if I had to summarize my entire philosophy in one sentence, one of Abraham Maslow’s gems coupled with The Apostle Paul would probably do the trick.

Maslow tells us: “What one can be, one must be.” The Apostle Paul tells us: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”This need to self-actualize is as real as our need to breathe.

Twenty-five hundred years earlier, Aristotle talked about the same idea. He actually coined a word for that force that’s driving us to actualize our innate potential. He called it “entelechy.”

Entelechy is made up of three little Greek words: en- ‘within’ + telos‘end, perfection’ + ekhein ‘be in a certain state.’

Entelechy. Literally: To be moving toward perfection.

Fast forward back to the 21st century and we have another preeminent psychologist chipping in to the discussion. Rollo May described the same force, only he made an important distinction in The Courage to Create where he tells us: “The acorn becomes an oak by means of automatic growth; no commitment is necessary. The kitten similarly becomes a cat on the basis of instinct. Nature and being are identical in creatures like them. But a man or woman becomes fully human only by his or her choices and his or her commitment to them. People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day by day. These decisions require courage.” 

Back in the first century, entelechy  was not used in scripture but it certainly influenced spiritual debate.                1 Corinthians 15:36-38 certainly adds to the discussion of what is in the seed becomes actual when it is planted and produces its fruit with little to no thought of its’ on. Author May suggests that human fullness of life is experience by means of our choices. I would suggest that fullness of life is experienced when we address the God-shaped vacuum” that is within all of us.

Your full potential can be achieved by the choices you make every day. What is one choice that you need to make now!