In "Toward a Psychology of Being," Abraham Maslow sets forth a holistic psychology
which is based upon postively motivated "Being-Valuers." In terms of Piaget,
Kohlberg, or Ken Wilber's levels of cogntive, moral, or spiritual growth, a
"Being Valuer" seems to come into existence more at level 5 than at other levels.
At lower stages of cognitive development decisionmaking and motivation seem
to be much more related to negative reinforcement. In fact, as Maslow puts it,
the lower levels of development are oriented primarily toward biological survival
and hierarchical group acceptance. It is only at the higher levels of development
that one becomes movtivated by one's being or perhaps creativity. Perhaps
surprisingly to some, those at level 5 who are Being Valuers express their positive
motivation in large part by helping others. Interestingly, it is almost as if
Divine Providence or the Tao reaches out and enables these people to have happy
successfull lives even though what they do "rocks the boat" a bit because they
tend to engage in actions which work against selfish individualism.
This is a great book and is highly recommended.