“GOD ACTUALIZATION”
Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was a professor of psychology at Brandeis University who founded humanistic psychology and created Maslow's hierarchy of needs. He is considered one the great "hidden" influencers of contemporary thought and culture, as many of the concepts he developed are promoted as fact, and are now all but taken for granted by the average person, including many in the body of believers.
Humanistic psychology is a perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of people like Carl Rogers and the philosophy of existentialism. It adopts a holistic approach to human existence through investigations of meaning, values, freedom, tragedy, personal responsibility, human potential, spirituality, and self-actualization.
A central proposition of existentialism is that existence precedes essence, which means that the actual life of the individual is what constitutes what could be called his or her "essence" instead of there being a predetermined essence that defines what it is to be a human. Thus, the human being - through his consciousness - creates his own values and determines a meaning to his life. This belief system - and it is a belief system - stands in stark contrast to a Biblical view of man. According to the word of God, man’s essence is “imageo deo” – in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Man’s essence is predetermined by his creator – God himself.
From 1937 to 1951, Maslow was on the faculty of Brooklyn College. In New York he found two mentors, anthropologist Ruth Benedict and Gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer, whom he admired both professionally and personally. These two were so accomplished in both realms, that Maslow began taking notes about them and their behavior. This would be the basis of his lifelong research and thinking about mental health and human potential. This hardly rises to the level of true scientific research, as Maslow readily admitted:
"By ordinary standards of laboratory research … this simply was not research at all. My generalizations grew out of my selection of certain kinds of people. Obviously, other judges are needed." "My confidence in my rightness," he said, "is not a scientific datum."1
Maslow created a visual aid to explain his theory, called the Hierarchy of Needs. My guess is that most of us have encountered this in the course of our education, and from time to time, we may encounter it in the business world. The Hierarchy of Needs is a 5- level pyramid depicting the levels of human needs. Physical needs are at the base of the pyramid, followed by safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization in ascending order. The top of his pyramid, self-actualization, has great appeal to man’s sinful nature.
The concept of self actualization encourages following one’s inner desires. Maslow believed that man is basically good, without any intrinsic instincts for evil. Just as the “existence determines essence” belief of existentialism is contrary to the Biblical view, this view of man is drastically different from God’s view of man. God is keenly aware of man’s wickedness and the evil inclination of our hearts (Genesis 6:5).
So I wonder - how does a man’s theory, based on observation of a few people, with no objective proof, become so widely accepted and influential? It is likely that there are several answers to the question, but one that comes immediately to my mind is that it is a “useful point of view”. Here is what I mean...
Man, by his fallen nature is selfish, and does not want to give glory to God, who according to scripture is plainly seen (Romans 1:19-21). In fact, man is inclined to exchange the glorification of God for the worship of idols (Romans 1:23). The ultimate idol is man himself. We worship and glorify the self – “magnify” the self – when we follow the inner desires of our hearts. It is a “useful point of view” indeed to be told that this is not only OK, but is desirable. This is exactly what the Hierarchy of Needs does! Self-Actualization sits at the very top of Maslow’s pyramid, and it is very dangerous ground.
What we in the body of Christ need is not self actualization, but “God actualization”. We must follow after the inner desires of God’s heart, not the sinful inclinations of our own. What we really need are transformed hearts, so that our inclinations may be like His. When we follow after the desires of God’s heart, we live like Christians – “little Christs” – are called to live.
May it be so...
In Christ –
John
Soli Deo Gloria
1 Abraham Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York: Penguin Compass, 1971), Chapter 3, "Self-actualizing and Beyond," 40-41.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment