Commitment
One question naturally arises about the Reich and Lowen tradition's emphasis on agreeableness as a cause of action. "What about commitment? Are we all to be seeking our own pleasure all the time?" Commitment is a promise to continue to do something even if the experience or result doesn't turn out quite as imagined or desire. Commitment becomes operative when agreeableness is missing in the moment but is possible in the future. Commitment can bridge vicissitudes that occur in the midst of an otherwise sound undertaking. Commitment can arise out of compassion and service and still be agreeable because true compassion is pleasureable.
Commitment can benefit an entire community because it provides a stability in environment that helps others invest themselves in a goal, and for this reason is an humanistic value. A conviction is a deeply felt belief in the soundness and goodness of a practice, habit, or principle. It too leads to perseverance. Conviction is a Reich and Lowen value, and where possible, is a better alternative to commitment as an internal motivator. For instance in the life-long growth work advocated throughout this website, steadiness of application is important, and while a commitment can be a start, only conviction will likely last
Of course commitment has an important role in human relations. But a commitment needs some boundaries or it becomes either subjugation of oneself or control of another. Commitment is meaningful if the commitment is to a relationship or to a general goal. Commitment to a specific outcome or to a person can lead to difficulty.
On the broader topic of the possible benefit of doing what is not agreeable at first, three things are relevant: submission, acceptance, and willingness. Submission is following the will of another. Submission may be expedient, or in the service of survival, and thereby serve its purpose well. But for human growth activities submission contains its own failure because resentment is always present. A milder form of submission with the same draw-back is compliance. By contrast, the directions of another person or an unchangeable fact can be accepted in that one conforms ones efforts in a relaxed way based on the acknowledgment that we do not always know what is best. Willingness is a predisposition to acceptance. Acceptance is probably far rarer than we think. All guru/disciple, teacher/student, or therapist/client relationships are fraught with the struggle between compliance and acceptance.