More on Mensches

The Swiss physicist and ecologist Olivier Guisan told me 30 years ago that the key to growing up was to have one's eyes opened without having one's heart hardened. A maturing process that enables us to cope with the sometimes daunting realities of life, without becoming cynical, is essential. The schlepper is typically a pessimist, the macher a cynic. The mensch is an optimist. He believes in the goodness of people and in civilization's ability to find solutions to complex problems. His own humanity is of course part of this, but he ignores that.

The noted psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi^[3] has described a model in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.^[4] In this theory, there is a tension between knowledge and skill set versus the task worked on. If the task is too easy, boredom sets in, and people are unhappy. If the task isrelatively speakingvery challenging compared to competence, then people are stretched, but tense and anxious as a result. When there is a reasonable matchnot too easy, not too hardthen a "flow state" is achieved. Csikszentmihalyi calls the achievement of the flow state the flow channel, because it spans a broad range of competency and task difficulty. Flow is a state of grace, where achievement is high and one experiences a feeling of incredible well-being; athletes call it "being in the zone."

^[3] Pronounced "chick-sent-me-high."

^[4] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. (New York: Harper Collins, 1991.) See also Chapter 16 for more details on flow.

What is interesting is that, in this model, schleppers would appear to be unhappy because they are constantly below the flow channel, working on tasks that they find boring. Machers, it would appear, are troubled because they are most frequently working above the flow channelthey are characteristically "in over their heads." And mensches, by my reckoning, are happy and effective because they are so often in the flow channel. If achieving flow is a key, then mensches would seem to have discovered it.

Surprisingly, you don't have to be old to be a mensch, although many of the traits associated with mensches can come with age. No, being a mensch is a state of mind, available to all of us with the proper perspective and attitude.

Mensches are happy people. They are surrounded by happy people. They can deal with life's worst surprises and help others to do so, too. They have extremely well integrated and balanced lives, and they are at peace.