Publisher's Synopsis
INTRODUCTION "Self Actualization is the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is." Maslow (1987) Human life will never be understood unless its highest aspirations are taken into account. Growth, Self Actualization, the striving towards health, the quest for identity and autonomy, challenging the limits of intellectual potential and the yearning for excellence are a universal human tendency. The more we learn about man's natural tendencies, the easier it will be to tell him how to be good, how to be happy, how to be fruitful, how to love and how to fulfil his highest potentialities. Within human nature, one can discern a hierarchy of levels, each with a characteristic set of values, needs and modes of expression. For any person, the greatest satisfaction can be attained through realisation of the qualities of the highest level and the potentialities associated with this highest level are the ones most essentially and distinctively human. The high level functioning person, evokes admiration and aesthetic sensitivity and in classical Husserlian terms this epoche is perceived as "beautiful." On the behavioural front the actions performed by such a person are characteristic of their ethical height and the value of such actions is judged to be of great consequence to be termed as beautiful and noble according to Ted and Moshe (1991). The beautiful and noble person (BNP) perceives reality accurately, is characterised by a passionate love of self, fellow people and the world, and is devoid of bizarre behaviour. The ultimate goal of realising one's potential and leading a life filled with a profound sense of commitment contains a balanced view of the self and understanding one's self is probably the greatest intellectual challenge for human beings. This theme of realising the potentialities of the highest level, runs through writings of James (1907), Jung (1948), Goldstein (1934), Maslow (1943) and Rogers (1959). This issue was the central theme of Aristotle's Ethica Nicomachea (Aristotle, 1925) also, who acknowledged "reason" to be at the highest level, but he used reason in a very broad sense, distinguishing contemplative and calculative processes and various forms of cultural expression to qualify it,
