I have lately been reading Maslow’s conceptions of ‘self actualization,” while also seeking to
understand concepts of ‘existential choice.’ I make out the two go together as we make choices that lead us to becoming self actualized. Without ‘stretching out’ or making sometimes difficult choices, we can never self-actualize or reach our full human-spiritual potential.
In books and articles I have in recent times been reading regarding self actualization I understand that less than a percent of people achieve self actualization in their lives. The vast majority fall much further down on Maslow’s hierarchy. In terms of statistical probability the self actualized individual has several deviations from the norm. The norm:
always longing to fit in and to find an elusive happiness, to live a life of insecurity and doubt. I could not understand why people did not choose better for themselves. This failure to choose can be compared to the teachings of Don Juan’s regarding fear. Don Juan educated us on how we could choose to overcome fear by challenging it, but then he did so as a shaman. I also saw a parallel with the neglected gospels of Thomas.
For those who have never heard of the Gospel of Thomas, let me provide some background. A copy of the Gospel of Thomas was found among thirteen leather-bound books in Egypt in 1945 near a town called Nag Hammadi. The books themselves are dated to be about A.D. 350 to 380 and are written in the Coptic language. The Gospel of Thomas contains one hundred and fourteen sayings that are mostly attributed to Jesus. Parts of Thomas had been uncovered in the 1890s in the form of three Greek papyrus fragments. The book opens with a prologue that reads, “These are the secret words that the living Jesus spoke and Judas, even Thomas, wrote,” which is followed by the words “the Gospel according to Thomas.”
It seems to coincide with the height of the self-actualization movement of psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow which would have made the Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas seem very modern.
I too have read Maslow’s theory. I have found the concept of self actualization very helpful in the study of Pauline and the deutero Pauline letters. I think one has to internalize to materialize.
Specifically, what is interesting is most people react in human relationships due to past experience on an emotional level from memory. So a person can say one thing but if they do not feel what they say their body will express it, making them in-congruent or being in an dis-empowered state.
Another way to express this is a house divided cannot stand. Thus, when one thinks, speaks and physical expresses (works) one is congruent and in an empowered state. All major religions are united in the concept of personal accountability.
Gandhi also is another model similar to Jesus the Christ. Gandhi believed to change his external situation he would first have to change the way he thought. Again, internalize to materialize.
These are similarities I have found in my studies of looking at Pauline context. I am a beginner and learning to also look at the text through the lens of historics.
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