The New Science of Self-Actualisation

Many of us are familiar with Abraham Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’ – a pyramid with food and water at the bottom and ‘self-actualisation’ at the top: the state of possessing deep self-awareness and fully realising your potential in life. It’s an appealing metaphor: a story of achievement, of mastering life level by level until you’ve “won”. But in reality, life is nothing a trek up the summit of pyramid. It’s more like a vast ocean, full of new opportunities for meaning and discovery but also danger and uncertainty. The human condition isn’t a competition; it’s an experience.