 The Elusive Path to Self Actualization is Already Here in Meditation
There are times when it almost seems that the elusive quest for self-actualization can never be fully achieved. That is when we start to wonder if the ability for the individual to realize full self-actualization is even possible. The path to finding that reality for ourselves is an individual path. It isn't something we can buy in a can or take as a course at community college. The good news, however, is that the means to achieve real self-actualization is already virtually under our noses because it can be achieved utilizing the discipline of meditation.
When you think about it, meditation is a natural path to self-actualization because they both share goals and methods. In order to realize self-actualization, one must look inward. Meditation is the best and perhaps the only discipline where we develop both the ability and the will to sustain that inward view. Meditation turns the consciousness inward. But meditation is not just a teaching, a theory or a theology. Meditation is a very real methodology that both points you inward and then empowers you to delve into what you will discover there.
What level of self-actualization you will achieve may vary from a friend or neighbor. But whatever level, meditation is a perfect means to realize that goal. In fact, it is hard to imagine if there is any other way to come to know true self-actualization except through meditation. The concept of self-actualization means different thigns to different people. For one it might be a self-motivation principle for realizing the potential of skills. For another it will have a much more deeply spiritual meaning. Wherever our understanding of self-actualization takes us, it is meditation that can take us from where we are to the realization of that dream.
One of the many reasons that meditation is so ideal as a means to real self-actualization is that the first step is self-realization. It is a lifelong quest to fulfill that ancient advice to "know thyself". Many people set out on quests to "find themselves", which in reality is the first step of self-actualization. Meditation takes a different route to understanding at a deep level who it is you are talking about when you say, "me". Meditation takes you inward, where your deepest thoughts are pondered and your deepest emotions felt. Meditation also takes you to the heart of who you are by touching on your basic drives, dreams for life, values and gifts.
It is through meditation that we can understand that if we are unhappy, that may reflect more on our need for self-actualization than on some superficial problem in our daily existence. By maintaining a consistent and patient practice of meditation, one can understand that the problem of deep dissatisfaction comes not from your job, your marriage or where you live geographically. That deep dissatisfaction may be that inner "you" yearning to be self-actualized. Meditation is an ideal means to delve into that deeper place to listen to that voice and understand what it is saying to you.
Meditation is, after all, a discipline to empower you and I to achieve calm, serenity and then to be able to sustain reflection and self-examination. It is through that process of patient and repeated self-examination and real self-actualization can occur. That is the kind of self-actualization that will be more than just a change of habit for a day or a year. It is the kind that can change your life for a lifetime. And there can be no more noble a quest than that.
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