What’s The Real Drive behind Human Race for Success?
Though we may not admit it, what drives most of us in life is an inherent need for fulfillment. There is deep within the human soul a void which cries out to be filled. Abraham Maslow referred to this need as the desire for self-fulfillment, the tendency for an individual to become actualized in what he is potentially. This need, this desire for self-fulfillment implies that self actualization requires self-awareness. In other words, one cannot experiment self-fulfillment without being or becoming aware of his self-identity. It is this need of self-actualization that pushes us to go through life in search of things that we think may give us a sense of fulfillment. Unfortunately, the majority of us embrace things that have proved not to be worth the chase.
Why So Many “Successful People” Live a Life of Incongruity?
Too many “successful people”, people who seem to have it all together, try hard to portray a fake image of themselves to the world – an image that would be more compatible to the position they have acquired by remarkable achievements in their chosen fields, simply because they have gone through life without answering the two closely related questions of Identity and Purpose. What a tragedy! They have mistaken success in life for wealth, fame and power, forgetting or ignoring that what they’re really after is a sense of fulfillment. Some of them end up committing suicide when the discrepancy between their private and public identities gets to be known or when they lose the rewards of their achievements by misfortune.
The most accurate measure of success is the degree of fulfillment of one’s life purpose, and one cannot get to know why he’s on earth without knowing who he is. As Richard Grant said it, “the value of identity of course is that so often with it, comes purpose.”
Awakening to Your True Identity and Finding Your Life Purpose
Real success in life is the fulfillment of one’s life purpose – fulfillment that requires one to grow into his full potential, to be “self- actualized” as would say A. Maslow. Discovering or understanding your life purpose first requires an awakening to your true identity and a connection or reconnection to your original source (your creator).
Who Are You?
Getting to know who you truly are is one of the most difficult things you’ll have to do if you want to get clear about why you’re here on earth. Thales of Miletus, the Greek philosopher who lived between the 7th and the 6th centuries said:“The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.”
The question is not about your name, your profession, your nationality, your culture or your belonging to any group you may relate yourself to. It is about your true self beyond all the attributes – be it behavioral, temperamental, emotional or mental – that characterize you as an individual.
Your true self is at the core of your being; it is who you truly are behind the mask(s) of your public self and beyond the image of your real self. You are not what you pretend to be in public and you are more than what you might think you are. You are a spirit emanating directly from your creator to whom you need to connected or reconnected if you are to find your true identity.
About Olivier BETU K.