Abstract
Oh my. I just heard. I loved Tom, we loved Tom. He was an incarnation of humanistic psychology and our higher potential in so many ways, in his own life, in giving, loving, working for change—as Journal of Humanistic Psychology (JHP) editor, clinician, teacher, human being—in his poignant sense of humor (see his original poetry book on vegetables which my then young daughter loved—e.g., broccoli) in Tom helping us all to find more in our lives and to give more to the world.
Speaking as someone who spent 25 years as salaried faculty at Saybrook University (and as Faculty Co-Chair and more) now Professor Emerita, I got to know him well. We owe so much to Tom for what Saybrook was back then and continues to become. Holistic, caring, committed, exploring, concerned with each person, beloved of students, never satisfied that we have begun to come near our higher human potential. Yet we honor that potential. We keep working. We honor our lives and our wonder. We ask where we might go next. Hand in hand with Tom, we have always kept moving.
Working toward deeper global understanding, Tom wrote and taught a course on citizen diplomacy, and of course he walked his talk. As the editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology for decades, he brought forward and highlighted important voices and issues. I was delighted with his interest in Psychology of Creativity, which I had researched elsewhere, always a “natural” for humanistic psychology, as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, among others, saw so well.
Stanley Krippner wrote the first creativity course at Saybrook, which continues today. When Saybrook graduate students developed student interest groups (SIGs), creativity was strong among them (Skip Robinson was the primary student advocate, and Tom Greening the beloved faculty advisor). I was so glad they accepted me, as newcomer faculty with creativity commitments, and worked closely with Tom and Stan and others in various ways. Later, we attracted Steve Pritzker and became a specialization, then Terri Goslin-Jones with expressive arts.
Tom was a creative writer, poet, editor, and more. Yet for humanistic psychology, creativity has not been about a few cognitive skills (or affective qualities) and goes far beyond creative product, to embrace who we are and are becoming, creative person, process, and our environment that can bring us alive (or not), including in our everyday creative life. Here is a full way of living, of being present in the moment, aware of world, our deeper self, our ongoing dynamic, and our evolving potential in each moment. Meanwhile (note well chaos and complexity theories, which too were of early humanistic interest) we are profoundly interconnected with each other and the cosmos.
Much more could be said of dear Tom in so many ways, including his love for his little dog (as well as each of us), or earlier or historical figures who helped change the world (I remember especially Dorothy Day). But I want to focus finally on Tom as the Editor of JHP. For decades, Tom as Editor in Chief was the spirit of JHP, along with the other editors, ever ready with his red pen, to ask the most of us, if we wished to publish there. His openness to creativity led to my going to JHP often and later joining the editorial board.
Tom was a humanistic encyclopedia. If I brought up T-Groups (e.g., which I once did), Tom had a whole issue on it and a ready discussion of the depths one could reach with others in authenticity, openness, and exploration together, as well as views of humanistic psychology, as it emerged, over time. This of course continues in different forms in the evolution of humanistic education in our diverse world today. Expressive arts are one shining example.
We did and do love Tom, as a beloved icon and friend; along with his humanity, erudition, creativity, clinical vision, and caring. Remarkable was his deep commitment to all of us and to the world. It was Tom of course who sponsored a special environmental issue of JHP back in 2001, to which I contributed, as did Marc Pilisuk, Linda Riebel, and others. We care about all beings, not just “humans” (or worse yet, only specific humans, harming others on this far too violent planet). We are part of something vast, mysterious, and evolving—and at bottom, which can bring us a greater good.
We thank you Tom for all you have given, and for all that will stay with us, and in perpetuity. Yet we miss you. We miss you so much.