182
Journal of Religion and Health
The Minister and Human Potentialities
H E R B E R T A. O T T O and N E A L E. N E L S O N Over the past fifteen years there has been a slowly increasing recognition by behavioral scientists that man is functioning at less than ten per cent of his potential. Among those who subscribe to this hypothesis are Gardner Murphy, Abraham Maslow, Erich Fromm, Carl Rogers, and Margaret Mead) There are also indications that many professionals in psychology, psychiatry, and social work are seeking applications for the newly-emerging concepts from research in human potentialities. The ground swell of a movement centering on the study of healthy man and his optimum functioning can be discerned. 2 Even more important, we are witnessing the emergence of a new image of man. It is an image of hope with man as the shaper of his boundless possibilities, limited only by the scope of his imagination and the extent of his investment in self-realization. Scientists in other countries are also aware of the newly-emerging perspectives of man. Indications are that some of the outstanding scientists in the U. S. S. R. are devoting their talents to plumbing the dimensions of the human potential and how this potential can be actualized. The latest findings in anthropology, psychology, logic and physiology show that the potential of the human mind is very great indeed. "As soon as modem science gave us some understanding of the structure and work of the human brain, we were struck by its enormous reserve capacity," writes Yefremov [Ivan Yefremov, eminent Soviet scholar and writer]. "Man, under average conditions of work and life, uses only a small part of his thinking equipment . . . . "'If we were able to force our brain to work at only half its capacity, we could, without
The Minister and Human Potentialities
183
any difficulty whatever, learn forty languages, memorize the Large Soviet Encyclopedia from cover to cover, and complete the required courses of dozens of colleges." The statement is hardly an exaggeration. It is the generally accepted theoretical view of man's mental potentialities. How can we tap this gigantic potential? It is a big and very complex problem with many ramifications.3
Church programs and the human potential What is the minister's role in relation to the developing awareness of man's vast potential? As one of the key communicators in the community, the minister is in a position to participate actively in the unfolding of human potential. To begin with,
he can make members of his church aware that man is functioning at a fraction of his potential. It is difficult to tap potential if people are unaware they have potential to tap. A closely related concept is that the realization of his potential can become man's most exciting life-long adventure--self-creation is the essence of becoming and at the core of man's being. Man's awareness of his potential can introduce a new directionality and meaning to his life. The directionality and striving of the human organism usually determine what it will become. If we have the fundamental orientation, Weltanschauung, or attitude that life is growth and the essence of life
is personality growth and the unfolding of our possibilities and that the medium for growth is the interpersonal depth encounter, then we will in all likelihood seek such encounters and in the process we will expand our being. The widespread and snowballing interest in T-groups, sensitivity groups, encounter groups, and intensive experience groups, a nationwide phenomenon, testifies to the recognition that the interpersonal encounter is our main medium for personality growth. "We grew into what we are through relations with people. We grow into what we can be through relations with people."* The current burgeoning demand for intensive group experiences is also traceable both to man's continuing search for his identity and his revolt against anomie his isolation and estrangement from others and himself. Froln the viewpoint of at least one sensitivity trainer, this type of group experience has religious significance: My thesis is that sensitivity training is a religious enterprise as I understand religion. To
184
lournat of Religion and Health
connect man with man, to connect each man with his own love and power, requires humility, but it is not humble . . . . Yet it is in their faith, and many hold it explicitly, that such people can, under appropriate conditions, achieve the most expressions of love and power with one another, can sense the exhilaration of experiencing themselves as in their universe, as stated in religious terms, experience of revelation, the revelation of themselves to themselves and to others. The revelation that can heal and transform. [As a part of sensitivity training].., a person experiences the limits he and his environment have imposed upon him, expands beyond them, and begins the process of sensing his own limits. He begins to develop a sense of mastery that comes from knowing his own limits and not holding out to himself or others a destructive false hope that he has none. Knowing what one cannot give, one is able to offer what one can give. And knowing what one can give leads to or is accompanied by, I am not sure which, a sense of where one is in the universe; too, that is the genuine experiencing of interdependence. Such experience leads--is the same as, almost--the valuing of interdependence. The prizing of all men, the mystical, terrifying, deep, religious expansive experience of knowing "no man is an island" and valuing a personal and social ethic of interdependence is too rare in our world. When men genuinely hold these values, they are acting in ways I call religious, democratic, and scientific.5 It is important for us to realize that in all intensive group work with healthy, well-functioning individuals the focus is on the actualizing of aspects of their po-
tential and helping them achieve optimum functioning. As a part of this movement, a number of institutions of higher learning provide a framework for conducting groups specifically aimed at helping participants to actualize their potential. For example, the "Developing Your Personal Potential" classes offered through the University of California at Los Angeles Extension Division have been espe.cially successful, with twenty-eight classes currently in operation in the Los Angeles area. These are patterned after the "Developing Your Personal Potential" courses conducted at the University of Utah since :~96a and use methods and materials designed to actualize potential that have been developed as a part of the Human Potentialities Research Project at Utah. Similar experimental groups are also being conducted at the University of Minnesota, Brigham Young University, University of Florida, and other institutions. The increasing spread of "groups for healthy individuals" (as distinct from therapy groups for patients), which provide intensive depth experiences and focus on personal development, reflect a contemporary and growing interest in self-realization and self-fulfillment.
The Minister and Human Potentialities
185
The preventive nature of such programs that, at the same time, foster mental health is of spedal interest to the minister. Personality growth and the enhancement and development of personality resources are inseparably linked to the mental health of the individual. Every person has latent and unrecognized strengths, talents, and abilities, and these can be developed and brought to fuller flowering. This is one of the major objectives of programs centering on the mobilization of human potential. Actualization of potential within a group setting, particularly in the "Developing Your Personal Potential" groups, requires that participants work in some depth with many facets of their being, including personality blocks, and destructive attitudes or habits that are currently referred to as "hang-ups." In this process the focus is on "what is keeping you from utilizing your strengths and personality assets?" and also "how can we help you to develop your strengths and make better use of them?" A number of churches, church institutions, and denominations have had experiences with T-group training, sensitivity groups, and lately encounter groups. These developments have prepared the way for groups with the explicit focus on actualizing human potential. Human potentialities groups also are a forum for leadership training. With their focus on democratic leadership processes and principles, these groups serve as a laboratory geared to the nurture and development of leaders. Leadership training would be disastrous if it did not help the participant to become more fully aware of his social concerns, to develop social consciousness, a social conscience, or social responsibility. If the minister is actively involved in contemporary issues and concerns, and this is reflected in his ministry and sermons, he functions as a change agent and catalyst in the culture that is in an accelerated state of change and transition. In this capacity it becomes an important function of the minister to inaugurate programs that develop human potential and leadership potential. Currently many ministers are responsible for conducting Christian fellowship programs. Unfortunately, for the most part, these programs offer the participant little more than a period of socializing, often in relation to an evening meal. This is usually leavened by a short prayer, hymn singing, a brief address by the minister, or a didactic presentation. In these gatherings the participants receive little or no
186
]ournaI of Religion and Health
help with their Christian commitment: the on-going process of considering their
social and personal concerns in the light of their ]udaeo-Christian values. The questions designed to help ministers evaluate their Christian fellowship program written some years ago are still applicable today: Is man alienated from himself in the sense that he does not consciously seek to develop his potentialities and thus come closer to God? And is the fellowship program helping man to develop his true potentialities,,or is it actually, by its emphasis on the superficial and trivial, keeping man from trying to discover his potentialities? Is man essentially alienated from man, a member of the "lonely crowd," in that he has no deep sharing of self, of his concerns, aspirations and problems, with his friend and neighbor? Do fellowship programs really bring us closer to our neighbor in love and understanding? Or is polite and pleasant social exchange and mildly stimulating talk the true purpose of fellowship? Perhaps the core question which both minister and congregation have to ask themselves is: Are we so helpless, so poor in inner resources and knowledge, are we so afraid of ourselves of controversy and of new ideas, that we are satisfied with the chaff which passes for Christian fellowship today? Or can we let our Christian conscience speak to this problem in which lies also our greatest hope? ~ If the minister finds the small group approach desirable, the frameworks developed for human potentialities groups lend themselves to the revitalization and regeneration of Christian fellowship programs. In this way the fellowship program also becomes a means of helping members both to develop and make better use of their personality strengths and to take increasing responsibility for applying Christian and humanistic values to everyday living.
The minister and family potential Many churches are engaged in family-life education programs. Unfortunately, these programs appear, for the most part, to be didactic in scope and insufficiently geared to the needs of today's families. Infrequently encountered is the type of continuing family group program that helps families to examine application of Christian values in relation to the on-going and everyday concerns of the family. Groups of families that utilize a discussion framework week after week focusing on "Christian values
The Minister and Human Potentialities
187
in daily family and community living" a r e a relative rarity. More churches seem to sponsor counseling or therapy programs that focus on family problems. Sadly neglected are programs that focus specifically on the development of family strengthd and family potential. Families need to be helped to identify their strengths, and this process in itself has been found to have positive values by the healthy family, s Groups of families focusing on the identification of family strengths and the development of such strengths must, as a matter of course, deal with family problems. It is important to recognize, however, that in strength-centered groups (or potentiality-centered groups) the very effective principle that psychologists call the "sandwich" is used. The "sandwich" consists of, first, a focus on strengths, then dealing with the problem, then again focusing on strengths. Consideration of problems is sandwiched between working on strengths and the development of family potential. Operation of the "sandwich" principle needs to be deliberately maintained by the person in charge for maximal effectiveness of groups centering on the development of family strengths and potential as well as groups centering on the actualizing of individual potential. As a means of mobilizing human potential (and also related to strength-centered family groups), programs providing intergenerational encounter as a means of mutual growth can be initiated. For example, teen-agers can act as effective growth catalysts in their relationships with adults and parents. The teenager extends an invitation to adults to participate in growth. If this invitation is accepted and the adult is able to open himself, the teenager by the quality of his being and the nature of his interaction can trigger growth in adults. Since the essence of his being is growth and becoming, the adolescent offers both a challenge and opportunity to grow with and through him . . . . The adolescent by the nature of his qualities, his fundamental honesty, idealism and by virtue of his capacity to ask searching questions of life and experience creates multiple occasions for the examination, reassessment and regeneration of adult and familial values. Finally, the ideational flow or wealth of ideas of the adolescent (if allowed to proceed unimpeded) can lead to creative exchange and better communication between all family members. If understood and allowed to function in his natural role, the adolescent becomes a growth catalyst par excellence for parents and for the family as a whole.9 The enrichment of one generation by the other has been recognized throughout
188
Journal of Religion and Health
history. Again, the church stands in a significant position to make a major contribution by facilitating intergenerational encounter as a means of strengthening the family and actualizing human potential.
The minister and man's spiritual potential The minister's function in relation to man's spiritual potential has received extensive attention through the centuries. Despite these efforts it is a moot question today, after twenty centuries of effort, whether man is demonstrably more spiritual than he was, let us say, five hundred years ago or is more able today to translate his values and beliefs into practice. Unquestionably man has a vast spiritual potential that remains untapped in spite of, if not because of, the routine observance of Sunday rituals. For example, man's capacities for mystic union or deep communion appear to be available to most of those who wish to attain them. "The study of the various states or levels of mystic union and the means and methods (tailored to the specific idiosyncratic needs of the individual) which can be employed to achieve this state constitutes a promising area of research. This is but one of many means through which man's spiritual potential can become both a source and instrument of his transcendence.''1~ Does the minister have a responsibility to help his members achieve a state of deep communion or mystic union? Is this a desirable dimension of man's spiritual potential that he needs to unfold or actualize? Although it may be easy to answer these questions with a quick "yes!" implementation of programs designed to help church members
achieve a state of mystic union or deep communion remains one of our major challenges. Summary It is recognized that man functions at less than ten per cent of his potential. Personality growth and the actualizing of human potential is best achieved through the medium of a group. For nearly two thousand years the Christian church has been a continuing group. However, the group experience offered by the church has, with very few exceptions, not been of sufficient depth. Human Potentialities Groups that focus on the mobilization of the range of man's potentials, including his spiritual potential, would appear to be another means of bringing greater wholeness to
The Minister and Human Potentialities
189
man. The unfolding of human potential is each man's unique adventure and responsibility, and the minister is in a favored position to help man to enter into this adventure.
References i. Murphy, G., Human Potentialities. New York, Basic Books, I96I. Maslow, A. H., Motivation and Personality. New York, Harper & Bros., I954. Fromm, E., Man for Himself. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960. Rogers, C. R., On Becoming a Person. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, ,96I. Mead, M., "Culture and Personality Development: Human Capacities." In Otto, H. A., ed., Explorations in Human Potentialities. Springfield, Ill., Charles C Thomas, I966, p. 237. 2. Otto, Explorations in Human Potentialities, op. cir., pp. xiii-xv. 3- ."Pedagogical Quests," USSR, Soviet Life Today; pp. 42-45 . Report of the work of Vasili Davydov of the Moscow Institute of Psychology under the heading of "Inexhaustible Brain Potential" as quoted in Otto, op. cit., p. xiv. 4. Otto, H. A., "Human Potentialities Research at the University of Utah." In Explorations in Human Potentialities, op. cir., p. 417 . 5. Clark, J. B., "Sensitivity Training as a Religious Experience." Unpublished manuscript. 6. Otto, H. A., and Widmer, F. W., "Christian Fellowship: Then and Now," The Chris' tian Century, i962, 79, 457-459. 7- Otto, "The Family Resource Development Program: The Production of Criteria for Assessing Family Strengths," Family Process, I963, 2, 329-339. Gabler, J., and Otto, "Conceptualization of 'Family Strengths' in Family Life and Other Professional Literature," Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1964, 26, 222-223. Otto, "Family Strengths in the Treatment Process: A Research Study," Monograph reporting research project supported by the Universiw of Utah Research Fund, Canada's Mental Health, I966, ~4, i-6. Otto, "How Can a Family Deliberately Build Strengths?" International Journal of Religious Education, I967, 43, 6-7, 4o-4I. 8. Otto, "What Is a Strong Family?" Marriage and Family Living (Journal of the National Council on Family Relations), I962, 24, 77-82. , "The Personal and Family Resource Development Programs A Preliminary Report," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, I962 , 8, I85-I95. , "The Minister and Family Strengths," Pastoral Psychology, I966, 17, I63, 22-28. 9. Otto, H. A., annd Otto, S. T., "A New Perspective of the Adolescent," Psychology in the Schools, I967, 4, 76-8I. so. Otto, H. A., "Human Potentialities Research at the University of Utah," op. cit., p. 415.
Journal of Religion and Health
The Minister and Human Potentialities
H E R B E R T A. O T T O and N E A L E. N E L S O N Over the past fifteen years there has been a slowly increasing recognition by behavioral scientists that man is functioning at less than ten per cent of his potential. Among those who subscribe to this hypothesis are Gardner Murphy, Abraham Maslow, Erich Fromm, Carl Rogers, and Margaret Mead) There are also indications that many professionals in psychology, psychiatry, and social work are seeking applications for the newly-emerging concepts from research in human potentialities. The ground swell of a movement centering on the study of healthy man and his optimum functioning can be discerned. 2 Even more important, we are witnessing the emergence of a new image of man. It is an image of hope with man as the shaper of his boundless possibilities, limited only by the scope of his imagination and the extent of his investment in self-realization. Scientists in other countries are also aware of the newly-emerging perspectives of man. Indications are that some of the outstanding scientists in the U. S. S. R. are devoting their talents to plumbing the dimensions of the human potential and how this potential can be actualized. The latest findings in anthropology, psychology, logic and physiology show that the potential of the human mind is very great indeed. "As soon as modem science gave us some understanding of the structure and work of the human brain, we were struck by its enormous reserve capacity," writes Yefremov [Ivan Yefremov, eminent Soviet scholar and writer]. "Man, under average conditions of work and life, uses only a small part of his thinking equipment . . . . "'If we were able to force our brain to work at only half its capacity, we could, without
The Minister and Human Potentialities
183
any difficulty whatever, learn forty languages, memorize the Large Soviet Encyclopedia from cover to cover, and complete the required courses of dozens of colleges." The statement is hardly an exaggeration. It is the generally accepted theoretical view of man's mental potentialities. How can we tap this gigantic potential? It is a big and very complex problem with many ramifications.3
Church programs and the human potential What is the minister's role in relation to the developing awareness of man's vast potential? As one of the key communicators in the community, the minister is in a position to participate actively in the unfolding of human potential. To begin with,
he can make members of his church aware that man is functioning at a fraction of his potential. It is difficult to tap potential if people are unaware they have potential to tap. A closely related concept is that the realization of his potential can become man's most exciting life-long adventure--self-creation is the essence of becoming and at the core of man's being. Man's awareness of his potential can introduce a new directionality and meaning to his life. The directionality and striving of the human organism usually determine what it will become. If we have the fundamental orientation, Weltanschauung, or attitude that life is growth and the essence of life
is personality growth and the unfolding of our possibilities and that the medium for growth is the interpersonal depth encounter, then we will in all likelihood seek such encounters and in the process we will expand our being. The widespread and snowballing interest in T-groups, sensitivity groups, encounter groups, and intensive experience groups, a nationwide phenomenon, testifies to the recognition that the interpersonal encounter is our main medium for personality growth. "We grew into what we are through relations with people. We grow into what we can be through relations with people."* The current burgeoning demand for intensive group experiences is also traceable both to man's continuing search for his identity and his revolt against anomie his isolation and estrangement from others and himself. Froln the viewpoint of at least one sensitivity trainer, this type of group experience has religious significance: My thesis is that sensitivity training is a religious enterprise as I understand religion. To
184
lournat of Religion and Health
connect man with man, to connect each man with his own love and power, requires humility, but it is not humble . . . . Yet it is in their faith, and many hold it explicitly, that such people can, under appropriate conditions, achieve the most expressions of love and power with one another, can sense the exhilaration of experiencing themselves as in their universe, as stated in religious terms, experience of revelation, the revelation of themselves to themselves and to others. The revelation that can heal and transform. [As a part of sensitivity training].., a person experiences the limits he and his environment have imposed upon him, expands beyond them, and begins the process of sensing his own limits. He begins to develop a sense of mastery that comes from knowing his own limits and not holding out to himself or others a destructive false hope that he has none. Knowing what one cannot give, one is able to offer what one can give. And knowing what one can give leads to or is accompanied by, I am not sure which, a sense of where one is in the universe; too, that is the genuine experiencing of interdependence. Such experience leads--is the same as, almost--the valuing of interdependence. The prizing of all men, the mystical, terrifying, deep, religious expansive experience of knowing "no man is an island" and valuing a personal and social ethic of interdependence is too rare in our world. When men genuinely hold these values, they are acting in ways I call religious, democratic, and scientific.5 It is important for us to realize that in all intensive group work with healthy, well-functioning individuals the focus is on the actualizing of aspects of their po-
tential and helping them achieve optimum functioning. As a part of this movement, a number of institutions of higher learning provide a framework for conducting groups specifically aimed at helping participants to actualize their potential. For example, the "Developing Your Personal Potential" classes offered through the University of California at Los Angeles Extension Division have been espe.cially successful, with twenty-eight classes currently in operation in the Los Angeles area. These are patterned after the "Developing Your Personal Potential" courses conducted at the University of Utah since :~96a and use methods and materials designed to actualize potential that have been developed as a part of the Human Potentialities Research Project at Utah. Similar experimental groups are also being conducted at the University of Minnesota, Brigham Young University, University of Florida, and other institutions. The increasing spread of "groups for healthy individuals" (as distinct from therapy groups for patients), which provide intensive depth experiences and focus on personal development, reflect a contemporary and growing interest in self-realization and self-fulfillment.
The Minister and Human Potentialities
185
The preventive nature of such programs that, at the same time, foster mental health is of spedal interest to the minister. Personality growth and the enhancement and development of personality resources are inseparably linked to the mental health of the individual. Every person has latent and unrecognized strengths, talents, and abilities, and these can be developed and brought to fuller flowering. This is one of the major objectives of programs centering on the mobilization of human potential. Actualization of potential within a group setting, particularly in the "Developing Your Personal Potential" groups, requires that participants work in some depth with many facets of their being, including personality blocks, and destructive attitudes or habits that are currently referred to as "hang-ups." In this process the focus is on "what is keeping you from utilizing your strengths and personality assets?" and also "how can we help you to develop your strengths and make better use of them?" A number of churches, church institutions, and denominations have had experiences with T-group training, sensitivity groups, and lately encounter groups. These developments have prepared the way for groups with the explicit focus on actualizing human potential. Human potentialities groups also are a forum for leadership training. With their focus on democratic leadership processes and principles, these groups serve as a laboratory geared to the nurture and development of leaders. Leadership training would be disastrous if it did not help the participant to become more fully aware of his social concerns, to develop social consciousness, a social conscience, or social responsibility. If the minister is actively involved in contemporary issues and concerns, and this is reflected in his ministry and sermons, he functions as a change agent and catalyst in the culture that is in an accelerated state of change and transition. In this capacity it becomes an important function of the minister to inaugurate programs that develop human potential and leadership potential. Currently many ministers are responsible for conducting Christian fellowship programs. Unfortunately, for the most part, these programs offer the participant little more than a period of socializing, often in relation to an evening meal. This is usually leavened by a short prayer, hymn singing, a brief address by the minister, or a didactic presentation. In these gatherings the participants receive little or no
186
]ournaI of Religion and Health
help with their Christian commitment: the on-going process of considering their
social and personal concerns in the light of their ]udaeo-Christian values. The questions designed to help ministers evaluate their Christian fellowship program written some years ago are still applicable today: Is man alienated from himself in the sense that he does not consciously seek to develop his potentialities and thus come closer to God? And is the fellowship program helping man to develop his true potentialities,,or is it actually, by its emphasis on the superficial and trivial, keeping man from trying to discover his potentialities? Is man essentially alienated from man, a member of the "lonely crowd," in that he has no deep sharing of self, of his concerns, aspirations and problems, with his friend and neighbor? Do fellowship programs really bring us closer to our neighbor in love and understanding? Or is polite and pleasant social exchange and mildly stimulating talk the true purpose of fellowship? Perhaps the core question which both minister and congregation have to ask themselves is: Are we so helpless, so poor in inner resources and knowledge, are we so afraid of ourselves of controversy and of new ideas, that we are satisfied with the chaff which passes for Christian fellowship today? Or can we let our Christian conscience speak to this problem in which lies also our greatest hope? ~ If the minister finds the small group approach desirable, the frameworks developed for human potentialities groups lend themselves to the revitalization and regeneration of Christian fellowship programs. In this way the fellowship program also becomes a means of helping members both to develop and make better use of their personality strengths and to take increasing responsibility for applying Christian and humanistic values to everyday living.
The minister and family potential Many churches are engaged in family-life education programs. Unfortunately, these programs appear, for the most part, to be didactic in scope and insufficiently geared to the needs of today's families. Infrequently encountered is the type of continuing family group program that helps families to examine application of Christian values in relation to the on-going and everyday concerns of the family. Groups of families that utilize a discussion framework week after week focusing on "Christian values
The Minister and Human Potentialities
187
in daily family and community living" a r e a relative rarity. More churches seem to sponsor counseling or therapy programs that focus on family problems. Sadly neglected are programs that focus specifically on the development of family strengthd and family potential. Families need to be helped to identify their strengths, and this process in itself has been found to have positive values by the healthy family, s Groups of families focusing on the identification of family strengths and the development of such strengths must, as a matter of course, deal with family problems. It is important to recognize, however, that in strength-centered groups (or potentiality-centered groups) the very effective principle that psychologists call the "sandwich" is used. The "sandwich" consists of, first, a focus on strengths, then dealing with the problem, then again focusing on strengths. Consideration of problems is sandwiched between working on strengths and the development of family potential. Operation of the "sandwich" principle needs to be deliberately maintained by the person in charge for maximal effectiveness of groups centering on the development of family strengths and potential as well as groups centering on the actualizing of individual potential. As a means of mobilizing human potential (and also related to strength-centered family groups), programs providing intergenerational encounter as a means of mutual growth can be initiated. For example, teen-agers can act as effective growth catalysts in their relationships with adults and parents. The teenager extends an invitation to adults to participate in growth. If this invitation is accepted and the adult is able to open himself, the teenager by the quality of his being and the nature of his interaction can trigger growth in adults. Since the essence of his being is growth and becoming, the adolescent offers both a challenge and opportunity to grow with and through him . . . . The adolescent by the nature of his qualities, his fundamental honesty, idealism and by virtue of his capacity to ask searching questions of life and experience creates multiple occasions for the examination, reassessment and regeneration of adult and familial values. Finally, the ideational flow or wealth of ideas of the adolescent (if allowed to proceed unimpeded) can lead to creative exchange and better communication between all family members. If understood and allowed to function in his natural role, the adolescent becomes a growth catalyst par excellence for parents and for the family as a whole.9 The enrichment of one generation by the other has been recognized throughout
188
Journal of Religion and Health
history. Again, the church stands in a significant position to make a major contribution by facilitating intergenerational encounter as a means of strengthening the family and actualizing human potential.
The minister and man's spiritual potential The minister's function in relation to man's spiritual potential has received extensive attention through the centuries. Despite these efforts it is a moot question today, after twenty centuries of effort, whether man is demonstrably more spiritual than he was, let us say, five hundred years ago or is more able today to translate his values and beliefs into practice. Unquestionably man has a vast spiritual potential that remains untapped in spite of, if not because of, the routine observance of Sunday rituals. For example, man's capacities for mystic union or deep communion appear to be available to most of those who wish to attain them. "The study of the various states or levels of mystic union and the means and methods (tailored to the specific idiosyncratic needs of the individual) which can be employed to achieve this state constitutes a promising area of research. This is but one of many means through which man's spiritual potential can become both a source and instrument of his transcendence.''1~ Does the minister have a responsibility to help his members achieve a state of deep communion or mystic union? Is this a desirable dimension of man's spiritual potential that he needs to unfold or actualize? Although it may be easy to answer these questions with a quick "yes!" implementation of programs designed to help church members
achieve a state of mystic union or deep communion remains one of our major challenges. Summary It is recognized that man functions at less than ten per cent of his potential. Personality growth and the actualizing of human potential is best achieved through the medium of a group. For nearly two thousand years the Christian church has been a continuing group. However, the group experience offered by the church has, with very few exceptions, not been of sufficient depth. Human Potentialities Groups that focus on the mobilization of the range of man's potentials, including his spiritual potential, would appear to be another means of bringing greater wholeness to
The Minister and Human Potentialities
189
man. The unfolding of human potential is each man's unique adventure and responsibility, and the minister is in a favored position to help man to enter into this adventure.
References i. Murphy, G., Human Potentialities. New York, Basic Books, I96I. Maslow, A. H., Motivation and Personality. New York, Harper & Bros., I954. Fromm, E., Man for Himself. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960. Rogers, C. R., On Becoming a Person. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, ,96I. Mead, M., "Culture and Personality Development: Human Capacities." In Otto, H. A., ed., Explorations in Human Potentialities. Springfield, Ill., Charles C Thomas, I966, p. 237. 2. Otto, Explorations in Human Potentialities, op. cir., pp. xiii-xv. 3- ."Pedagogical Quests," USSR, Soviet Life Today; pp. 42-45 . Report of the work of Vasili Davydov of the Moscow Institute of Psychology under the heading of "Inexhaustible Brain Potential" as quoted in Otto, op. cit., p. xiv. 4. Otto, H. A., "Human Potentialities Research at the University of Utah." In Explorations in Human Potentialities, op. cir., p. 417 . 5. Clark, J. B., "Sensitivity Training as a Religious Experience." Unpublished manuscript. 6. Otto, H. A., and Widmer, F. W., "Christian Fellowship: Then and Now," The Chris' tian Century, i962, 79, 457-459. 7- Otto, "The Family Resource Development Program: The Production of Criteria for Assessing Family Strengths," Family Process, I963, 2, 329-339. Gabler, J., and Otto, "Conceptualization of 'Family Strengths' in Family Life and Other Professional Literature," Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1964, 26, 222-223. Otto, "Family Strengths in the Treatment Process: A Research Study," Monograph reporting research project supported by the Universiw of Utah Research Fund, Canada's Mental Health, I966, ~4, i-6. Otto, "How Can a Family Deliberately Build Strengths?" International Journal of Religious Education, I967, 43, 6-7, 4o-4I. 8. Otto, "What Is a Strong Family?" Marriage and Family Living (Journal of the National Council on Family Relations), I962, 24, 77-82. , "The Personal and Family Resource Development Programs A Preliminary Report," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, I962 , 8, I85-I95. , "The Minister and Family Strengths," Pastoral Psychology, I966, 17, I63, 22-28. 9. Otto, H. A., annd Otto, S. T., "A New Perspective of the Adolescent," Psychology in the Schools, I967, 4, 76-8I. so. Otto, H. A., "Human Potentialities Research at the University of Utah," op. cit., p. 415.
