Maslow, Judaism, and Humanistic Psychology: In Memory of Ilene Serlin

In 2011, Ilene Serlin published a brief meditation on “The History and Future of Humanistic Psychology.” It appeared in The Humanistic Psychologist mid-way through Obama’s first term in office and one year into the Arab Spring. Much of her argument focused on the need to maintain and promote a psychology that is soulful and seriously engaged with spirituality and the arts. To that end, she quoted luminaries such as Rollo May and James Bugenthal. But significantly, perhaps, she leaned more heavily on Abraham Maslow’s ideas than she did on other sources of illumination.