The Power of Self-Actualization

In today’s world, we have more options for media and communication than ever before in history.  Each one of us use a variety of web sites, news, sources, and media channels to follow a list of people who we feel add value to our lives with their words and views.  We also tend to gravitate towards people in our personal life that compel interesting conversation and interaction.  I’ve noticed a theme to the people that I am most interested in and the people that I keep around me.

The people I find interesting consistently speak outside of the mainstream social norm.  They can tell when people are lying to themselves and take risks to preserve the truth.  They are not afraid of the people around them, and they speak their minds freely.  These people walk with a purpose because they have a purpose.  People who do not fit in this theme seem inconsequential to life in general and appropriately fade into the background.  These people are simply background characters in other people’s lives.

I have spent some time thinking about the plight of the people that interest me.  There is a common theme to their approaches to life and I think I’ve figured out what makes them act the way that they do.  I’ve figured out what it is about them that I feel so gravitated towards.  They seem to be digging deeper within themselves and fighting to self-actualize.  They are fighting for something better within themselves and the world.  As a greater human destiny becomes clearer to an individual, that vision becomes more powerful to them than the mainstream societal narrative.  They then become unable to go with the flow.  Simply passing by will no longer suffice.  They wake up.

They are self-actualizing and there is nothing more interesting.  Self-actualization is commonly thought of as the realization of one’s potential, and the full development of one’s abilities and appreciation for life.  The push to self-actualize seems to compel a person’s need for something better in the world and that need prevents them from being weak or mundane.  A waking person stands out.  We innately recognize them as the underdog in an ancient battle that has eaten and forgotten almost every man since Adam.  On the deepest level, we root for them.

We naturally seek these people especially in time of turmoil and chaos when we are needing answers.  Becoming what we are supposed to become is the most significant part of our internal drive.  Watching a person struggle to express themselves activates the deepest form of identification and bond between humans because we ourselves seek to express.  We are built that way.  We say that we are interested in people like this, however under the hood, we are drawn to their boldness to rise above the storm because we dream of a self that will rise above that same storm.

Inside our own minds and secretly in our own way we privately strive to make sense out the world that we are in, but not of.  We seek to become something else.  And we mostly don’t know what it is that we want to become.  It’s something we can’t put into words, but we know it’s something greater than the complacent person that we have this far found ourselves as.

People are actually obsessed with the need to become; to self-actualize.  It’s what drives people to listen and be interested in the things that other people say.  To express our thoughts and actualize our purpose are built into our struggles.  Ultimately it is the struggle.  We are starved for it.  People go for months without hearing something that really touches them.  Some people go for years.  As the world spirals, people become distraught looking for fulfillment.  Man does not live on bread alone.   Material things run dry, and we need something else to build inner structure.

We slowly but surely find that we have to actualize our purpose.  Our deeper resolutions are paramount in ways that we recognize more as the world starts to weigh on us.  When you talk to people about something that really creates inner structure outside of the mainstream narrative, they recognize the tone of the conversation and begin to see you as real person.  They begin to identify their deepest struggles with your attempts to connect with them.  I see that people will make overtures to bridge the gap in your attempt in order to be a part of the expression and actualization you are attempting.  It’s what they wanted anyways.  It’s the binding aspect of our minds and the essence of interpersonal identification.  We are often unknowingly pulled towards seeing and hearing a person self-actualizing into something greater.  It’s what we seek in the depths of our minds and like a campfire, everyone is drawn in and must stare.  Recognize that it’s what your interactions want and take a chance on saying something beautiful to someone today.

The most interesting people talk about becoming what they know they should be; self-actualization.  For instance, when people talk about events in their life where they experienced something life altering.  A point at which they were altered.  We want to hear about people changing into something greater and the off chance that the events came about against all odds.

An interesting conversation tends to happen when a person shares something that is deeper and speaks to the inner most aspect of the self.  People listen to those who address that inner journey and provide inspiration on that path.   Be brave and show others the path outside of the social norms that hold us down.  Show them that it’s safe to walk out of the dark cave of social construction.  Self-actualization must exist out of the social norm, and interesting people always seem beyond the arbitrary social limitations of the day.  Throughout history and also today, the enemies of the inner-self have always been the gatekeepers of the mainstream narrative.  The gatekeepers are usual suspects like the mainstream media and the collectivists of the day.

Only dead fish swim with the current.  History forgets the weak, the capitulators, and those who fear the gatekeeps.  The present often forgets them as well.  Respect is reserved for those bold enough to take a risk and speak truth in the empire of lies.  The bold particularly command our respect because the bold will put something on the line and take the risk to express what needs to be expressed to become something greater.  Weak people capitulate because they have no greater vision for their world.  They lack the self-respect required to change the fate the gatekeepers have assigned them.  The gatekeepers are the manufacturers of fear and the harvesters of sorrow.

The brave know that they risk what they have if they are to become something greater.  They have self-respect and with that are dissatisfied with anything less than the greater human destiny they envision.  Their inner power is alluring on a whole other level and unmistakable.  That is the power of expression.  It’s our super power of self-actualization and inside each soul.

Be that person.  Be the lion.  Don’t be the boring person you portray to others.  Say something you’re not supposed to say to.  Say something true.  Let others around you see what it looks like to put something on the line and take a risk.  Only those people who have something to lose can be bold enough to offer it to others.  Only those seeking the deepest and most exhilarating adventure can offer that adventure to others.

As sure as bold people are rare, the most interesting thing about a person is their self-actualization.  When people notice it, it’s impossible to ignore and people recognize the rarity of that boldness.  If you want to see what’s outside the box, you must first get out of the box.   Be your bold alter ego because that’s actually who you are.  But if you’re going to become who you really are, you going to have to…

Wake the Lion!