I've been interested in this year's FIFA Women’s World Cup in which the American team (wouldn't you know it?) attracted significant notoriety because of the impudent boastfulness of some of its players.
Since the emergence of the
Human Potential Movement in the 1960s[1]
the idea of self-actualization or self-realization has been variously revered
or cursed, used and abused. It has been instrumental in promoting mental and
emotional well-being, and it has produced unprecedented and increasing levels of
self-aggrandizement and narcissism.
·
A
women’s beauty product commercial featured a woman cooing, “It’s expensive; but
I’m worth it.”
·
A
fast-food chain chanted, “Have it your way!”
·
A
professional athlete snapped photos with a top-of-the-line camera because,
“Image is Everything.”
·
A
high-end restaurant chain and a banking corporation enticed customers with,
“It’s all about you!”
·
Professional
football players beat their chests, choreograph their touchdown celebrations,
and otherwise scream, “Look at me!” over the slightest accomplishment on the
gridiron—even if their team is trailing by three touchdowns!
Whatever happened to the
shy, humble slugger who ducked his head, muttered, “Aw, shucks!” and then
knocked the cover off the baseball? What has happened in American culture so
that even the President of the United States leads the parade of impudent
narcissism?
Did it begin with Mohammed
Ali screaming, “I am the greatest?” Indeed, was his mantra actually narcissism,
or was it an honest acknowledgement of self-actualization? At that point in
time, he was, in fact, “the greatest” (at least in the boxing world). Joe
Namath said, “If I say and then do it, it’s not bragging.” So, when one reaches
that level of self-actualization, is it OK to beat one’s chest and shout it
from the highest hill?
The debate begs the
question: “What does it mean to be self-actualized?” What is the highest level
of selfhood a human can reach? It seems obvious to me—does it seem obvious to
you?—that the answer necessarily varies with each individual human, emerging
from his or her innate potential. But, in general, it seems to me that one
quality of self-actualization would be the absence of any need to flaunt one’s
status or to prove anything to anybody. So, whence the braggadocio?
We could play “junior
psychologist” and surmise that it began in the depths of loneliness and
abandonment in Generation X—the generation of latchkey kids whose parents were
busy “being successful” and climbing the corporate ladder. The truth is, I don’t
really see that kind of behavior from that generation (except for professional
athletes).
Or, we could theorize that
it’s a byproduct of the advertising industry—a culture immersed in shallow
jingles and sensuous imagery.
Self-actualization is the top
of five levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, which include, in order: Survival,
Security, Social Needs, Achievement, and Self-actualization. Maslow believed
that each level of need motivates specific behavior, and that once a need is
met (but not before), one moves into the next level.
I think what we’re seeing
in today’s rampant narcissism and braggadocio is a category of people fixated
in a not-yet-realized need to achieve. Too often, one judges one’s own value or
achievement on the basis of other people’s accomplishments or notoriety.
Consequently, too many people simply don’t recognize the value of their own
accomplishment and the value of their own lives.
At its root,
self-actualization is a good thing; indeed, it even has spiritual value. As a
preacher and (I hope) a theologian, I immediately recall Jesus’ ranking of
God’s greatest commands: “Love God, love neighbor as yourself.” Certainly,
Jesus seems to affirm self-importance in “as yourself.”
When you board an
aircraft, prior to takeoff a flight attendant will make a safety speech which
includes the instruction, “In case of cabin depressurization, oxygen masks will
drop from the overhead. Put on your own
oxygen mask first!” Until you have your own oxygen mask in place, there
is the risk that you will lose consciousness and therefore be totally ineffective
in assisting anyone else, and in particular a child or a person with any level
of disability or physical challenge.
That illustration is a utilitarian
application both of Maslow’s self-actualization and of Jesus’ exhortation to
love others as yourself. In a somewhat more mundane expression, there is a song
from the Broadway musical, “Golden Rainbow”—"I Gotta’ Be Me!”—the lyrics
of which include the line, “I can’t be right for somebody else if I’m not right
for me.”
I propose that
self-actualization—identifying and maximizing one’s purpose in life—is not an
end in itself. It is an act of “putting on your own oxygen mask first.” Human potential,
in its most basic manifestation, is a manifestation of the image of God in
which each human is created; more concretely for the Christian, it is living
one’s life so it reflects the presence of Christ. The more nearly one
approaches self-actualization/Christ-likeness, the more effectively he or she
can participate, as all humanity is called to do, in God’s ongoing acts of
creation—the more productively he or she can contribute to the fulfillment of
the prayer Jesus taught his disciples: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven.”
When a person lives at
that level, there’s no need—or desire—to brag.
That’s the way it looks
through the Flawed Glass that is my worldview.
Together
in the Walk,Jim
[1]
Thanks to Abraham Mazlow’s theory of self-realization as the highest level of
human achievement, and to subsequent kneading through Jungian psychology
(William James, Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls’ Gestalt Therapy, The Esalen
Institute, et. al.)
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