Eupsychian Education
An Avatar.Global Resource
Eupsychian Education
Eupsychian Education is an educational framework grounded in Abraham Maslow’s Eupsychian Theory and aimed at the full development of human potential through Needs Satisfaction, Connection, Healing, and the facilitation of Self-Actualization. Eupsychian Education focuses on fostering conditions that enable psychological health, creativity, and integration with the Fabric of Consciousness, and can be understood as a developmental and therapeutic approach to education that supports both individual and collective Human Flourishing.[1]
Concept Map
Abraham Maslow Terms
B-Cognition, B-Realm, B-Values, Big Problem, D-Cognition, D-Realm, Deficiency Diseases, Eupsychia, Eupsychian Education, Eupsychian Theory, Good Person, Good Science, Good Society, Good Specimen, Hierarchy of Basic Needs, Hierarchy of Cognitive Needs, Human Diminution, Humanistic Psychology, Inner Signals, Intrinsic Consciousness, Normalcy, Normative Biology, Peak Experience, Plateau Experience, Real Self, Self-Actualization, Transcending Self-Actualizers, Transhumanistic
Key Terms
Notes
Eupsychian Education directly aligns with the goals of the Lightning Path, particularly its focus on Connection, Healing, Needs Satisfaction, and the rejection of Ideological forms of education designed to repress and control rather than liberate. It supports the emergence of a planetary society composed of whole, healthy, and connected individuals.
Description
Eupsychian Education builds on Eupsychian Theory's premise that education should prioritize the development of psychologically healthy, self-actualizing individuals capable of connection to both their inner potential and the larger world. As Hoffman and Bey note, Maslow believed that such an education system would be “radically different” from current approaches focused on conformity and obedience. It would instead foster “respect for the learner’s uniqueness, inner potential, and spiritual needs”[2].
Quoting Maslow: “What we call ‘normal education’ is for the most part education for alienation… from self, from one’s fellow man, from nature, and from the cosmos” (quoted in Hoffman & Bey, p. 177). Eupsychian Education, in contrast, heals this alienation through supportive environments, empathic teaching, and curricula centered on human needs, especially the B-values (Being-values) such as truth, beauty, and unity.
A key figure in the evolution of this theory was Aldous Huxley, who Maslow credited with influencing his thinking on self-actualization and transpersonal development. Huxley’s vision of “perennial philosophy” provided a spiritual and metaphysical grounding for Eupsychian Education, particularly its aim to awaken consciousness and promote non-pathological mysticism (or Connection Experiences).
Core Components
- Needs-Based Pedagogy: Grounded in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, this approach emphasizes creating educational environments that meet the physical, psychological, and self-actualizing needs of learners.
- Spiritual and Emotional Integration: Eupsychian Education attends to the whole person, encouraging expression of emotion, spiritual insight, and mystical awareness in safe and affirming contexts.
- Connection-Centered Learning: Students are supported in developing deep Inner Connection (to their own Spiritual Ego and bodily wisdom) and Outer Connection (to other humans, nature, and planetary life systems).
- Therapeutic Teaching: Teachers act as facilitators of growth and healing, not just conveyors of knowledge. Maslow believed that the educator must themselves be on the path of self-actualization in order to authentically guide others.
Quotes
> “Maslow held that a school’s organizational ethos must be based on shared values of honesty, integrity, creativity, and a respect for spiritual experience. These were not peripheral values but central elements in the creation of a truly humanistic society.”[3]
> “For Maslow, teaching was a sacred responsibility. He urged educators to become ‘growth champions’ who supported students’ emotional, intellectual, and spiritual flourishing.”[4]
> “Eupsychian education must include teaching people to live in awe, to cultivate gratitude, and to appreciate mystery and transcendence—not just to function as good workers.”[5]
Tags
Citation and Legal
Treat the SpiritWiki as an open-access online monograph or structured textbook. You may freely use information in the SpiritWiki; however, attribution, citation, and/or direct linking are ethically required.
Footnotes
- ↑ Hoffman, Edward, and George Bey. “Educating for Eupsychia: Maslow’s Unfinished Agenda and Aldous Huxley’s Role in Its Advancement.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 61, no. 2 (2021): 176–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167820926224
- ↑ Hoffman & Bey, p. 179
- ↑ Hoffman & Bey, p. 182
- ↑ Hoffman & Bey, p. 181
- ↑ Hoffman & Bey, p. 183