Hello HIVERS! 🖐👋 It's my hope that y'all are holding up just great, despite the state of affairs.
Recently some acquaintances of mine and I were having this discussion trying to get a deeper understanding of whether as Abraham Maslow posited, within all of us are unhidden potentials which most of the time remain unrealized, leading one to live rather a mediocrity and conformity lifestyle.
The discussion also had the aim of trying to decipher what leads some of us to actually realize their hidden potentials while others seemingly remain oblivious of their existence.
Some of my friends do think that some people such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, the late Steve Jobs, just to name a few of the 21st century said 'geniuses', have rather special brains, different from ours, which is what makes them accomplish the innovative deeds that they are known for.
To me though, I don't think that is the case, but rather that's just a case of learned helplessness where since everything we try seems to try fails we've learned over time that we can never accomplish anything and no one around us can.
In Steve Job's Memoir by Walter Isaacson, the description of what Steve actually went through just goes further to prove my sentiment, things were never easy, but we rarely realize that since we are on the outside and just see the end results but not the process itself.
A few passages from Abraham Maslow's book The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, can help us shine a light on what actually leads some of us to be great while the many are scared by even the thought itself, choosing to lead rather meaningless lives.
Maslow in the book, posited that there exists a psychological problem inherent to us all, which he goes to call the Jonah Complex.
The condition is what actually leads the most of us to choose to be mediocre, to leading more meaningful and fulfilling lives, well that's according to Maslow.
Here goes;
We fear our highest possibilities…We are generally afraid to become that which we glimpse in our most perfect moments, under the most perfect conditions, under the conditions of greatest courage. We enjoy and even thrill to godlike possibilities we see in ourselves in such peak moments. And yet we simultaneously shiver with weakness, awe, and fear before these very same possibilities.
Abraham Maslow
Source
He further writes:
In my own notes I had at first labeled this the “fear of one’s own greatness”, or the “evasion of one’s destiny” or the “running away from one’s own best talents”…It is certainly true that many of us evade our constitutionally suggested vocations (call, destiny, a task in life, mission). So often we run away from the responsibilities dictated (or rather suggested) by nature, by fate, even sometimes by accident, just as Jonah tried – in vain – to run away from his fate.
Abraham Maslow
He continues:
The person who says to himself, “Yes, I will be a great philosopher and I will rewrite Plato and do it better,” must sooner or later be struck dumb by his grandiosity, his arrogance. And especially in his weaker moments, will say to himself “Who? Me?” and think of it as a crazy fantasy or even fear it as a delusion. He compares his knowledge of his inner private self, with all its weakness, vacillation, and shortcomings, with the bright, shining, perfect, and faultless image he has of Plato. Then, of course, he’ll feel presumptuous and grandiose. (What he doesn’t realize is that Plato, introspecting, must have felt just the same way about himself, but went ahead anyway, overriding his doubts about himself.)
Abraham Maslow
During one of his lectures, Maslow went ahead and asked his students, who among them would write a great novel, be a great composer or a great leader, where he notices first hand the grip of the Jonah Complex to even his students.
As he puts it in his book:
Generally, everybody starts giggling, blushing, and squirming until I ask, if not you, then who else?” Which of course is the truth…If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life. You will be evading your own capacities, your own possibilities.
Abraham Maslow
The insights and questions from the above passages are best utilized when one feels like quitting when one starts doubting their efforts.
It's not in vain, it will come to bear fruits.
Be confident enough and face the self, don't be like Jonah.
I will see you in my next update!
Stay magical!
🙌
Cheers!
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@peeterx