If not you, then who?

Not quite a quote, but bear with me.

When lecturing, Maslow would ask his classes, “Which of you inside this room intends to be a great leader? Who will be a great saint? Who will be a great psychologist? Who will be a great writer?”

As recorded in his writings, his students would typically react with embarrassment.

Generally, everybody starts giggling, blushing, and squirming until I ask, ‘If not you, then who else?’ Which of course is true.

Maslow was not trying to pressure his students into achieving superficial fame. Instead, he was challenging a psychological phenomenon he called the “Jonah Complex”—the tendency for people to fear their own greatness, run away from their talents, and self-sabotage their potential due to a lack of confidence or fear of the unknown.

By asking “If not you, then who?”, Maslow wanted his students to realize that the “great people” of the world are simply regular people who wipe their bottoms in the same way we all do, but they have actively decided to fully cultivate their unique capabilities, and have followed thru with consistent action.

I want to be a Great Man, I am not ashamed to say this.

When put in this context, my question is, why are we leading such subdued lives? I understand the evolutionary sense in not standing out from the crowd for fear of exclusion from the group, leading to a speedy demise.

Photo by Jon Butterworth on Unsplash