A Higher Kind Of Life

The human race can be described by the following words: diversity and uniqueness. Even though billions of people have walked and lived on this earth each was unique, unique in his acts, appearance, behavior, feelings and thoughts. This diversity leads to diverse ways of; some people get through life just like a duck through the water, but others decide to make each second count, and they consider every breath a miracle. This small number of individuals decides to live a higher kind of life.

Many philosophers tried to describe this kind of person and his characteristics. One of them is the humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow. He believes that every man is born with a huge potential which he can exploit or choose not to, in other words, every single man is capable of obtaining perfection but can also deny it.

From Maslow's point of view we built up our personality, our entire being according to the well-known "pyramid of needs". This pyramid has seven levels; the first level contains the vital needs such as hunger, thirst, the need to sleep and the need to have sex, while the seventh level represents the need to have the self fulfilled. This concept means that there is a continuous need to increase the potential, the talents and the capacities, as an expression of the destiny and of the calling that one has.

Very few people get to this level and only a few of the few get to the optional 8th level of the pyramid, having the so-called "peak experience". The reason why only a few people decide to fulfill the self is the fact that it has a high cost. The individual who chooses to live this different kind of life has to make a lot of sacrifices in order to achieve the following characteristics.

Firstly, they get to the point where they have an efficient perception of the reality. This means that the experience led them to see through the social mask that people around them are wearing and they can easily perceive the falsity of themselves and of the others. The price they pay is that they decide to unmask the ones trying to flatter them in order to obtain a certain benefit and they also stop using masks.

Secondly, they have totally unconditioned acceptance towards themselves and the others. This does not mean they give up on changing themselves in more complex and better persons, but when they fail they are not angry because they know what they are made of and they know their weaknesses and accept them, and know that one day they will overcome all their shortcomings.

These individuals discover inside their being the divine side and due to this they come to the point where they develop a rational love towards themselves and completely accept themselves. This leads to spontaneity in actions and creativity in all the things they do.

Furthermore, they have an actively cope in handling problems. They focus on the problem and not on their mistakes. This means they don't blame themselves but they start to find solutions. They think out of the box. This people can also develop their cultural systems and this takes a lot of charisma but they don't lack it, they have lots of it!

The very few who have peak experiences also have this characteristic of seeing beyond the logic of things, culminating with mystical experience.

In addition, in order to have a higher kind of life they love and hate at the same time namely they love a person but hate his wrong behavior; they believe in free will but also accept God's sovereignty. There are a lot of other attributes they have, but one that stands out from a far is the fact that they manage to see all things and situations from the eyes of a child. They can find again old things and still remain amazed. They are those who refuse to fall in the process of habituation. This means that even though they are overexposed to a stimulus they choose, on purpose not to get bored, but on contrary they choose to marvel at it and rediscover the qualities.

No one is asked whether he wants to be born or not, but we all have the opportunity to choose the way we want to live our life. Like a bulb of lily we can take all the mud and dirt this life offers and in time turn it into a beautiful flower. It is our call to live life enjoying it or to wasting it, complaining all the time.