Self-actualization

Self-actualization needs self-fulfillment, achievement... 

Personal-board members from outside one s profession or industry can help one overcome the limitations of conventional wisdom and remain true to one s goals. Perhaps the most significant contribution the personal board can make is to help one attain self-knowledge and, ultimately, self-actualization. 

Working with a non-clinical population and with a nontherapy orientation, would there nevertheless result demonstrable long-term personality changes indicative of continued increased creativity and self-actualization ... 

A similar comment holds with regard to selection of subjects. Clinical studies already referred to indicate that those subjects who are more stable and productive beforehand tend to "benefit considerably from the psychedelic experience along the lines of self-actualization, richer creative experience, and enhancement of special abilities and aptitudes" (Savage et al., 1966). Subjects for this pilot study were deliberately selected to be persons with known reputations as creative individuals. In general, we would expect the outcomes of this kind of research to be more fruitful with gifted rather than "merely normal" subjects. 

Jobs can be main jobs or related jobs. Some jobs are parents of other jobs. If a person wants to self-actualize, for instance, this job could be the parent to any number of lower-order jobs having to do with a person s physical, mental, social, emotional, financial, and spiritual well-being. 

Self-actualization refers to an inherent need to fulfill yourself, to discover and develop and use all of your potentials and abilities to the fullest. Unfortunately, few people are able to do this. In Maslow s terms, this book is about self-actualization. The more you wake from consensus trance, the more you can actualize your higher self and potentials. Gurdjieff s ideas go far beyond Maslow s, however. 

This conflict between safety and growth needs is why Gurdjieff insisted that the Fourth Way starts from a reasonable level of success (by commonsense standards) in the ordinary world. The householder, the successful malcontent, has lots of imperfections and craziness in an absolute sense, but by common standards has mastered the tasks of staying alive and reasonably comfortable. He or she has a solid base to start from, and that successful base, satisfaction of lower needs, allows the essential curiosity and desire for self-actualization to emerge. 

Self-actualization or self-fulfillment (each person s drive to move toward being the very best of which he or she is inherently capable). 

Following John Plamenatz and Allen Wood, I shall distinguish between two main concepts of alienation in Marx. First there is what one may refer to as lack of self-actualization (Wood) or spiritual alienation (Plamenatz). This is the topic of the present section. Secondly, there is the power that the products of nran may acquire over their creators. This is discussed in 2.3.3. 

In connection with these views, I want to raise some questions. Why did Maix place so much emphasis on creation, as opposed to the more passive forms of enjoyment Did Marx really believe that each and any individual could achieve self-actualization through creative work at a high level of excellence If so, was he right Is this form of self-actualization compatible with the idea of having a broad range of activities 1 postpone to 4.3.3 the further question whether all individuals can achieve self-realization in this way, even assuming that any individual can. 

Under capitalism, the self-actualization of man occurs at the expense of that of individual men. The collective labourer achieves perfection at the expense of the crippling of the individual worker. In communism self-actualization of men is the supreme value, and no such sacrifices can be tolerated. Above all we must avoid postulating society again as an abstraction pis-rf-w s the individual." Yet Marx clearly believed that through the self-actualization of the individuals under communism there would also occur an unprecedented flowering of humanity. Moreover, he seemed to take it for granted that under communism there could be no conflict or trade-off between these two goals. 1 want to question this view. 

If Marx, thus understood, is right, there is no conflict between the self-actualization of man and that of men. But if he is wrong, as appears... 

With one possible exception (cited below) Marx never explicitly makes the contrast between positive and negative freedom. Both notions, however, can be found in his work. He refers to the latter as "formal freedom", as when the worker is said to be formally free to leave his master. The latter he calls "real freedom", which he also equates with self-actualization ... 

The implication seems to be that fettering means suboptimal or inhuman use. Further, one may point to two places where Marx argues that what is fettered by the "form of intercourse" (as Marx at this time called what he was later to call "relations of production" ) is the "self-activity" of the individual. They are too long to be cited here, and anyway somewhat inconclusive. In one of them self-activity is clearly conceived as the full self-actualization of the individual, while in the other an "advanced mode of self-activity" is linked to "more developed productive forces". With respect to communism, the two views of self-activity are, of course, compatible, but with respect to earlier modes of production they are not. The development of man and that of men do not progress pari passu. The transition from one set of relations of production to another is certainly... 

This notion of human unity is a very difficult concept for those of us who are embedded in Western culture. Much of the American story involves the rise of the individual, with a focus on individual rights and responsibilities, accumulation and protection of private assets, and personal growth and self-actualization. So when philosophers talk about unity, we have trouble even understanding what they mean, much less accepting it. 

The literature on the detrimental mental and physical health consequences of chronic stress was also reviewed in this chapter. Reading this literature on the consequences of occupational stress, one might be led to conclude that all work is bad for one s health. However, it is important to recognize that this is not always the case and there are indeed a number of positives about work, which are often overlooked. It not only provides us with the means to meet our basic physical needs (for example for food, shelter and warmth) but also our higher level needs for self-actualization, power and status (Maslow 1954). 

Srivastava, A. K. (1989). Moderating effect of self-actualization on the relationship of role stress with job anxiety. Psychological Studies 34 106-9. 

That grit, that discontentment, is what is needed to drive the would-be entrepreneur out of complacency, dependency, and fear of the future into an experience of self-actualization on every level. It is not meant to be a curse or a handicap. If we use it wisely, we see it signals a perfect opportunity to fundamentally change our lives for... 

Most self-starters are motivated by self-actualization and that s no different for you or me in business. It s the number one need driving me. But I ve discovered the secondary need for me is also a very powerful need for most people the need to feel safe and secure. Even though most people see self-employment as very risky business and entrepreneurs as risk takers, what most of us are after is security, although this might seem like an oxymoron. 

A job design that endangers the worker s safety or health is not acceptable. However, life does not have infinite value. Management must take reasonable precautions. Naturally, the definition of reasonable is debatable. After designing for safety, design for performance, then worker comfort, and, finally, worker higher wants (social, ego, and self-actualization). 

---