How do you get yourself to do ANYTHING? Are you like a Ming dynasty dragon flying through clouds to chase pearls?
In school we learned psychiatrist Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy” of needs (1943 paper, A Theory of Motivation): physiological needs/safety needs/love and belonging/esteem/self-actualization. After a few years of psychology practice, I took exception to Maslow’s linear line-up as well as his assertion that “self-actualization” occurred rarely, and only to a famous few — Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Adams, William James, Albert Schweitzer, Aldous Huxley, Benedict de Spinoza, Abraham Lincoln (in his last years), and Thomas Jefferson.
Without naming them, Maslow pondered a list of his contemporaries for “partial cases” of self-actualization. Were these individuals also predominantly men? What about kids who often seem more self-actualized than the adults in their world? Could Greta Thunberg be recognized for “partial” self-actualization?
Maslow silently amended his model of needs (in notes in his journal which were published after his death in 1970), as his thinking was challenged by his friend, Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. This revelation is explained by Frankl’s grandson, documentary filmmaker and psychotherapist Alexander Vesely: “Abraham Maslow, in his ‘hierarchy of needs,’ said that once basic needs (food, shelter) are met, then the intangibles such as love, meaning, and self-actualization can be fulfilled. But my grandfather disagreed. He told Maslow how people did not have their ‘basic’ needs met in the concentration camps, but it was the ‘higher’ needs (i.e., meanings, love, and values) that proved to be much more relevant to their chance of survival. Maslow revised his ideas and said, ‘Frankl is right.’ My grandfather emphasized that it’s not about ‘having what you need to live’ but asking yourself, ‘What am I living for?’ The most affluent societies have all their basic needs met, but they lack something to live for….”
No longer hidden, “self-transcendence” is the pinnacle of Maslow’s basic needs. To self-transcend one finds meaning beyond self-fulfillment; to be fully human, one has integrity and takes responsibility for something “larger” than one’s own ability potential, as in altruistic actions.
All of us may be somewhere on the “partial” continuum of actualizing our potential, but where is our self-transcendent behavior evident? No one really knows what travails and trauma another individual may have encountered that led to their less-than-transcendent actions. The Chinese portrayal of a sharply clawed dragon chasing a “flaming pearl” is a poignant image. Each person struggles in particular ways to meet their continuously flowing and concurrent basic needs that often appear elusive.
Viktor Frankl’s keen understanding of human nature still reverberates today. Frankl believed that there’s a Hitler and a Mother Theresa in everyone; it is up to each of us to decide which of the two we will become. Beyond self-actualization, true happiness relates to finding purpose and meaning in life — the hidden pearl of self-transcendence.
Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz
207. Where do you find “larger” meaning in your life today?
208. How might you engage in an altruistic action today?
Pearls of Peace: A Family Psychologist’s Circle-of-Life Blog 
Yes, I tend to agree with Frankl. I try to see the seed of Love in each person. Sometimes it is rather hard to ignore their hateful side. But what I have found is that kindness toward them often helps their love seed grow! That is why I really like to be as helpful as possible to people who need help.
LikeLike
Yes, kindness is an incredible gift that we give to another person, whether they appear “likable” or not. We often do not know what effect our kindness gifting has on another person. I find it interesting that it took another generation (Frankl’s grandson) to re-tell the basic-needs story and reveal the inclusion of seeing beyond one’s own daily needs to include others’ needs as well.
LikeLike