Education can become a self-fulfilling activity, liberating in

The great psychologist Abraham Maslow, whose vision of human potential reshaped the understanding of the soul, once said: “Education can become a self-fulfilling activity, liberating in and of itself.” These words flow like a river of quiet wisdom, reminding us that education is not merely a ladder to success, but a journey toward freedom. For Maslow, who studied the nature of human fulfillment, true learning is not a means to an end — it is the end itself. When a person learns for the love of truth, when the mind hungers for knowledge as naturally as the lungs thirst for air, education ceases to be duty and becomes liberation.

Maslow’s insight springs from his broader philosophy of self-actualization — the idea that each human being carries within them the potential to become whole, to express their highest nature. In such a vision, learning is not a mechanical task imposed by society, but an awakening of what already sleeps within the soul. He observed that when people pursue knowledge out of curiosity and wonder — not compulsion — they touch something sacred. They transcend fear and conformity, and step into the freedom of inner growth. Education, then, becomes a mirror of the self’s expansion, not the cage of its conformity.

This truth has been known to the wise since the dawn of civilization. The philosophers of ancient Greece called learning paideia — not merely instruction, but the shaping of the whole being. Socrates, walking barefoot through the streets of Athens, taught that to learn was to free the mind from ignorance, and ignorance was the true slavery of man. In India, the sages declared that “from knowledge comes liberation,” for to know oneself is to know the universe. Maslow’s thought, though born in the twentieth century, echoes this timeless tradition: the idea that education, rightly understood, is not preparation for life — it is life itself.

History offers luminous examples of this liberating power. Consider Frederick Douglass, who was born a slave in America, denied the right to learn. When he secretly taught himself to read, he wrote, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” For Douglass, education was not only the key to political freedom — it was the awakening of his humanity. He discovered through knowledge that he was not property, but a man. His liberation began not with laws or armies, but with a book and a mind awakened. Such is the truth Maslow speaks of: education as self-fulfillment, as the flame that transforms captivity into freedom.

Yet Maslow’s words also warn us. When education becomes a mere transaction — a path to credentials, money, or prestige — it loses its soul. It becomes dry, mechanical, lifeless. The joy of discovery withers, and learning turns into labor. But when learning becomes self-fulfilling, it revives the childlike wonder that dwells in every human being. The mind becomes playful again, daring, and creative. This kind of education does not enslave the spirit to systems; it releases it into its own greatness. The scholar who studies for love, the artist who learns to express beauty, the scientist who seeks truth for its own sake — these are the true students of life.

Maslow believed that freedom through learning is the foundation of a healthy society. A people educated merely for profit may grow wealthy but will remain spiritually impoverished. A people educated for fulfillment, for meaning, for connection with truth — these will build civilizations that endure. The liberating education he envisioned teaches not only how to earn a living, but how to live fully — how to think, to question, to imagine, to feel compassion, to see one’s role in the vast tapestry of existence.

So let the wise remember: the purpose of education is not to fill the mind, but to free the soul. Study not for applause or advancement, but for the joy of knowing, for the expansion of the spirit. Let every teacher kindle in their students the flame of curiosity, and let every learner approach their studies as a pilgrimage toward truth. For when knowledge is sought for its own sake — when learning becomes love — then, and only then, education fulfills its highest purpose: it becomes the path to liberation, and the human being becomes truly free.

Thus, in the eternal rhythm of Maslow’s words, we hear a call to all generations: learn not because you must, but because you are alive. Seek not only to know, but to awaken. For education, when it becomes a self-fulfilling activity, is nothing less than the soul’s journey from darkness into light.