Chapter 17
SAL Actualization Stage
LAYER 6: THERMOSPHERE
Temperatures increase dramatically in the Thermosphere. This is due to the low density of air molecules. Curiously, however, you would not tangibly feel the full extent of this rise in temperature (heat) because of a lack of air molecules.
Technically speaking, the Thermosphere incorporates the Ionosphere as part of its lower levels. However, space shuttles, space stations, and satellites must transcend to Ionosphere and enter the upper levels of the Thermosphere to officially enter orbit. Thus the Ionosphere officially ends where ORBIT begins.
It is appropriate that the Ionosphere is technically part of the Thermosphere. This is because the Polishing Stage and Self-Action Leader Actualization Stage similarly blend. In other words, the process of SAL Actualization begins in the Polishing Stage and the polishing process continues on into the SAL Actualization Stage—and beyond.
From this point on, you'll be able to maintain the same (or greater) levels of performance as you have in the past, but by expending far less fuel (energy and resources). In this regard, life really does become easier in many ways (especially physically and emotionally) upon reaching the SAL-Actualization Stage. This is part of what makes it such an appealing stage to eventually enter.
This is the stage of YOUR personal development and Existential Growth where you can finally say with confidence to both yourself and the world that: "I like who I am, and I wouldn't trade places with anyone else on Earth—even if I had the power to do so."
In this sense, it is very much an "Arrival" stage.
And the arrival is immensely rewarding!
Having entered your own personal "Orbit" in the SAL Actualization Stage, the probability that you will regress back to former stages is low. This is because your character, integrity, and confidence have reached such high levels of maturity, resiliency, and strength.
Regression is still possible at this level; it is just unlikely. And while reaching this level unquestionably represents a significant "Arrival" in your existential trek, it does not by any means signal that your journey is complete; nor will it be the end of adversity, pain, and trials.
It does, however, signal the beginning of a whole new life, one which will be accompanied by a new set of different challenges and obstacles to surmount, many of which will prove easier to navigate than difficulties in days gone by. This may be due, in part, to a tangible move or improvement in your physical circumstances and opportunities. It may also be due to your bolstered confidence, added security, and expanded toolbox of knowledge and skills by which you can more successfully adapt to, confront, and troubleshoot life's endless challenges.
The SAL Actualization Stage is similar to "Self-Actualization"—the highest level attainable on Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" scale. According to Maslow, self-actualization "refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely ... the desire to become ... everything that one is capable of becoming." (3)
The SAL Actualization Stage is marked by a clear realization of who you really are and what your life's purpose is. Arriving at this lofty stage also represents a quasi-mastery of the full-range of SAL principles and practices. While you may still be a long way from perfection, you've nevertheless reached a high level of self-awareness, emotional and social intelligence and resiliency, personal capacity, and SAL understanding and application. Having become a self-action leader of great capacity and integrity, you've also begun to exert increasing levels of positive influence on others who seek the Existential Growth you've already achieved.
The SAL Actualization Stage is likened to the Thermosphere, where satellites, space shuttles, and space stations ORBIT the Earth to obtain knowledge about outer space and transmit information to and from the Earth.
Similarly, once YOU reach the SAL Actualization Stage and desire further Existential Growth, your focus will begin to naturally shift towards helping those at lower levels who seek their own development and growth. Having achieved a vaulted existential station yourself, you can now continue your own journey by leading others to where you are. Thus, moving forward, your own development and growth will largely come as a by-product of helping others rise in their existential journey. Moreover, the extent of your future success will hinge in large part on your success in effectively helping others in this manner.
Persons entering the SAL Actualization Stage have developed high levels of personal integrity and moral character. They are proactive, resilient, emotionally intelligent, and possess an extraordinary capacity to respond maturely and wisely to a full spectrum of different people and situations.
Professionally, SAL Actualized persons have developed and honed skills and talents such that they are now rightly referred to as an expert, professional, or even a master.
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| Becoming SAL Actualized means becoming more YOURSELF than you ever were before. |
In reality, precisely the opposite phenomenon occurs.
As C.S. Lewis one put it, "How monstrously alike all the great tyrants and conquerers have been; [yet] how gloriously different are the saints." (5).
M. Scott Peck put it similarly, as follows:
"If one ever has the good fortune to meet a living saint, one will have then met somebody absolutely unique. Though their visions may be remarkably similar, the personhood of saints is remarkably different. This is because they have become utterly themselves. God creates each soul differently, so that when all the mud is finally cleared away, His light will shine through it in a beautiful, colorful, totally new pattern." (6)
On lower levels of Existential Growth, insecure persons often equate individualism and originality with aberrant and rebellious deviations from traditional grooming, fashions, and mores—and the stranger and more flamboyant the better. In reality, such strident personal actions have little connection to one's true and authentic character, identity, or potential—and are usually a cry for help.
Have you ever found yourself wishing you could be someone else?
By the time you become actualized, such wishes will have vanished from your life. SAL Actualized persons sincerely like who they are and who they have become. By the time you have reached this level in your Existential Growth, you wouldn't trade your own life circumstances and opportunities for anyone else's, even if you had the power to do so. As a result, diffidence, immaturities, insecurities, jealousy, and vindictiveness have been almost entirely eliminated from your life and world.
SAL Actualized persons no longer see the world through a mindset of danger and scarcity, but through a paradigm of abundance and opportunity. (7) Your embrace of this new mentality engenders genuine appreciation for, and satisfaction in, the growth and achievements of others. You may even find yourself gradually taking more joy in the accomplishments of others than you do in your own successes.
At lower levels of Existential Growth, it is hard to conceive that this could ever be possible. But the higher you rise and the closer you get to becoming SAL Actualized, the clearer you begin to see reality and the more you begin developing this remarkable transformation of positive feelings towards others.
Knowing that everyone possesses the same Existential Worth, and therefore (theoretical) Existential Potential, you no longer feel the need to compare yourself to others after becoming SAL Actualized. Your own inner peace, maturity, and understanding make such comparisons irrelevant, uninteresting, and puerile. You have largely achieved what you set out in life to accomplish; therefore, the only primal goal that remains is to continue rising to higher levels of Existential Growth yourself—and help other people do the same.
Arriving at the SAL Actualization Stage is a significant touchstone along your journey to Self-Transcendence and beyond. It qualifies as a significant personal and ontological achievement. It's the level of Existential Growth where, perhaps more than any other level, you can legitimately claim to have "ARRIVED."
It also serves as an important hinge-point of decision-making moving forward.
That decision is this: Will you choose to live for yourself in the future, or will you dedicate the rest of your life to helping others to become similarly SAL Actualized?
If you choose to live only for yourself, you'll remain on Level 6, or, more likely, begin a regressive slide backward to lower levels. If, on the other hand, you opt to dedicate your life to helping others progress—which is what most SAL Actualized people do—you advance to Level 7, the Leadership Stage, which is where you begin to make many of your life's most meaningful, important, and lasting contributions.
SAL Actualization and Your Existential Train
At Freedom Focused, we believe that all human beings—including every person who has ever been born upon the Earth—has a definite, specific, and meaningful reason and purpose for being here. We believe that this purpose is, generally speaking, to become SAL Actualized as a self-action leader and then help others to do the same.
Of course, SAL Actualization looks different for each of us in terms of its topical particulars. After all, we each possess a singular disposition, personality, and genetic makeup in conjunction with a unique set of aptitudes, desires, and talents.
To "Catch Your Existential Train" refers to discovering your life's truest and most authentic, individual purpose. To "Stay on Board Your Existential Train" refers to pursuing that singular and unique purpose with all your heart, mind, soul, and might until the end of your life—and beyond if an afterlife exists.
There's an old saying: when my SHIP comes in.
Self-action leaders understand that their ship never comes in; YOU must swim out to your ship!
The same principle holds true for boarding your existential train. To succeed in catching and then boarding it, you must become well acquainted with how your train runs and works. You must also develop the speed, strength, agility, confidence, and daring required to latch onto it as it zooms by. In the process of doing so, it is helpful to remember that no one boards one's train on his or first attempt.
To succeed at "Catching" and "Boarding" your Existential Train, YOU must repeatedly "pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again" (8) each time that you fall short.
Doing so is not easy!
It is a wonderfully exhilarating, yet terribly challenging endeavor fraught with seemingly endless frustration and failure. There may even be times when you choose to turn your back on your train and stop trying to board it altogether for a while. Sometimes this occurs because you have been injured attempting to board and must take time out to heal and regroup. Other times, feelings of bitterness and disillusionment may camouflage the enormous benefits and rewards available on your train.
In the midst of such poignant disappointments, you may even try to deny that your train exists. Some, and perhaps many, will deceive themselves into thinking that moseying along through the countryside in an ox-drawn wagon or on a dutiful donkey is preferable to the unspeakable thrill of zipping along the continent on an ultra modern, super speedy, bullet train.
But for those hardy and determined souls willing to endure the trials of boarding their train, the ride is truly "out of this world."
Once you have caught and boarded your existential train, you have earned a comfortable residence whereby you can live and work as you continually go forth to coach, mentor, serve, teach, and otherwise help others on their own journey toward SAL Actualization.
In many ways, helping others become SAL Actualized will be far easier and more enjoyable than your own crucible-laden and painful process of SAL Actualization. After all, it is usually easier to talk about something than it is to actually do it; but you won't have much credibility speaking about something that you haven't already experienced and overcome. Thus, the BEST TEACHERS are usually those noble souls who have already "walked the talk" and otherwise proved themselves "in the trenches" and "heat of battle."
Catching and then boarding your own existential train—becoming SAL Actualized—is a tremendously significant event in your life. Moreover, as long as you choose to stay on the train, all tracks eventually lead to the highest levels of Existential Growth.
A Paradigm Shift from Competition to Love
There is typically a big difference between what motivates YOU on lower levels (1-6) and what motivates YOU on higher levels (7-9).
A Competition Paradigm is defined as: a desire to obtain Existential Growth in order to surpass others.
COMPETITION PARADIGM
A desire to obtain Existential Growth to surpass others.
Every self-action leader is unique. Thus, some will be more (or less) motivated by the Competition Paradigm than others. Nevertheless, most self-action leaders are primarily motivated by the Competition Paradigm on Levels 1-6.
By the time you graduate to Level 7, however, a fundamental transformation of your mind, heart, and soul has begun to take place. This transformation leads you to become increasingly motivated by a genuine care, concern, and love for other self-action leaders and human beings in general.
Having already proved yourself and risen above many others (in an Existential Growth sense, or in terms of a specific skillset), your desires will increasingly shift toward helping others along their pathways of Existential Growth. Instead of being primarily motivated by the Competition Paradigm, you will find yourself increasingly motivated by the Love Paradigm, which is defined as: a desire to help others obtain Existential Growth.
A desire to help others obtain Existential Growth.
The development of this pure, sincere, and unsullied LOVE for others is inevitably a gradual developmental process that occurs by degrees over a long period of time. Most self-action leaders will begin experiencing sparks and vestiges of this authentic love in earlier stages of Existential Growth (Levels 1-6), but will not fully flower until much later on during the time they spend on levels 6-9.
The individual growth curve of a self-action leader's Love Paradigm will, of course, differ widely from person-to-person as one develops up the hierarchy. Personality, environment, circumstances, education, access to loving coaches, mentors, and teachers, and other variables will all play a role in the singular developmental trajectory of each individual.
Nevertheless, by Stage 7, it will, like concrete in a mold, likely be sufficiently set up to begin a positive and lasting "curing process." If properly cultivated and persistently pursued, it will continue to cure (harden/strengthen/toughen) throughout one's continued development up through the three highest levels of Existential Growth, leading theoretically to a PERFECT LOVE for others at some distant point in one's existence.
Depending on how powerfully one was motivated by the Competition Paradigm in earlier stages (1-6) of Existential Growth, the pouring, setting up, and curing process of love may occur more slowly or quickly; it all depends on the individual self-action leader and his or her unique SAL Variables Quotient.
For those who experience a more gradual development and growth of love for others, there may be a protracted period of time where one wonders how one could ever be as motivated by love as one is by competition. Moreover, for those who reach Level 7 and then begin to atrophy and regress backward in one's Existential Growth, the Competition Paradigm may return to smother one's potential capacity for love.
But those who continue to grow past the Leadership Stage into the Self-Transcendence and Creation Stages will discover that love is in fact an infinitely greater motivator than competition ever was—even in its most captivating and motivating stages on lower levels of Existential Growth. They will also discover that the fulfillment, joy, satisfaction, and inner peace that accompanies an authentic and pure Love Paradigm infinitely exceeds the lesser perks that accompanied the Competition Paradigm.
At the highest levels of Existential Growth, competition no longer exists in a traditional sense. It has become completely swallowed up by LOVE for all people, living creatures, and other worthwhile things.
- Where do you believe you currently stand in relation to being SAL Actualized?
- What do you think would be required of you to eventually become SAL Actualized?
- Describe your ideal Existential Train.
- What do you believe will be required of you to successfully catch and board your Existential Train?
- How much are you presently motivated by the Competition Paradigm?
- How much are you presently motivated by the Love Paradigm?
- How might you decrease the Competition Paradigm and increase the Love Paradigm in your life?
—Dr. JJ
Author's Note: This is the 409th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 218th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 408 FF Blog Articles
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Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection
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Chapter 17 Notes
1. Lutgens, F. K., and Tarbuck, E. J. (2010). The Atmosphere: An Introduction to Meteorology (Eleventh Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Page 28.
2. Tarbueck, E J., and Lutgens, F. K. (2009). Earch Science (Twelfth Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Page 454.
3. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review. Volume 50, Issue 4, p. 370-396. Page 382.
4. Ibid. Page 383.
5. Lewis, C.S. (2001). Mere Christianity. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco. Page 226.
6. Peck, M.S. (1983). People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil. New York, NY: Touchstone. Page 264.
7. Covey, S.R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Fireside. Pages 219-220.
8. From the Nat King Cole Song, Pick Yourself Up. Lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern. Copyright by Reservoir Media Management, Inc. and Universal Music Publishing Group.
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