into a good rose, rather than seek to
change roses into lilies. It implies a kind
of Taoism, an acceptance of what people
really are; it necessitates a pleasure in
the self-actualization of a person who
may be quite different from yourself. It
even implies an ultimate respect and ac-
knowledgment of the sacredness and
uniqueness of each kind of person. In
short, humanistic psychology involves
an acceptance of people as they are at
their intrinsic core and regards their
therapists as simply Taoist helpers for
them. We strive to enable to become
healthy and effective in their own style.”This is the most direct statement of
self-actualization I could find in any of
Maslowʼs writings. He goes on to argue that
effective counselors are those who truly re-
spect the other personʼs “inner core” and
regards the role of psychotherapists as
“horticulturists” whose task is to help the
other person grow “in his or her own style
toward self-fulfillment.”
In this paper he makes two other points
worth pointing out. Additionally, he argues
that having good values is absolutely essen-
tial over “neurotic” values, which tend to de-
velop under conditions of extreme insecuri-
ty and unsafety. However, he argues that we
must not treat the choice of values as sepa-
rate from societal influence, arguing that itʼs
essential to have “good conditions for choos-
ing—which necessitates full access to infor-
mation, to the truth. Useful information
must not be hidden. This notion applies to
undemocratic governments that censor the
news or give out slanted news. It also applies
to the one-newspaper town in our country
or to corporations or labor unions that act as
monopolies. It also means being able to
choose without fear or social pressure.”
Under optimal conditions, Maslow be-
lieved (perhaps too optimistically) that
people naturally move toward full human-
ness. Carl Rogers believed the same thing
when he spoke of the “self-actualizing ten-
dency” of humans.
Finally, for the purposes of this article,
and contrary to Brooksʼs depiction, Iʼd like
to point out another statement Maslow
made in this paper:Finally, it must be stated that
self-actualization is not enough. Person-
al salvation and what is good for the per-
son alone cannot be really understood inisolation. Social psychology is, therefore
necessary. The good of other people must
be invoked, as well as the good for one-
self, even though it must be demonstrat-
ed how these are—or may be—synergic.
To some extent, the individualʼs interests
and those of his or her team or organiza-
tion, culture, or society may be at odds—
even though an overall principle of syn-
ergy may prevail. But, in any case, it is
quite clear that a purely intrapsychic, in-
dividualistic psychology, without prefer-
ence to other people and social condi-
tions, is not adequate.The humanistic psychologists were deep-
ly interested in “human nature and its
heights” and this very much included moral-
ity and compassion, but this also included
authenticity, responsibility, and respect for
individual differences. These concepts
werenʼt pitted against each other in some
simplistic and cartoonish way, but were inte-
grated in a mature framework for humanity.Self-Transcendence
Itʼs a tragedy that virtually every single psy-
chology textbook in existence presents the
incomplete version of Maslowʼs hierarchy