The Cultural Personality

With the many dynamic changes going on in today’s world, a new prototype of the human personality is needed to guide people’s future actions, behaviour, lifestyles, and overall development. This new prototype is the cultural personality. It is grounded in the belief that people should be holistic, centred, creative, altruistic, and humane if they are to achieve more happiness, fulfillment, and spirituality in their own lives as well as live in harmony with other people, cultures, species, and the natural environment as a whole.

In this enlightening book, author D. Paul Schafer explores the background, ramifications, and promise of this exciting new personality concept. In Chapter One, an assessment is made of the context within which people find themselves in the world today. In Chapter Two, the cultural personality is examined as a concept, largely by juxtaposing the two interdependent concepts of “culture” and “personality.” In Chapter Three, the main characteristics of the cultural personality are revealed. In Chapter Four, the cultivation of the qualities and abilities that are most required to constitute the cultural personality are provided. And in Chapter Five, attention is given to the way the cultural personality can function most effectively in the world in practical terms.

"The Cultural Personality by Paul Schafer is a pioneering work and potent read. In our current times of an emerging planetary consciousness, intense interfusion of cultures, a collective quest for belonging, juxtaposed with cultural deterioration, lack of personal and shared meaning, widespread confusion and disorientation, [Schafer's concept of] the cultural personality offers a highly relevant compass for our individual and collective lives to propel us into a culturally rich and meaningful future. Schafer’s book beautifully combines personal development and societal renewal. What I found particularly helpful, is that the author – seemingly a 'practitioner of a deeply felt global humanism' – did not stop by laying out the context, concept and characteristics of the cultural personality, but also explains how its cultivation and conduct can be brought about. He thereby offers simultaneously a language and a practice for a much needed cultural evolution of humanity. In short, I regard the articulation of the cultural personality by Paul Schafer of vital importance. I strongly recommend this brief, succinct read for anyone participating in or seeking to contribute to the urgent cultural revitalization of our societies and of humanity as a global community." -- Prof. Alexander Schieffer, co-Founder, TRANS4M Center for Integral Development, Geneva, Switzerland and Hotonnes, France; series co-editor, Routledge Transformation and Innovation Series