Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

The Holistic Philosophy 41
There is consensus between Smuts and Oberteuffer that the human personality is
integrated and requires self - expression and self - realization for normal adjustment.
Oberteuffer (1945) considered that the very nature of health education and physical
education provided “ the opportunity for normal personality adjustment and integration
through and by the satisfactions arising out of self - expression. ”
Smuts considered personality the evolutionary outgrowth of the integrated mind
and body of the individual. According to Smuts,
[p]ersonality . . . is a new whole … the highest and completest of all wholes . . . a creative
synthesis of . . . organic and psychical wholes . . . higher than any of its predecessors.
(p. 263)
He advocated the concept that “ personality is fundamentally an organ of self -
realization ” and through self - expression it is able to achieve the objective of wholeness:
“ The object of a whole is more wholeness … more of its creative self, more
self - realization ” (p. 290).
There is consensus between Smuts and Hoyman about self - actualization (self -
realization) and the evolutionary basis of the unique human personality. Hoyman
(1971) considers a human being a unified, self - regulating, self - actualizing organism.
According to Hoyman (1972a), “ human personality and character are also evolutionary
and ecologic emergents. ” Smuts considers that the evolution of personality is a
unique phenomenon in the world and each human individual has a unique personality.
Hoyman considers that “ personality refers to the unique features that distinguish one
person from another. ” According to Smuts, the personality achieves self - realization
through harmony with the personal character. He states further:
when through its own weakness the character is degraded and a course of conduct
embarked on which constitutes a denial of that fundamental tendency and aspiration
towards wholeness, the . . . personality … is often strong enough to rescue the individual
and . . . convert him to . . . moral wholeness. (p. 300)
Smuts ’ view of personal character is similar to Hoyman ’ s (1972a), who writes
that “ character refers to the person judged in terms of ethical standards of right and
wrong. ” Both Smuts and Hoyman agree that human personality is not static but still
evolving. Hoyman (1972b) writes that personality is in a dynamic process of growth
and maturation within the individual from “ cradle to grave. ” Smuts (1926) considers
that personality is in a constant state of evolution towards wholeness which requires
“ the elimination of disharmonious elements from the personality ” (p. 291). There is a
basic difference between Smuts ’ and Hoyman ’ s views of the heredity source of personality.
According to Hoyman (1974),
the basic sources of personality are heredity and environment . . . . [H]owever as
[a] . . . child . . . interacts with environment factors, a unique individual emerges
whose . . . self - structure becomes a third force in shaping . . . further personality
development and behavior.