To grow spiritually is to develop your potential.

Religion and science have differing views on matters of the human spirit. Religion views people as spiritual beings temporarily living on Earth, while science views the spirit as just one dimension of an individual.

Mastery of the self is a recurring theme in both Christian (Western) and Islamic (Eastern) teachings. The needs of the body are recognized but placed under the needs of the spirit. Beliefs, values, morality, rules, experiences, and good works provide the blueprint to ensure the growth of the spiritual being.

In Psychology, realizing one’s full potential is to self-actualize. Maslow identified several human needs: physiological, security, belongingness, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization, and self-transcendence. James earlier categorized these needs into three: material, emotional, and spiritual.

When you have satisfied the basic physiological and emotional needs, spiritual or existential needs come next. Achieving each need leads to the total development of the individual. Perhaps the difference between these two religions and psychology is the end of self-development: Christianity and Islam see that self-development is a means toward serving God, while psychology view that self-development is an end in itself.

Whatever your view it is important to realise the benefits of developing your potential in life in order for you to achieve all that you possibly can.

This is not an easy journey, but it has incredible rewards, it begins when you start to take a look at who you really are, what you believe in and why. Open yourself up to the truth behind your beliefs, are they truly what you believe or have they been beliefs passed on from others, and that includes family.

The hardest part of this journey is to identify your true beliefs. Once this is established you can begin to work towards your development from there.