Abstract

Abraham Maslow, the founder of humanistic psychology, developed the Hierarchy of Needs, where a person’s motives are explained in a five-level hierarchical pyramid with basic needs at the bottom and needs for self-actualization, such as identity, at the top. Before Maslow died, he identified a sixth tier of need, which he believed very few people were capable of achieving in their lifetime – self-transcendence. It is defined by a person’s ability to obtain a unitive consciousnesses through illuminations and insights gained from life altering experiences. Such a person views the world and their purpose in relation to other human beings on a more global scale and is aware of the impact they have not just within their own boundaries, but on the whole world. Two things are now making it possible to reach Maslow’s previously elusive sixth level – the massive migration of people all over the world and modern technological advances in communication. With rapid globalization people are now instantly connected to communities all over the world. This led to a different way in defining oneself, a different world view, and the birth of the global or world citizen. Global citizens are bound together with a common purpose, a global perspective, and joint responsibility for the fate of the planet. They belong to a global community that defines itself not so much by race, religion, or region, but by the definition of what it is to be human; they elevate themselves beyond the immanence to which they were previously resigned to by society. They are indeed emulating the level of transcendence Maslow described - a position where one takes responsibility for oneself and the world, a transcended freedom that knows no boundaries. This paper reviews the effect of this phenomenon on personal development.