sixth volume, Cikitsa-sth ̄ ana: ̄ A person without children is compared to
“a lamp in sketches” (not the actual lamp that emanates light). But a per-
son with many children is said to have “many faces, many dimensions,
and multi-dimensional knowledge” [CS 6:2, quarter-chapter 1:16–24].
Generativity is presented here under the heading of social and cultural
determinants of health rather than biological determinants, because
human beings have capacities of spirituality, intellect, and creativity ex-
tending beyond our mere biological natures.
To generate is to bring into being, but there are ways other than bio-
logical reproduction whereby persons may express generativity. This idea
is as ancient as Plato’s Symposium, wherein Diotima instructs Socrates
that some persons’ procreancy is of the body, while others’ is of the soul.
These persons “conceive and bear things of the spirit.”
And what are they? you ask. Wisdom and her sister virtues; it is the of-
fice of every poet to beget them, and of every artist whom we may call
creative. Now, by far the most important kind of wisdom, she went on,
is that which governs the ordering of society, and which goes by the
names of justice and moderation.^82The developmental theory of Erik Erikson provides a modern psy-
chological articulation of generativity, which Erikson says “encompasses
the evolutionary development which has man the teaching and instituting
as well as the learning animal.”
Mature man needs to be needed, and maturity needs guidance as well as
encouragement from what has been produced and must be taken care
of. Generativity, then, is primarily the concern in establishing and guid-
ing the next generation, although there are individuals who through
misfortune or because of special and genuine gifts in other directions, do
not apply this drive to their own offspring. And indeed, the concept of
generativity is meant to include such more popular synonyms as pro-
ductivityand creativity, which, however, cannot replace it.^83Generativity manifests an individual’s vitality by exercising his or her
inner resources and initiative to take responsibility for the perpetuation of
human culture. Whether or not a person has biological offspring, genera-
tivity represents one’s participation in the bringing up of new generations.
In the present state of the planet, overpopulation is at the root of many of
our ills, environmental and human. Thus generativity has an amplified sig-
nificance as an option for augmenting or transforming the impulse toward
biological parenthood in ways that contribute to the well-being of the
next generation, without necessarily adding to its numbers.
74 religious therapeutics