Entelechy is trait believed to be commonly (though not necessarily) found in gifted people. Deirdre Lovecky describes entelechy as a : “a particular type of motivation, need for self-determination, and an inner strength and vital force directing life and growth to become all one is capable of being.”
Really? Wow. I’m guessing there are people whose ‘life force’ takes this morally advanced form. I hope so but it’s not me. When I first heard the word entelechy, I thought ‘aha, that’s the word for what I feel’. But my experience of entelechy isn’t quite as elevated as Lovecky and others describe. Some theorists describe entelechy as a desire to improve the world and make it a better place. Instead, my version of entelechy is a constantly gnawing feeling that I’m supposed to be doing more and that time is running out. This feeling is omnipresent for me and I remember being aware of it as a child. I would love to say that it’s rooted in the desire to make the world a better place and, some days it is. But mostly it’s just a selfish desire of wanting to live the fullest life I can and making the most of what I am: intellectually, energetically and emotionally. It’s safe to say, I have trouble manifesting my entelechy in my cubicle farm job but I have had much greater success in in my personal life. But even in my personal life, that feeling I now call entelechy sometimes lurks – resisting monotony, superficiality and, occasionally, making the people who love me crazy. For me, entelechy often takes the form of restlessness, a constant search. For depth, in myself and others. For knowledge. At its best, it’s a quest to experience life full on and it’s worst it’s a spiralling dissatisfaction.
My version of entelechy is not particularly poetic but I love that I have a name for that feeling of restlessness, of wanting to be more, know more, feel more…. Maybe one day, I will know a higher order version of entelechy. For now, I am content to know it has a name, even if my version of it is somewhat mutated.
For more information about entelechy: Gifted Adult Characteristics – Entelechy
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“Capacities clamor to be used, and cease in their clamor only when they are well used. That is, capacities are also needs. Not only is it fun to use our capacities, but it is necessary for growth. The unused skill or capacity or organ can become a disease center or else atrophy or disappear, thus diminishing the person.”
–Abraham Maslow
Sure enough.