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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE?A SEQUEL TO A HUMANIST PERSPECTIVE:ABRAHAM MASLOW'S PURPOSEFOR YOUR LIFE
 
Lyle L. Simpson
"Nothing is neither right nor wrong, but thinking makes it so." 
A previous paper, setting forth an essay on “Abraham Maslow's purpose for your life”,
 Essays on Humanism,
Humanists of Houston, Volume11, May 2003, introduced Maslow's theory of actualization as a scientificsubstantiation for a human purpose in life, justifying our own uniqueexistence. Maslow's contribution to the science of psychology was torecognize that there are distinctly different levels of categories of needs; andthat our behavior and orientation to life vary significantly depending uponwithin which level we are then primarily living.
 
Peak Experience
BasicSecuritySocialEgoActualization
 
Average RelativeStrength of Needs
1/161/81/41/21
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
For those not familiar with this prior paper, in summary, Maslowdiscovered that needs may be categorized by the strength of the drive level
 
 
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caused by their deficiency. In other words, if a person is sufficiently hungry,or has need to go to the bathroom, their behavior will address those issues tothe deference of their concern for others, or their wish to continue listening toBeethoven. Thus, the relative drive strength of needs can be measuredagainst other needs. Maslow found that all needs may be placed into one of five distinct levels.Survival is the primary concern of all living organisms. Certainneeds are essential to assure survival of any species, including humans. Thefundamental need level is physiological; it includes those factors required tosustain life. Maslow classified these as "basic needs”. Once these basicneeds are sufficiently attended to, the next level of needs, which Maslowlabels “security needs,” emerge. Gratification of these needs assures thefuture satisfaction of our fundamental needs. We naturally “feather our nests” in the struggle for survival. When secure, “social needs” emerge. Weseek friendships and love relationships, and we tend to bring others withinour own defense mechanisms to assure the satisfaction of their basic needs.We want to be appreciated, and have need to belong—to fit into a network of social relationships.Maslow discovered when these physiological needs at the lower levels are at least minimally satisfied growth needs will emerge. We thenextend our behavior outwards for recognition. These needs, Maslowclassified, as esteem or “ego needs,” are followed by “self actualizationneeds”. To reach these levels of needs we must become open to our immediate environment. The goal is to actualize our full potential. When weare fully integrated, if all of our needs are satisfied, we are then in position toreach a state of contentment where we may resonate in harmony with our environment, including the whole of nature. If we do, we would then be ableto recognize our sense of peace and well-being, which Maslow labeled a“peak-experience.” If achieved, we would realize at that moment that we arethen fully alive. It is an exhilarating and liberating feeling. Identification of these two higher levels is the most important of Maslow’s discoveries.The strength of needs diminish as we pass from lower level, or deficiency needs, to a higher level, or growth needs. To be effective, barriersmust have greater strength. Thus barriers for growth, including defensemechanisms, can easily block the progression from a lower level of living tohigher levels as we mature. Barriers result in diminished capacity for growthand development. People live within their “safe zone,” venturing beyondonly with great effort, or because of an outside intervening force that isstronger than the barrier. To circumvent a barrier without outside influencetypically requires bridging, or bypassing, the barrier by creating new paths asa result of further education, or new training. The barrier is still present, but itno longer limits our range of living because we have acquired another path.This is why continuing education, with an open and receptive mind, isessential for healthy growth.
 
 
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Maslow recognized that the natural psychological progression for each human life is to grow through the hierarchy of needs from the basiclevel, as an infant, to the point of actualization, at least as mature adults. Thisis a difficult developmental process. As infants we do not get to choose our own environment, nor our caregivers, or even the customs that are thrustupon us. However, we must interact with our environment, and others withinour culture, in order to survive. These factors condition our behavior andeasily create barriers to our growth; some blocking the natural progressiontoward the actualization of our full potential. To continue normal growthalong our natural path requires conscious effort to limit, or circumvent, barriers. This first requires recognition that a barrier exists. Many peopleview the confines of barriers as their natural world, and feel safer livingwithin known parameters, and therefore are content with their currentexistence. Removal of barriers requires more effort and risk than many arewilling to endure. Thus these people continue to live a restricted life. Manylive without the knowledge that higher, more rewarding, opportunities areavailable to them, through their continued growth. Eliza Doolittle spent theentire movie in “My Fair Lady” learning how to grow beyond her earlier life.If we are able to eliminate our barriers, most people will naturally progress toward actualization, or fulfillment, of their own existence. Maslow provides a framework for us to interpret each step in the natural progressionof our life. Fulfilling, or at least diminishing the influence, of the first four levels of needs is necessary in order to reach a "peak experience". At that point, hopefully, we will experience being totally in resonance with our ownreality. For Maslow,
actualization of our own life is the purpose for eachindividual's unique existence.
Maslow shows the normal path, and providesan understanding of the goal for each of our lives. Additionally, he instructsus how to recognize when we have become a self-actualized person, i.e., onewho has for that moment maximized our own existence.We have all experienced attending grade school. For most, it was agreat experience during the earliest part of our life. It prepared us for the next
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