems to know what we need to discover, even though our conscious mind does not. In this sense serendipity replaces the random aspects of nature with an ordering in the mind which is a great time saver.

e) Increased Control over Environment. There are several senses in which creative persons gain this control. In the first place there is the purely outer consequence that a creative product solves an

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environmental challenge with a higher response. In the second place, the fact that one is creative gives one the potentiality to solve the next crisis, and hence, to have potential control. In the third place, because creativity represents an intuitive brush with the noumenon, it involves some kind of esoteric control of the environment. We shall call this control "orthocognition" and discuss it further in section 4.5; healing, in some respects the "twin" of creativity, is an aspect of this increased control.

f) Sense of Destiny. Because the creative person sees some order and plan in the universe, and believes himself to be a part of that plan, he has a sense of destiny. He is ordered in the sense that the atoms in a piece of magnetized iron are ordered. Like the last two sections, the concept involves an escalation from randomness to order, or if you are a physics major, a decrease in entropy. The creative person also becomes more independent of time, and more conscious of past-present-future all at once, and this too gives him a perspective which others interpret as a sense of destiny.

g) Acceptance of Self, Others, and Nature. If I can't accept me, I can't accept you, and if I can't accept you, I certainly can't accept those other even more dreadful people. Consequently the ability to accept ourselves (with all our faults), our loved ones (with all their faults), and finally the rest of the world (with all its faults) is a real barometer of maturity. This acceptance signals development away from egocentricity and the identity crisis. Maslow (1954:207-8) points out that self-actualizing people can accept the animal part of themselves without neurotic disgust; they can accept others because of their lack of defensiveness, but show distaste for cant and hypocrisy in social relationships. They accept nature because they see reality more clearly and without the spectacles of prejudice: "One does not complain about water because it is wet."

h) Spontaneity. Creative persons are spontaneous and free. They are not constricted or compartmentalized. They have an open, free, loving life style which resembles that of an artist more than that of an undertaker. They are intraceptive in being open to feelings; they are therefore childlike, although not immature. Maslow (1954:208-9) points out that the behavior of self-actualizing persons is marked by simpleness and naturalness. Spontaneity is related to the essential autonomy of the person of which we shall next speak.

i) Detachment and Autonomy. Creative persons are inner-oriented, and need privacy and some degree of withdrawal. They are in the world but not of it. They "march to the music of a distant drum" and hence need quiet in order to hear it. While not in the least

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immoral, they are often unconventional; they obey a higher inner law, rather than a lower outer statute. When Thoreau was in jail for refusing to support the Mexican War and Emerson bailed him out, Emerson is supposed to have said: "Henry, why are you here?" to which Thoreau replied: "Ralph, why are you not here?" This exchange is an excellent example of autonomy, as Thoreau's three years at Walden Pond is an excellent example of detachment. Creative persons appear to have psychological needs for both of these aspects, even though their expression often causes pain to their more conventional friends. Maslow (1954:212-213) discusses both of these qualities in the self-actualizing person. Of detachment he says: "They like solitude and privacy more than the average person." Their extreme concentration which requires privacy is interpreted as coldness by some people. Their autonomy results from a transcendence of lower orders of the Maslow hierarchy which require others, to one which requires the best in oneself. As a result, these persons are relatively stable in adversity, and maintain serenity and content in the midst of the vicissitudes of life.

j) Gemeinschaftsgefuhl (Brotherly love). This quality is often seen in higher creatives. It manifests itself in a general reverence for life (Schweitzer); "We are all tarred with the same brush" (Gandhi), or a broad humanitarianism (Eleanor Roosevelt). American culture tends to suppress this gentle quality in favor of violence and self-interest, so it is often more seen in other peoples; it is a much more noticeable aspect of New Zealand life, for example. It is fostered by a sense of communitas, and it answers Cain's question: "Am I my brother's keeper?" Maslow (1954:217) says of this quality: "They have for human beings in general a deep feeling of identity and affection." He notices their "general desire to help the whole human race" "as if they were all members of a single family."

k) A Philosophical and Unhostile Sense of Humor.It may seem surprising that Maslow would mention this quality, which is denigrated as a rather low one, but is in fact a characteristic of the highest importance. Whenever you see a humorist of this type, always suspect a philosopher of deep wisdom underneath: Mark Twain, Voltaire, Artemus Ward, Mr. Dooley, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Will Rogers, and Art Buchwald are all examples. Humor of this type stems from semantic flexibility plus the ability to see behind appearances to reality. It also requires ego-transcendence or psychological objectivity. The humor must be unhostile (like Mr. Magoo of the movie shorts), not concerned with our insensitivity to the woes of

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other people. It is closely connected (as was seen in Lincoln's stories) with the telling of parables, which is a kind of verbal analogy. Humor is a peculiar characteristic of creative persons, in that it is one of the earliest predictors (appearing even in childhood) as well as being one of the highest evidences. Maslow (1954:222) found humor common to all of his self-actualizers. It was not, however, the common type of humor; it was "the humor of the real because it consists in large part in poking fun at human beings in general when they are foolish. It masked a deeper philosophy.

1) Psychological and Semantic Flexibility. One of the very interesting aspects of continued creativity is the development of a very considerable degree of psychological (affective) and semantic (cognitive) flexibility, which turn out to have emergent properties. Both cut down on the inertia of the mind, making it easier and more expeditious in the change required for new insights. Rothenberg (1971)calls this process "Janusian thinking," which he defines as the capacity to conceive and utilize two or more opposite or contradictory ideas simultaneously. The higher reconciliation of these ideas often leads to a creative breakthrough (e.g., the "complementarity principle" in physics). Semantic flexibility also allows the individual to avoid semantic traps which engulf the formal operations philosopher; one zeros in on the similarity of process not being confused by the dissimilarity of different languages used to describe the process. This sort of semantic flexibility leads to "problem-centering" and "problem-finding" so noticeable in really creative persons, whereas most other people get lost in the maze of symptoms, or in their outraged reactions to the situation. Psychological flexibility is an evidence of the dismantling of the egocentricity so characteristic of earlier stages. The truly creative person does not need to support his ego at the expense of the crisis situation. Finally, such flexibility leads to an ability to understand and deal with general systems theory, another effort at looking beneath the empirical to find logical unity in seeming diversity.