George E. Vaillant

LA VENTAJA EVOLUTIVA DEL AMOR

La evolución de las emociones positivas no es algo reciente. Todo empezó hace más de 200 millones de años cuando los reptiles de sangre fría, sin fe ni humor desconfiados y con el cerebro del tamaño de una castaña, evolucionaron lentamente hasta convertirse en mamíferos de sangre caliente que cuidan a sus hijos fieles y esperanzados, con el cerebro grande y capaces de jugar, de sentir alegría vinculación y de confiar en que sus padres cuiden de ellos en lugar de comérselos»,

Frases tan sorprendentes como esta basadas en investigaciones en nuevas disciplinas como las neurociencias y la etología, nos darán explicaciones acerca de cómo los humanos nos convertimos en lo que somos y como podemos desarrollar todo nuestro potencial como especie.
Con este libro en la cabecera, los proyectos evolutivos basados en la robótica, la manipulación genética, la competencia o la ferocidad; le devuelven por fin su lugar protagónico al amor, la compasión, la esperanza, la alegría, la fe, el perdón, el cuidado mutuo y la iluminación.

Vaillant, al igual que todos los grandes pensadores, entiende a la espiritualidad más en relación con nuestra responsabilidad comunitaria que con la experiencia mística, pero no por ello descuida que la capacidad de enfocar la conciencia en el hecho evolutivo es también una clave en eI avance de nuestra evolución colectiva.

Esta obra cumple también así su parte en el progreso espiritual de la especie humana, demostrando que para nosotros no hay mayor ventaja evolutiva que la del amor desinteresado.… (mais)

The Harvard Study of Adult Development was designed to study several facets of adult development. After more than 50 years, study director George Vaillant was able to draw conclusions about how men and women could lead fulfilling, happy, healthy lives into their sixties and beyond. Vaillant determined that one’s past was not a significant determinant of healthy aging, and confirmed that development continues throughout adulthood. Building on rel="nofollow" target="_top">Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, Vaillant describes six adult life tasks and then focuses on the three most central to healthy aging: Generativity (unselfishly guiding the next generation), Keeper of the Meaning (conservation and preservation of culture and its institutions), and Integrity (acceptance of one’s life cycle in spite of decline). There are many ways to fulfill these life tasks (or not), which the book illustrates through the stories of study participants. I found the concepts and conclusions of the study very interesting, but these were often overly padded by the stories. One example was usually sufficient for me to understand the concept, and yet he often presented two, three, or more, leading me to skim in search of his next major point.

I was most interested in chapters that helped me to consider my own future. Vaillant’s analysis distinguishing the “happy-well” from the “sad-sick” led to predictors of healthy aging, and highlighted variables that had no effect. Not surprisingly, alcohol use, smoking, exercise, and weight were all factors. But so were stable relationships, social supports, and ability to cope with life’s twists and turns. And factors like ancestral longevity, parental characteristics, childhood temperament, stress, and cholesterol, often cited as contributors to longevity, turned out to have little impact. The chapter on Retirement was, for me, the most interesting and relevant as it provided a framework for thinking about how to live a fulfilling life. An abridged version of the framework follows:
There are four basic activities that make retirement rewarding. First, retirees should replace their work mates with another social network....

Second, and essential to happy retirement, retirees must rediscover...how to play..... Play provides a wonderful magic that is especially suited to retirement, for play permits a person to maintain self-esteem while giving up self-importance.... Besides, play makes retirement fun.

The third basic activity is creativity. Creativity requires protected time — even solitude; and thus, while raising a family and earning a living, creativity is not always possible. In retirement, however, creativity, like play, should be a primary goal.

Fourth, retirees should continue lifelong learning. The challenge in retirement is to combine the fruits of maturity with the recovery of childlike wonder.

I could have done with more than 30 pages on this topic, simply because that was my main purpose in reading this book. Still, it met my expectations by leaving me with much to think about.… (mais)