The Mental Environment

(Both of these central circles are exactly the same size.)

The central book of Conventional (or Behavioural) Psychology is 'The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders',and is published by the American Psychiatric Association. Although it contains descriptions of many varied abnormal mental conditions, nowhere does it describe what mental health actually is. Thus mental health is left to be considered the absence of disease.

Abraham Maslow belongs to a later school of 'Humanistic Psychology' who believe that to fully understand the human condition we should not only look at “...the darker meaner half of the individual. We must deal with the questions of value, individuality, consciousness, purpose, ethics and the higher reaches of human nature”, and that looking only at sickness would produce only a sick philosophy.
Consequently by studying people such as; Einstein, William James, Eleanor Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson, Maslow added new levels of conscious experience to the scale above and beyond the 'ordinary'. These he named 'Self Actualisation' and 'Transcendence'.
'Self Actualisation' means to bring yourself fully into Universe, I.e. to be fully achieving your potential.
'Transcendence' or Transpersonal Psychology is similar to the Eastern concept of Enlightenment and is achieved through 'peak experiences' which transcend the self. These peak experiences are described as 'The most desirable of human experience, with feelings of oneness with everything, no limits of time or space and the experience of which change and strengthen the individual'. However it is also said that the concept of peak experience can only be fully understood by those who have had such experiences themselves.

Maslow gives eight pieces of advice to attain Self Actualisation which are;

1- Experience things fully and selflessly – concentrating on the 'here and now' using Zen mindfulness therapy.
2- Life is an ongoing process of choice between safety and growth – choose growth more often
3- Let the self emerge – when in doubt be honest and take responsibility.
4- Listen to your own tastes and be prepared to be unpopular.
5- Use your intelligence, with commitment.
6- Make peak experiences more likely by being able to full fill your natural talents.
7-Find out what is good and bad for you – identify your false defences and give them up.
8- Know thy self.
Note; The ancient inscription at the Greek Temple of Apollo, Delphi simply reads; “Know Thyself”.

Maslow's pyramid of the 'Human Hierarchy of Needs' illustrates the progression of mental health related to human necessities. The lowest or base level is 1; and it is explained that if the needs of any level are not met then our mental health will drop to the associated disorders of that level until these necessities are again met.

1- Physiological needs – Breathing, food, sleep etc.
2- Safety – Security of body, family, health etc.
3- Friendship, family and sexual intimacy.
4- Self esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others and by others.
5- Creativity, morality, challenge, lack of prejudice etc.
6- Self Actualisation – achieving your potential
7- Transcendence of self.

Today
If you walk through any street in any town you are walking through the mental environment. Everything you see is the product of, or has been manipulated by the human imagination. This for the most part forms our day to day reality of our life.
There are two worlds in which we live; there is what is actually happening and there is what we think is happening. Hopefully the two are usually the same but it doesn't always become apparent when they aren't. This can lead to unnecessary hardship in our lives and even long term ill health. If our perception becomes warped we can not achieve our potential and in extreme cases even become a danger to ourselves and others.

Our minds work through a system of filters. To effectively concentrate on something we filter out the mass of information which is not relevant and distracting. What we are left with is known as the conscious and the information filtered out is held in the subconscious. Daydreaming can be an example where we have chosen to filter out everything and focus only on our imagination.
Even if the sub-conscious sees the whole picture the conscious only sees what it has chosen to see. This is why, while under hypnosis people can recall details they were not previously aware of. By taking advantage of, the habits we have in this thought process, stage magicians can sneak something like an elephant on stage without you even noticing it.

We all look out of our own window
In the same way that two people can visit the same place but bring back completely different photographs, so each of us can perceive drastically different worlds. Our own worlds are however linked and greatly influenced by other people. We spend most of our time thinking about other people; whether at work, socially or in the media. We tend to make friends with those who's perception of the world is similar to our own, but also spend a large part of our time discussing and trying to understand those who seem to live in different worlds entirely. “I mean, what were they thinking?” or “What planet are they on?” are common modern phrases.
If a person is in a room full of people who all tell them it is four O clock while their own watch tells them it is six, then the chances are they will reset their watch to the majority time regardless whether it is correct. In the same way much of how we perceive the modern world is based on what is described to us by other people. This is usually helpful to society because we cant all be everywhere at the same time. But the saying 'History is written by the victors' is a useful reminder that the true reality is not always clear black and white but 'relative' as described by Einstein.

Our parents, school and the media teach us many things about how to interpret our reality. These experiences save us valuable time from generation to generation, time which we can then devote to new discoveries and thus move forward as a species. However some complex concepts colour each of our mental environments and can be passed between us without our conscious awareness.

Our concept of self is known in psychology as the 'ego'. In common language ego is a word often used in place of ‘Egomania’ - I.e. abnormal self obsession. The belief that we are separate and so ultimately alone can lead to fluctuation between severe introversion and lack of confidence or delusional overconfidence. This condition has been described as bipolar disorder or previously as manic depression.
We define ourselves by what we do not know and by what we are not aware of. I stop where the unknown begins. But consider, though we can not move or feel our hair, we do not consider it separate, so why is the ground we walk on or the air we breathe separate?
Ego does not have to be a problem, it is a natural by-product of human thought. Each one of us has unique characteristics which make us who we are, and it can be difficult to be confident and express our creativity without being in touch with who we are, but to see only this single perspective can prevent us from achieving our full potential.