As I grok it, the concept isn’t so much about balance as it is ascent. The state of self-actualization is a broad and expansive one, and includes all the range of life’s experiences. Life long learning. It’s also not supposed to be very egocentric. Like, once you are there you’re not “working on it” anymore, you’re just being. Maslow believed that people who reach this stage will be creative and engage the world around them, because that’s what’s left to do.
I know he had a thing about monks and stuff, but I haven’t read it. But I also know that the quest for spiritual satisfaction functions at all levels, and the state of self-actualization is something that would probably come afterward, when whatever needs which were woven into yr vision quest have been fulfilled.
As for the case of a terminally ill person who finds herself rising above things that previously limited her — lower-teir needs — when she realizes that life is short, well that makes sense to me. All these needs are totally psychological, or at least we experience them psychologically, even at the lowest level. So nothing needs to change outside in your life in order for you to rise above something, in theory. So if impending death causes you to release your fears because, hey, there’s no point, that would seem natural.
My guess
Thanks Joe.
As I grok it, the concept isn’t so much about balance as it is ascent. The state of self-actualization is a broad and expansive one, and includes all the range of life’s experiences. Life long learning. It’s also not supposed to be very egocentric. Like, once you are there you’re not “working on it” anymore, you’re just being. Maslow believed that people who reach this stage will be creative and engage the world around them, because that’s what’s left to do.
I know he had a thing about monks and stuff, but I haven’t read it. But I also know that the quest for spiritual satisfaction functions at all levels, and the state of self-actualization is something that would probably come afterward, when whatever needs which were woven into yr vision quest have been fulfilled.
As for the case of a terminally ill person who finds herself rising above things that previously limited her — lower-teir needs — when she realizes that life is short, well that makes sense to me. All these needs are totally psychological, or at least we experience them psychologically, even at the lowest level. So nothing needs to change outside in your life in order for you to rise above something, in theory. So if impending death causes you to release your fears because, hey, there’s no point, that would seem natural.