Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization

“fully human”

My research has convinced me that we all have extraordinary creative, humanitarian, and spiritual possibilities but are often alienated from them because we are so focused on a very narrow slice of who we are. As a result, we aren’t fulfilling our full potential. We spend so much time looking outward for validation that we don’t develop the incredi

That’s weird—that I should be enabled to perceive, accept, & enjoy the eternity & preciousness of the non-me world just because I became aware of my own mortality. The “being able to enjoy” is puzzling.7

Maslow viewed development as often involving a two-steps-forward, one-step-back dynamic,20 in which we are continually returning to our basic needs to draw strength, learn from our hardships, and work toward greater integration of our whole being.

too many people get caught up in insecurity throughout their lives, and stay there, missing out on the immense beauty in the world that is still left to explore and the possibilities for their own self-actualization and, ultimately, transcendence.

the awareness of his mortality actually heightened his own personal experience of transcendence.

I have broken self-actualization—and therefore growth—into three specific needs for which there is strong contemporary scientific support: exploration, love, and purpose.

you open your sail, just like you’d drop your defenses once you felt secure enough. This is an ongoing dynamic: you can be open and spontaneous one minute but can feel threatened enough to prepare for the storm by closing yourself to the world the next minute. The more you continually open yourself to the world, however, the further your boat will

Transcendence, which rests on a secure foundation of both security and growth, is a perspective in which we can view our whole being from a higher vantage point with acceptance, wisdom, and a sense of connectedness with the rest of humanity.