Page 55 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

Church Traditions for a Christian Psychology

self in actions, that is to say, if his mature actua- The development of ethical personhood
lization of self-governance and self-possession (Wojtyła, 1960/2013, p. 9) requires the “sincere
was to be prevented. (Wojtyła, 1969/1979, p. gift of self” (John Paul II, 1994, pp. 201-202).
180; modified translation) The realization of full personhood occurs only
This is stated elsewhere as follows: “We must through self- donation: “The person is realized
view each individual person from this ang- through love.” “Man affirms himself most com-
le. Even the less gifted people with whom we pletely by giving of himself” (John Paul II, 1994,
sometimes meet belong to this great human p. 202). This seems related to Erikson‘s (1963)
reality of the person in development” (Wojty- developmental task of intimacy in young adult-
la, 1972/1984a, p. 89). In the words of the in- hood (pp. 263-266). Yet, psychological person-
imitable Dr. Seuss (1954): “A person’s a person, hood necessarily precedes ethical personhood;
no matter how small” (p. 6). self-possession necessarily precedes self-dona-
Psychological personhood. We do not create tion: “One cannot give away what one has not
awareness of our personal existence and sen- got; a person not feeling sure of being or having
se of identity; this too is received from others. a true self cannot but recoil from any situation
Personhood in the psychological sense (Wojty- which would imply such a giving away of the
la, 1960/2013, p. 9) comes into being through self” (Allers, 1940, p. 119).
the “affirmation of the person as a person” (John This requires “freedom of the gift,” freedom as
Paul II, 1994, pp. 201-202). More than ontolo- “self-mastery” (self-dominion) which is the “po-
gical personhood is required: “Biological birth wer to express love” (John Paul II, 1984/2006,
is not enough. Psychic birth through authentic 15:1-2): “Self-mastery is indispensable in order
affirmation is an absolute necessity for man to for man to be able to ‘give himself,’ in order for
be capable of finding true human happiness in him to become a gift, in order for him…to
this life” (Baars, 1975, p. 12; cf. Baars & Terru- be able to ‘find himself fully’ through ‘a sincere
we, 1972/2002). Consider the significance of the gift of self’ [Gaudium et Spes, 24:3]” (John Paul
primal gaze between mother and infant, that II, 1984/2006, 15:2).
profound first glance of the child directly into Participation. Catholic psychology is a psycho-
the eyes of his or her mother: logy of participation. Participation in commu-
The little child awakens to self-consciousness nity facilitates personhood, and personhood
through being addressed by the love of his mo- facilitates the participation of persons within
ther….The interpretation of the mother’s smi- community: The human community is strictly
ling and of her whole gift of self is the answer, related to the experience of the person….We
awakened by her, of love to love, when the “I” find in it the reality of participation as that pro-
is addressed by the “Thou”… (von Balthasar, perty of the person which enables him to exist
1993, p. 15) and act “together with others” and thus to reach
This awakening of existential personhood is his own fulfillment. Simultaneously, participa-
consistent with the findings of developmental tion as a property of the person is a constituti-
psychology, attachment theory, and relational ve factor of any human community. (Wojtyła,
neurobiology (e.g., interaction synchrony, Feld- 1969/1979, p. 333)
man, 2007; cf. Gerhardt, 2004; Titus & Scrofani, Relationships between individual human per-
2012; Vitz, 2009). This would also seem consi- sons expand to include a broader community of
stent with Erikson‘s (1963) developmental task human persons: “Clearly, then the we introdu-
of identity in adolescence (pp. 261-263). Phe- ces us to another world of human relationships
nomenological human science research might and refers to another dimension of communi-
beneficially consider the structure and develop- ty, namely, the social dimension, which differs
mental significance of human experiences such from the previous dimension, the interpersonal
as wonder and shame (e.g., Kurtz, 1910, pp. 52- dimension of community found in I—thou re-
92; Wojtyla, 1960/1981, pp. 174-193). lationships” (Wojtyła, 1976/1993, p. 246). Love
Ethical personhood. We do not exist only for forms persons such that persons can love: “In
ourselves; we also exist for others. human beings, love is so great that it gives form

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