According to Abraham Maslow, Self-actualization is depicted by the ability of a person to fulfill the highest needs that are vital in their life as they grow up. He created a psychological hierarchy of needs in which the highest level in the hierarchy represent meaning. Moscow believes that self-actualizing individuals can resolve contrasts reflected by determination and free-will. He perceives self-actualizers as psychologically strong and highly creative individuals. Carl Rogers produced a theory on growth potential aiming at integrating the ideal self and real self to create a picture of the fully functioning person. The purpose of therapy is to alleviate, heal, symptoms of a regarding condition or issue. This paper aims to find how self-actualization contributes to therapeutic goals, counseling process and whether it can be integrated into a Christian worldview.
Moscow uses an example of artist's self-expression and the audience of the artistic work to show how self-actualization contributes to counseling process and achieving the therapeutic goal. The dichotomy expressing a resolution of the artistic process of subject and object through art is one of them. Use of allegory and metaphor by artist ‘subject' towards audience ‘object' culminate into a communication from free expression. The subject and the object are able to realize epiphanies through art (D'Souza & Gurin, 2016). For example, Sylvia Plath, a poet, who was mentally ill realized an epiphany when she described the birth of her child in a poem. That epiphany and creative communication between herself and the audience helped to achieve self-actualization. Art is said to enhance people's psychological well-being. Clearly, through her poem, Sylvia is psychologically healed because she is able to communicate with other people despite her being mentally ill. This truly depicts that self-actualization contributes to counseling process, therefore, achieving the purpose of therapy.
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The last level in the psychological hierarchy of needs by Maslow is referred to as growth motivation. At this level, what matters is becoming complete by fulfilling the one's potentials. He states that, for one to realize self-realization, a person should have all the needs on the hierarchy fulfilled. The needs at lower levels arranged in ascending order include; physiological needs, safety needs, belonging needs and esteem needs. The topmost level being self-actualization. People may not be able to fulfill their potentials when they have not met their lower needs (Cherry, 2014). For example, a person without food, oxygen or water which are physiological needs may not devote themselves to fulfilling their potentials. Moscow gives a list of people who can be called self-actualizers. Some include Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Benedict Spinoza. Moscow describes them as reality-centered, solitude and problem centered.
The self-actualizers had accepted themselves and others the way they are and could not change a person for who they are not. Nevertheless, they were motivated to change a negative quality of a person where they could. Self-actualizers are humble, respectful, compassionate and ethical. Moscow describes them as people who have social interest, inventive, original, creative, and open to ethnic and individual variation. Many people tend to seek out individuals who leave their mark on a person, changing them to a better person while they themselves feel very tiny or large. All this attributes that self-actualizers have are important in philosophical and many religious traditions. They express the need to employ goodness towards other people in an ethical approach. Self-actualization motivates people to consider doing what is good and best for themselves and others. Since Christianity teaches about doing what is good and right and shunning what is wrong, it is important to integrate self-actualization in the Christian worldview.
References
Cherry, K. (2014). Hierarchy of needs. Retrieved Aug , 16 , 2014.
D'Souza, J., & Gurin, M. (2016). The universal significance of Maslow’s concept of self-actualization. The Humanistic Psychologist , 44 (2), 210.
