Self-actualisation: foundation rather than peak?

Emily’s thoughts on Roman Krznaric and Outrospection have been in my head recently. I have been feeling energised by the idea of looking outward to find elements of meaning. With this in mind, it was particularly resonant to read this piece by Sarena Johnson on the broader Blackfoot Nation / First Nations perspective from which Abraham Maslow derived his Hierarchy of Needs (h/t Laurence McCahill from the always-inspiring Happy Startup School). The idea that individual self-actualisation is there to support community actualisation is a powerful one.

A common question on purpose is “what am I here for?” or “where do I fit?”. It’s tempting to begin the search with ourselves: “who am I?”. Maybe by looking for ways we can contribute to the communities that we choose to belong to - or the ones we feel drawn towards, we free ourselves (slightly) from the burden of having to find ourselves first. I’m not sure that we can know ourselves by looking inside ourselves anyway. I think testing in the field of deeds is an essential component of self knowledge. And I suspect that we may be able to find out more about ourselves from the echoes that we get back from these deeds if they are done as part of community- rather than self-improvement.

More on Maslow and the Blackfoot here and here. Contributions, contradictions and corrections welcome.