The purpose of this paper is to examine the concepts of motivation and self-actualization, and the relationship between these two principles of self-growth. Included will be an examination of the way in which the principles of general semantics deal with "self-actualization," a look at Carl Rogers and Alfred Adler, and a discussion of motivation as it relates to the business sector, with particular emphasis on achievement.
There are two views of security, namely, the static and the dynamic. The static concept of security may be pictured by thinking of an oyster inside its shell, the frightened person behind his neurotic defenses, or prewar France behind the Maginot Line. The main idea in the static concept of security is to build up enough protective walls and to sit still inside them. The search for security for many people still is the task of building and maintaining walls around oneself.
The dynamic concept of security can be pictured by thinking of a skillful and self-confident driver speeding home in the traffic stream along the highway. He knows that the highway is dangerous; he knows that he may encounter drunken drivers or cars with faulty brakes, and he knows that a slight error in judgement at sixty miles an hour may result in his not getting home at all. Nevertheless, he is not insecure, he is not frightened; in fact, his daily confrontation of danger does not worry him at all, because his security in this dynamic and dangerous situation depends not on walls to protect him from danger, but on internal resources--skill, knowledge, experience, flexibility--with which he knows he can cope with danger. The static concept of security is an illusory one (Bohart, 1988
This topic is interesting because there is a great deal of literature on neurotics and psychotics, telling people how they got to be the messes they are. But we have few descriptions of emotional health. What does a sane person look like? Alfred...