JC,
You do understand it. Freddy is right- it's one of those terms that has been kidnapped and tried to be made to mean more than it does- as if it contains superior and esoteric knowledge than the average person can't achieve without some enormous ubermensch effort.
All self-actualization means is attempting to live to your potential. (It is the final level of Maslow's hierarchy only because a starving person isn't too interested in understanding the world around him and his place in it.)
I have known you all here for over ten years. You are one of the most brilliant, wellread and educated people around, and Freddy is an autodidact of astounding breadth. I also know you both on more personal levels, and what each of you has been through. It is terribly presumptuous for someone to come in here and tell you that you don't "understand" something and should read more! It would be arrogant of any of us to make these assumptions about someone else's life journey.
I would even presume to say that what we do here on SI is a form of self-actualization. We think, we read, we write, we integrate, we communicate. Your openness to learning more speaks to your ongoing effort to know yourself.
Really, the Army encapsulated it with "Be the best that you can be".
It just means you are motivated to learn, to do the best you can with your life, to try to understand your place in it- something I know you, Freddy, I, are all constantly doing- whether we label the process with some literary or psychological buzzword or not. I love Koan's enthusiasm, but I don't believe that throwing terms around grants some sort of real insight or authority when it comes to life. |
