The Farther Reaches of Physical Activity
By RONALD PODESCHI
Although we do not talk about it
very much, it is philosophical revolution, not specific social events, that
affects us deeply in the long run as a society. How we view ourselves as human
beings, what we value in life, the kind
of society we seek, and the educational
aims we desire are ultimate questions
of life that we inevitably answer, directly and indirectly, consciously ,and
unconsciously. These philosophical
questions arise and determine what we
are and what we shall become. Undoubtedly, we fmd ourselves at a time
in history wherein change in these basic
foundations of our lives is taking place
as never before. Change itself has become the institutional habit of our society.
To look into the future-to forecast
the next century-is
not only to describe what is happening to our culture
at present and to make predictions: it
is also prescribing what ought to be. If
thinking and talking about the future
are to make any sense, we have to assume that we have at least some degree
of control over what will be. Prescription rooted in description is the kind of
philosophical anthropology which John
Dewey practiced in this country during the first half of the century. In recent years, the revolutionary thinking of
another philosophical pioneer, Abraham
Maslow, has stimulated a movement
which is now rapidly growing under various humanistic labels. Humanistic psychology, humanistic education,
and humanistic science are presently
cultivating soil which will probably
produce their greatest effects in the
coming century. Maslow (1968) recently offered a flavor of this philosophical revolution:
I have come to think of this humanistic
trend in psychology as revolution in
the truest, oldest sense of the word
. . . new ways of perceiving and
thinking, new images of man and society, new conceptions of ethics and
values, new directions in which to
move. . . . The third Psychology is
now one facet of a general Weltanschauung, a new philosophy of life, a
new conception of man, the beginning
of a new century of work. [p. iii]
This article, the title being patterned
after his posthumous book, The Farther
Reaches of Human Nature, is an analysis of the potential of physical activity
within the philosophical frontiers of
Abraham Maslow's Third Force Psychology. It is through understanding
the philosophical foundations of such
a movement that one can perceive the
roots of future physical activity. It is
out of such foundations that the events
of life sprout and subsequently plant
further philosophical seeds. Indeed, an
About the Author
understanding of the cultural soil underRonald Podeschi is Assistant Professor, lying the specifics of life should caution
Cultural Foundations of Education, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where he US in
and predicting
offers a graduate seminar on Maslow's phi- cifically what will or should be in the
losophy. He holds a Ph.D., Northwestern
charUniversity, in a program conducted by the next century- One the
philosophy department and the school of acteristics of our age is its indefiniteeducation. Recently, he has become interested in the philosophy of sport.
ness-its
unpredictable quality. We
The Farther Reaches of Physical Activity
need to see the foundations of the future. We need to see holistically. T o do
otherwise is to be superficial. It is to be
narrow in an age when the scope of life
and the shrinking of the world demand broad, not provincial perspective.
Maslow's philosophy is one which
addresses itself to a post-industrial society. Even though we are experiencing
socio-economic growing pains as a nation, our basic material needs are now
easily fulaled compared to a developing country. Many of the values
threaded through material needs, e.g.,
the work ethic, the nuclear family,
that sewed previous generations together are now blown by winds of social change. As a society, we shall have
ever increasing time and energy to concern ourselves with what Maslow calls
the growth or meta needs, not just our
basic physical and psychological needs.
The enhancement of ourselves as human beings will receive more and more
of our attention as our maintenance or
survival needs are satisfied easier and
earlier. The dimension of physical activity as part of this enhanced human
activity will undoubtedly be affected
and affect the twenty-first century. If
we are to become a society whose needs
are being more rapidly rooted in the
higher psychological, aesthetic, and
spiritual dimensions of life, physical
activity can no longer be a separate and
sideline activity.
The farther reaches of physical activity will need to erase the various dichotomies that have threaded the history
of our society as well as the history of
western thought. Mind and body, mental and physical, reason and emotion,
subject and object, being and becoming, value and fact, individual and
others, freedom and authority, work
and play-are
some of the either-or
13
dichotomies which Maslow's philosophy of synthesis challenges at their
core. The physical dimension of human
activity has often been caught up in
these philosophical dualisms to the
detriment of general human potentialities as well as to the physical aspects of
the human being in particular.
Specifically, the Third Force Movement attempts to dissolve the dualisms
which have threaded the new and
powerful field of psychology in the
twentieth century. On the one side,
Freudianism, which views man as an
iceberg with dark depths submerged
below his consciousness, has concentrated on "sick" individuals. On the
other side, Behaviorism, which assumes
an atomistic view of man as a higher
form of animal conditioned by his environment, has denied any inner dimension of man. AIthough Third Force
Psychology recognizes the force of environmental effects upon individuals, it
views man as having an intrinsic nature. Wanting to erase the pessimism
of Freudianism as well as giving to
man the inner dimensions which Behaviorism denies, Third Force views
man optimistically and concentrates on
healthy persons. These self-actualizing
individuals are those who are fulfilling
their idiosyncratic as well as their universal human potentials. Maslow's faith
is founded upon a science of man that
will not ignore his subjective aspects
and will improve mankind by studying
the more fully human person.
The farther reaches of physical activity will be actualized and discovered
through the lives of individuals, not in
abstract and predetermined theories.
Physical activity is subjective activity
wherein the living body is the phenomenological center of the person's
needs and goals. Any science of physi-
14
QUEST
cal activity which pretends that it is
not laden with personal values, personalized knowledge, and social realities is covering itself with a gym suit
that limits human possibilities. The inner dimensions of the person within his
or her existential context are the beginning of the end of the dichotomies
which underlie our culture.
Maslow attempted to commence a
science of universal values that would
dissolve human dichotomies. If one
looks at some of the terms that he
(1970, 1971) utilized in attempting to
define these values, the potential of
physical activity for individual and
social integration can be seen: aliveness, process, spontaneity, self-moving
energy, self-regulation, rhythm, effortlessness, grace, perfect and beautiful
functioning, playfulness, exuberance,
environment-transcendence, nakedness,
simplicity, unity, order, and self-expression.
It is possible that physical education, once a symbol of dichotomy, will
become the source of the greatest
change for erasing human dichotomies
during the coming century. The last
hundred years have placed physical activity and physical education at the bottom of the curriculum hierarchy, and
usually off by itself. Schooling has historically packaged subjects into time
slots, where separations have been even
more pronounced for those subjects
which are not under the label of mind
or mental. The so-called frills like art,
music, and physical education have all
been treated as breaks from the important hard work of the school day.
The beginning of pupils' attitudes toward physical activity has started early
with the recess from the important desk
work. Moving up the grade ladder, the
child sees recess diminish and the
physical activities outside or in a gym
become routinely scheduled a couple of
times per week. And in high school,
although physical education is required,
it doesn't carry real credit, and its main
importance is seen as loosening up a
student between his hard-core subjects.
The twenty-first century may look upon
physical activity in the schools more
than a bit differently.
In contrast to this historical compartmentalization, Maslow's conception
of education is one of natural human
synthesis. If the old philosophical dichotomies are not to be reinforced by
schools, the physical-aesthetic aspects
of education which are so often lost in
the pressures and priorities of schooling would become a central part of the
curriculum. Indeed, such activities as
dance, art, and music would become
the center of an integrated curriculum
for the elementary age. The child's living body, which is at the center of his
life, would be at the center of his education. Emphasis would be on process
and movement rather than on static
content at an unmovable desk. Rather
than playing the usual inferior role to
the so-called real curriculum, physicalaesthetic activities would lead the way
for the child to learn reading, writing,
and even arithmetic in a more creative,
natural, and integrated way. Maslow's
own words paint the importance of
these needed alterations:
.
I think that the arts . . are so close
to our psychological and biological
core, so close to this identity, this biological identity, that rather than think
of these courses as a sort of whipped
cream or luxury, they must become
basic experiences in education. I mean
that this kind of education can become
a glimpse into the infinite, into ultimate values. This intrinsic education
may very well have art education,
15
The Farther Reaches of Physical Activity
music education, and dancing at its
core. (I think dancing is the one I
would choose first for children . . .)
Such experiences could very well serve
as the model, the means by which perhaps we could rescue the rest of the
school curriculum from the value-free,
value-neutral, goal-less meaninglessness
into which it has fallen. 11971, p. 1791
The underlying assumption of this
kind of intrinsic education is that the
primary aim of all education is to prepare young people to face a society
which is unpredictable-one where
choices will often have to be made in
human contexts that are fluid and
without structure and stability. The
twenty-first century increasingly will
find the children of our children and
grandchildren in a society where new
life-styles and new values will be common and where the past can no longer
serve as a psychological crutch. The
role of education and of physical activity in the future is placed cogently by
Maslow ( 1971) :
The past has become almost useless in
some areas of life. . . . We need a new
kind of human being who can divorce
himself from his past, who feels strong
and courageous and trusting enough to
trust himself in the present situation, to
handle the problem well in an improvising way, without previous preparation, if need be. . . . These are some
of the reasons why I consider nonverbal education so important. . .
What I am really interested in is the
new kind of education which we must
develop which moves toward fostering
the new kind of human being that we
need, the process person, the creative
person, the improvising person, the
self-trusting person, courageous person, the autonomous person. [pp. 991001
.
Some tough empirical questions are
going to need to be asked. What kinds
of physical activities do in fact
strengthen an individual's attitudes and
abilities to be spontaneous and flexible?
What specifically characterizes activities as process-oriented, where we are
"dropping masks, dropping our efforts
to influence, to impress, to please, to
be lovable, to win applause [Maslow
1971, p. 65]"? In what ways can the
experiences of the moving body become paths to the highest of what life
can offer? In offering a direction, Maslow did not hesitate about the potential
of the body for attaining those higher
essences of life that have been historically reserved for mind or soul:
The rhythmic experience, even the very
simple rhythmic experience-the good
dancing of a rumba, or the kinds of
things that the kids can do with drums:
I don't know whether you want to call
that music, dancing, rhythm, athletics,
or something else. The love for the
body, awareness of the body, and a
reverence of the body-these
are
clearly good paths to peak experiences.
These in turn are good paths . . to
the perceiving of the Platonic essences,
the intrinsic values, the ultimate values
of being, which in turn is a therapeuticlike help toward both the curing-ofsicknesses kind of therapy and also
the growth toward self-actualization,
the growth toward full humanness.
[pp. 176-1771
.
Maslow's unique concept of peak
experience portrays the potential of
physical activity for developing a genuine and full synthesis of body and
mind. Although it is impossible to understand the essence of peak experiences through cognitive symbols, it can
be described as a kind of spiritual experience: there is a transcendence of
self in an experience of bliss, rapture,
and exaltation. Not only do Maslow's
own words try to describe the bodymind synthesis of the individual peak
experience: they h i t of the place of
16
QUEST
athletics in working toward a fusion of
individuals.
If we are fully concentrated on the
matter-in-hand, fascinated with it for
its own sake, having no other goals or
purposes in mind, then it is easier to
be fully spontaneous, fully functioning,
letting our capacities flow forth easily
from within, of themselves, without
effort, without conscious volition or
control in an instinct-like, automatic
thoughtless way. . . . Full spontaneity is a guarantee of honest expression
of the nature and the style of the freely
functioning organism, and of its
uniqueness. . . . The only determinants
now are the intrinsic nature of the
matter-in-hand, the intrinsic nature of
person and the intrinsic necessities of
their fluctuating adaptation to each
other to form a fusion, a unit; e.g., a
fine basketball team, or a string quartet. [p. 701
The qualities of spontaneity, ecstasy,
freedom, and play that characterize the
peak experience mark both the beginnings and the endings of the creative
processes of living. Yet, such aspects
must not be separated from the hard
work and discipline that necessarily has
to accompany them for genuine creative learning and living. Like Dewey,
Maslow makes no pretense about the
self-discipline necessary for real freedom. As a developing society, we have
been too often weighed down with
authority, pain, and striving. As we become more concerned with individuality and the processes of living, there
is the danger of our erring in the
other direction, where impulsiveness
unknowingly runs in circles chasing
itself. The satisfactions of being and the
dissatisfactions of becoming need to be
synthesized. In Sport: A Philosophical
Inquiry, Paul Weiss (1969) offers
valuable perspective:
Every educator, be he academic or
coach, has to find ways in which students who are satisfactorily going
through certain moves or acts are to
be made dissatisfied, and thereby led to
engage in new moves or acts. No
period, perhaps not even a moment of
life, need be without its satisfying facet.
. . . This does not mean that they are
to be perpetually pleased. . . Were
it not counterbalanced with a dissatisfaction, there would be no reason for
anyone to act, until the satisfaction
faded because of familiarity or the
awakening of a new appetite. But it is
when and as one is satisfied that one
should be dissatisfied because faced
with a desirable goal yet to be attained.
Rightly dissatisfield because one is not
yet at the desirable goal, one should
nevertheless be satisfied by what is now
achieved. [pp. 52-53]
.
There is another human dichotomy
that our society has long been propelling, one that we have only very recently become conscious of: masculinity and femininity. Men have been
labeled rational, aggressive, and striving while women have been seen as
emotional, passive, and playful. Alan
Watts (1963) offers clarifying perspective on this stereotyping when he states:
There are things that are typically masculine and typically feminine, using the
word "typically" in a very strict and
special sense, since things that are typically masculine or typically feminine
have no necessary connection with biologically iden'tifiablemales and females.
. . . But we are only speaking here in
a kind of symbolism which is highly
useful, so long as we don't confuse it
with actual individuals, and what they
are supposed to be and how they are
supposed to behave. I want them to
draw attention to a strong tendency in
the Anglo-Saxon subculture of the
United States to identify all value with
certain stereotypes of the male and to
put down and devaluate certain stereotypes of the female. [p. 801
The Farther Reaches ofPhysical Activity
In contrast to the individual who is
conditioned by such stereotypes, the
self-actualizing person, according to
Maslow, will be a synthesizer of the
various human potentials which get
categorized by masculine and feminine
labels in our society. In this sense, there
is potentially woman in every man and
man in every woman.
The cultural explosion of this theme
in the 1970's has made it clear that the
world of physical activity is not immune from this situation. For the most
part, physical education classes have
been separated between boys and girls,
and male sports have been automatically considered much more important
than female athletics. Muscles, strength,
power, authority, achievement, striving,
victory have all been silent and at
times not-so-silent partners. Whereas
no one but a sissy among the boys has
been found in dance and similar activities where grace is more vital than
physical power, girls have played the
sports which were important to the
hero worship among males. The myth
that has been operating is one of
potency. Boys and girls, men and
women have a11 been true believers.
Maslow believed that this myth
stemmed from the fact that men have
been afraid of women (and have dominated them because of it) for the
same reasons that men have been
afraid of their feelings. In his research
on peak experiences, he looked more
to women's creativity because it seemed
to be less involved in products, achievement, and triumph and to be more involved in the on-going process itself. At
the same time, it became more and
more apparent to him that almost
everything that is creative is labeled
feminine for a man reared in a tough
environment. "Imagination, fantasy,
17
..
.
color, poetry, music, tenderness.
Everything that's called weak tends to
be repressed in the normal masculine
adult adjustment [Maslow 1971, p.
861." Growing up in our culture has
prepared most men for this kind of adjustment. The genuinely mature person will not be threatened by the
so-called weakness of emotion. If integrated, one will synthesize "maleness"
and "femaleness," feelings and reason,
healthy fantasy and healthy rationality.
To the extent that an individual "learns
the facts of psychological 'bisexuality'
and becomes aware of the arbitrariness
of either-or dehitions and the pathogenic nature of the process of dichotomizing, to the degree that he discovers that differences can fuse and be
structured with each other, and need
not be exclusive and mutually antagonistic, to that extent will he be a more
integrated person [Maslow 1971, pp.
161-621." The next century could witness a tremendous transformation in
the masculinity/femininity dualism
which threads our culture for men's
liberation as well as women's. The
world of physical activity could be the
main arena where the discovery of new
identities takes place.
In 2074, will all of this be viewed as
the wishful thinking of a naive psychologist who founded a spurious
movement in the middle of the twentieth century? Or will Abraham Maslow's philosophical perspectives on the
potential of physical activity be recognized as the wise prophecy of a farreaching thinker? Is the movement just
another fad of the times that will fade
like a hit song, a sports hero, or a mod
clothing style?
More specifically, is humanistic psychology limited by a middle-class bias
that tends to ignore the cultural, eco-
18
QUEST
nomic, and political contexts in which
we find ourselves? Most educators in
the United States have been maintainers of the status-quo. Would Maslow's
philosophy only lead them to become
well-intentioned but meaningless and
naive liberals? In short, does the optimistic attention that humanistic psychology gives to the individual and
one's inner nature make it blind either
to the forceful effects of environmental
influences or to the finite nature of
human beings and their societies?
Those who are involved in the leadership in physical education and athletics in the remainder of this century
will undoubtedly have a say in what
will happen in the twenty-first century.
They cannot afford to ignore the questions and answers that those like Mas-
low offer. And if they believe Maslow,
they cannot be content only to be
against the past. The future requires a
continuous questioning and reconstruction of our immediate present as well
as of our past.
REFERENCES
Maslow, A. H. Motivation and personality.
New York: Harper & Row, 1954.
Maslow, A. H. Toward a psychology o f
being. (2nd edition) Princeton, N.J.: Van
Nostrand, 1968.
Maslow, A. H. The psychology of science: a
reconnaissance. (Gateway edition) Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1969.
Maslow, A. H. Religions, values and peak
experiences. (Compass edition) New
York: Viking, 1970.
Maslow, A. H. The farther reaches o f human nature. New York: Viking, 1971.
Watts, A. The woman in man. In Farber and
Wilson (Eds.) The potential of women.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963.
Weiss, P. Sport: a philosophic inquiry. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
Press, 1969.