This book review by William H.
                           Calvin appeared in the Summer
                           1992 issue of Whole Earth Review.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's _Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience_ (Harper 1990; paperback $10.95).

Optimal experience are those times when people report feelings of
concentration and deep enjoyment.  Csikszentmihalyi says that what
makes such experiences so satisfying is a state of consciousness called
flow:  people typically feel strong, alert, in effortless control,
unselfconscious, at the peak of their abilities, transcending problems and
everyday concerns.                  -- William Calvin

           When people first learn about the flow experience
      they sometimes assume that lack of self-consciousness has
      something to do with a passive obliteration of the self, a
      "going with the flow" Southern California style.  But in
      fact the optimal experience involves a very active role for
      the self.... Even the simplest physical act becomes
      enjoyable when it is transformed so as to produce flow. 
      The essential steps in this process are: (a) to set an overall
      goal, and as many subgoals as are realistically feasible;
      (b) to find ways of measuring progress in terms of the
      goals chosen; (c) to keep concentrating on what one is
      doing, and to keep making finer and finer distinctions in
      the challenges involved in the activity; (d) to develop the
      skills necessary to interact with the opportunities
      available; and (e) to keep raising the stakes if the activity
      becomes boring.

           The tremendous leisure industry... has been
      designed to help fill free time with enjoyable experiences. 
      Nevertheless, instead of using our physical and mental
      resources to experience flow, most of us spend many
      hours each week watching celebrated athletes playing in
      enormous stadiums.  Instead of making music, we listen
      to platinum records cut by millionaire musicians.  Instead
      of making art, we go admire paintings that brought in the
      highest bids at the latest auctions.  We do not run risks
      acting on our own beliefs, but occupy hours each day
      watching actors who pretend to have adventures, engaged
      in mock-meaningful action.
           This vicarious participation is able to mask, at least
      temporarily, the underlying emptiness of wasted time.  But
      it is a very pale substitute for attention invested in real
      challenges.  The flow experience that results from the use
      of skills leads to growth; passive entertainment leads
      nowhere.... Mass leisure, mass culture, and even high
      culture when attended to passively and for extrinsic
      reasons -- such as the wish to flaunt one's status -- are
      parasites of the mind.  They absorb psychic energy
      without providing substantive strength in return.

                        --30--
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