Human Potential
When we think of human potential, what comes to mind? In life, it seems our greatest desires are to know that we are productive and what we do has relevance and meaning. We tend to observe life through egocentric (where we are now at this age) orientation, judging and making observations from where we feel we stand in life. And, from that point on, where we believe we are headed or must head.
Human potential is in the consciousness of the beholder, but if a person has a direct inner-revelatory experience, that consciousness is honed to a much better focus of life intent and direction. That could be a way of looking at achieving one’s potential.
We hear a lot today about achieving “peak potential” and there are a proliferation of services including “life coaches,” psychology, sports medicine, holistic medicine, yoga philosophy, spiritual practices and many more. Integral philosophy is the merging of mind-body-spirit. And as the rapid, exponential growth of the information age brings to us a cornucopia of ways to improve ourselves, the field of human potential and methods to “get there” have greatly expanded.
In my opinion, each of us is here in life for a specific reason, and there are many ways to look at it, for life has many facets that make up the whole. The sage Osho states that we are not here to become, but just to “be.” So, the concept of reaching a peak potential can seem rather amorphous and difficult to describe for it varies from person to person.
When we seek to improve ourselves, having a healthy spiritual, psychological, physical and emotional life in perfect balance will bring out those areas that require our attention. But those aspects or facets will become more succinctly organized and conformed as we develop our spiritual awareness.
Science has made significant strides in revealing the “non-local” aspects of our being. Nobel Laureaes have proved that the universe is not locally real! What is the problem, then, in human potential? Science can show you incredible details about an orange: acidity, color, growth pattern, etc., but science cannot tell you what it tastes like!
This is where each of us must have that divine inner-revelatory experience “tasting the orange” for ourselves. As Joseph Campbell pointed out, we each choose the journey into the forest at its darkest point. Our consciousness can be considered in layers and the spiritual aspect of our being is beyond the five-sense perception intellect into broader states of awareness (to the non-local).
The spiritual aspect of our lives is most important. The reason is that with greater spiritual awakening, we then can more fully address the other facets because our awareness beholds them from a much higher perspective. This is where the real juice is, in awakening our full potential. This thus emancipates us from the attachments to the trials, tribulations, and traumas. We still go through them, but our disposition and temperance are entirely different and our attachment to them has entirely shifted. We are reaching our true human potential in every moment we make a conscious decision to do so.
If you have a spiritual practice that enhances your self-empowerment and self-realization, you’ll observe those other facets more as they are than as they appear to be and that in itself will hone your focus to your “peak potential.” As Buddha said, some people take the steep and arduous path right up the side of the mountain. Some take the long winding road. But ALL make it to the top of the mountain!
Blessings,
Dr. Richard Jelusich, Ph.D.
