written by Dan Sarian

Maslow and Self-Actualization – Is this Biblical?

Is your child motivated to learn? What makes a student want to learn? Why do some students appear highly motivated and others not? All students have a motivational trigger, something that activates their will or drive to be engaged and apply themselves. But if your child lacks motivation to learn, then finding that trigger point can be exasperating.

Motivation is one of the most significant ingredients of effective instruction, and theories abound as educational psychology continues to explode as a discipline within educational research. One of the earlier theorists to explore the science of human motivation was Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970). If you’ve ever taken a 100-level college psychology course, or any course related to human growth and development, you’ve encountered his work. Maslow theorized that a human being’s ultimate goal is to become self-actualized, but only after other foundational human needs are met first. When a person is without something major, such as food, nothing else matters except getting that one thing to survive. These needs are what motivate our behaviors. At the bottom of his hierarchy pyramid is the need for life’s basics such as food and water, then physical safety, a home, employment, health, friendship, family and so on up to the top of the pyramid. At the apex of the pyramid is self-actualization.

We observe the practical application of his theory on a regular basis in school. In the simplest of terms, a child will struggle to find motivation to learn if they come to school hungry, sleep-deprived or fearful. In marriage there’s a principle that states, “you never discuss anything controversial with a man until you’ve fed him first.” Jesus fed the five thousand before he preached to them.

But what about self-actualization? In Maslow’s own words, “What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization…It refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.” (Maslow. 1943)

As Christian educators we “get it” when it comes to providing students with a safe, nurturing environment in which to learn and thrive, but is our end product a self-actualized human being? It’s actually just the opposite! If becoming more like Christ is our lifelong pilgrimage then the words of the Apostle Paul speak in directly opposition to this idea of being self-actualized:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 NIV)

The Christian message of salvation is a message of death to self in exchange for the indwelling presence of Christ in His resurrection power. It is only by losing our lives for the sake of Christ that we indeed find our lives. So as Christian educators we begin with the depravity of the human soul which is sick and without hope apart from being made alive in Christ. In contrast, psychologists like Maslow begin with the inherent goodness of man and our potential through self-effort to achieve what we are actually destined to become. Maslow states, “As far as I know we just don’t have any intrinsic instincts for evil.” (“What is original sin”) So Maslow is consistent in his worldview. If human beings are born inherently good then we can indeed achieve some form of self-actualization. But it’s a game changer if we’re born in sin and naturally seek after our own interests rather than the interests of others or even of God Himself.

With you as parent partners we will continue to teach our students that it is the love of God expressed through the cross of Christ that sets our hearts free to live a life pleasing to God. This is the ultimate pursuit of a live well lived.

Lord, through the power of your Spirit release me from the tyranny of self-rule and self-obsession in order that you are free to live through me so that I might express your glory to the world.

References

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50, 370-96.

What is original sin?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.compellingtruth.org/original-sin.html