Mannys' Page

Always the relativistic style of philosopher, Bruce Lee beautifully outlined the distinction between the concept and experience of self actualization in this well-known quote.

“Instead of dedicating your life to actualize a concept of what you should be like, ACTUALIZE YOURSELF. The process of maturing does not mean to become a captive of conceptualization. It is to come to the realization of what lies in our innermost selves.”

Lee understood the paradoxes of the mind; he knew that the intellect can only conceptualize and approximate truth, based on learned knowledge, regurgitated concepts, and past experiences. Whereas the soul–the deeper, non-linear, intuitive part of the mind is the only source of genuine self-realization.

The concept of who we ‘should’ be is a learned concept, based upon injecting the values and expectations of the family or tribe over your own truth, and essentially subordinating to that outside authority. How so? Well, let’s say for example that our young man, "James", his father was a police officer. Understandably, his family takes great pride in James' father's social position and his contribution to the community, and as the carrier of the fathers torch, the family assumes, expects and projects this role upon James, that he too should become a police officer. This future may even have been projected onto him from a very young age. The deeper part of James calls him with whispers of inspirations and lightbulb moments of what he would truly love to do with his life, but the fragile mind begins to absorb these projections about who he should be, and it runs his life.

He wrestles with the inner conflict for years, struggling between what feels right and what he has been told to do. By the time James is an adult, he has accumulated so many projected ideas about what he is supposed to do and who he is supposed to be, that he ends up actualizing the CONCEPT, as Lee said, as opposed to ACTUALIZING his innermost self. 

Genuine actualization is not a simple universal process. It is different for every individual that approaches it’s path. Also, there is no reason to feel intimidated by terms such as ‘genuine actualization’ as inauthenticity and incongruence (not quite living your own truth) are the perfect springboards from which we launch ourselves into true authenticity. It is through great adversity, stress, and living ‘untruly’ that many of us develop the incredible urge to go beyond the concept and do whatever it takes to follow our hearts.

So, why is actualization so important? Lee mentioned in the quote that the process of maturing is to come to the realization of what lies in our innermost selves. I think the most important and immediate thing here to recognize is the process of actualization itself. It is through this process of maturing that we discover our hidden potentials, we learn to think for ourselves, to be independent and self reliant, to harness our innate creativity, to stop blaming those on the outside and become responsible and integrated, to become an example of what a human being can be if he goes beyond the confines of his social conditioning.

Many people tell me that they have some ideas and hopes, but can’t seem to discover what they would truly love to do with their lives. The wisest advice for anyone is to stay on the journey of self discovery. To know thyself, to love thyself, to challenge, educate and inspire yourself to grow, as opposed to settling for the ‘horizontal’ or static approach to adult life. It is through this process of maturing and transformation that greater truths and inner callings are revealed to us with increasing clarity and resonance.

Lee was dedicated to his own self actualization. Like the rest of us, he had dull moments, egocentric moments, inauthentic moments, but I’m sure if he were alive today he would tell you that the more he practiced, trained, studied and developed his philosophies, the more moments of inspiration, clarity, truth and inner guidance would occur, and the more they occurred, the more he became or aligned with that actualized innermost self.

It is important to be here in this world, to be a part of it, to interact and engage with the wonderful cultures that surround us. By no means would I encourage anybody to drop out of that. At the end of the day, there are no magic bullets; actualization is a highly individualized pursuit. But it is safe to say that these following points of advice will serve anyone well on this path of discovery:

• Be true to your own values, your inner priorities.
• Examine your beliefs, assumptions and concepts about what you ‘should’ do with your life– perhaps with professional assistance.
• Don’t settle on anything. Maintain an open mind. Avoid extremes and black & white views.
• Be receptive and vulnerable, yet maintain healthy skepticism.
• Grow. Emotionally, cognitively, socially, spiritually, physically... Grow. Expand. Explore. Embrace both pleasure and pain, support and challenge, dark and light.
• Start reviewing and pulling back the projections you impose on others. Explore the shadow in order to gain deeper self understanding and growth. (See our article on the shadow.) 
• Reflect. Review. Get clear on what is important to you.
• Learn to go beyond the intellect. Build a strong connection to the deeper part of the mind. Whether you call it the right hemisphere, the soul, or the unconscious. Explore it.

It all comes down to you, friends. Your life is unique and special no matter what you choose to do with it. There are no right, wrong, better or worse pathways in life. Nothing in life has any meaning until we make meaning of it. We are perpetually standing before a great canvas, and the art work is something we are totally free to create as we wish, and in our own style. I think Bruce Lee would agree on these points. Wayaaaa!!!