Personality and its Worldview

Editorial

Only spirited books should be published and active, that fortify and open the way. Jose Marti. The personality and its worldview, by Prof. Juan D. Quintana Mendoza, docent retired of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Havana, is the title, whose author makes available, not only to professionals and students of Marti’s science of the spirit, but also of those people who try to achieve great intellectual, human and spiritual stature.

And as one of the ways to make such an ambitious goal a reality, they decided to immerse themselves in the pages of this volume and analyze in depth the forty-five sections in which it is structured from the methodological side.

In this text, where the academic and the popular merge in a warm embrace, the reader will be able to find —in a language accessible to specialists and neophytes— answers to many of the philosophical-anthropological questions that homo sapiens has asked itself since time immemorial: Who am I, what goals do I pursue in life and where do I direct my steps, among other no less important things. Not all of us can answer—satisfactorily—those essential questions; a minority does manage to offer them coherent answers throughout their entire earthly existence, while the majority stays halfway or does not even take the trouble to dedicate a single one of their thoughts or interior phrases to them.

However, the Havana epileptologist and rorscharchist, also faithful to his professional training with an ethical- humanist orientation par excellence, adopted the laudable decision of helping the other or not me to find rational answers to those and other questions, which he also formulates and reformulates at every moment.

To achieve this objective, which ennobles him, the active member of the Cuban Society of Health Psychology and the Society of Neurosciences of Cuba appeals to technological eclecticism? That is, he chooses from each school or psychological doctrine what can be useful to man to facilitate the harmonious and integral development of the personality; fundamental axis on which the entire theoretical-conceptual, methodological and practical scaffolding of this genuine contribution to the knowledge of oneself and the other is based, as a way to heal the wounds left in the body, mind and soul, as consequences of the various adverse or hostile situations that hit man in this «valley of tears» (but, also, of joy, happiness and personal fulfillment, why not?). And, consequently, help him form a much more optimistic conception of the universe and life, in which love for others and also faith and hope in a better world prevail, which is possible, and in which we believe.

From the perspective of humanistic psychology, whose guiding principle rests on perceiving the person as an indivisible bio-psycho-socio-cultural and spiritual unit, the main architect of this gem of popular-scientific literature makes a critical dissection of dissimilarities. Divine and human problems (including – among others – theological and ethical-moral ones), which man faces throughout his entire life path.

Based on the current intellectual and spiritual heritage bequeathed by the Apostle to humanity, he believes – like the most universal of Cubans that the corporeal body and the incorporeal soul develop simultaneously and inseparable and concerned with the transcendent».

From that position, vehemently supported by one of the founding fathers of Cuban psychology, Professor Quintana Mendoza moves –with a firm and sure step– through different existential crossroads that affect the development, not only of personality, but of contemporary society.

On the other hand, he illustrates with examples taken from his fruitful professional work in the field of clinical psychology for more than three decades, the opinions supported by him and supported by theoretical knowledge and practical experience. Although I fully identify with the criteria defended by Professor Quintana Mendoza in most of the sections on which this book is based, there is one in particular (the one dedicated to the war conflicts that have plagued and continue to plague humanity), in which I would like to clearly state my point of view on the matter.

In this section, he leaves open the possibility that the reader accepts or not the evil essence and aggressive nature of the human being, according to the perspective of orthodox and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Followers of the controversial Freudian and Lacanian doctrine wield the principle that the inner essence of man is evil, and that human nature is aggressive, due to the work and grace of irreversible biogenic conditioning.

As a lover of peace, I have the unavoidable ethical obligation to clarify the mess that psychoanalysts Orthodox and Lacanians have woven around this controversial issue.

According to my personal appreciation, the intimate essence of man is good and healthy, while human nature is beautiful and kind, despite everything that could be argued today against these philosophical-anthropological truths. If this were not the case, the bloodthirsty Roman Caesars, Attila and his barbarian hosts, as well as the füher Adolf Hitler, to name only three examples, although there are many more, would have been in charge of destroying life on earth and man would not have achieved the level of intellectual, human and spiritual development that, despite all the hardships, he has achieved and will continue to achieve until the end of his days.

Finally, I sincerely applaud the happy initiative of Professor Juan D. Quintana Mendoza to give to print this plea in favor of everything that exalts and dignifies the human condition on the planet where we have had to live, love, create and dream, and whose ecological and moral destruction we must avoid at whatever price is necessary. This work —without a doubt— contributes to materializing that aspiration, because its author is aware that «the word has power».