Motivations of Gonxha Bojaxhiu

Born in Yugoslavia in 1910, Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu, later known as Mother Teresa, represents someone who was once an average self-motivated child who eventually became known as one of the most caring and giving persons of the twentieth century. Coming from a rather well-off family she had lacked any motivation to join the nunnery in her early years. For us to comprehend her motivations we need to look into her early life and how she made the change from a described shy child, to a caregiver of those less fortunate (Guntzelman, 1999).

Certainly we cannot state that Gonxha's motivation existed from her life as a well-to-do individual or even as part of her nunnery exposure at the age of 18; she has even stated that she had no want to become a nun, although she shown interest in how missions helped the less fortunate around the world (Guntzelman, 1999). This would make us believe she is either predisposed to this direction in life or she is somehow motivated beyond the normal concepts of behavior to give up every comfort of life and help the poor in India.

An unfortunate but profound example of Freud's theory of motivation is Mother Teresa. She fits into his theory like a hand to a glove. Consider the "four basic propositions" of psychoanalytical views; determination, drive, conflict, and unconscious (McAdams, 2006). Mother Teresa exemplifies Freud's four requirements; she became unconsciously aware of her role in life and determined she had little control over her destiny; she was suffering personal conflict; she derived the drive to succeed, and she became determined to accomplish her life's perceived goals all due to childhood trauma. Her acceptance of a lack of control determined her life's pursuits; her decisions were conscience, yet unconscious in the same. She had planted the seeds of change by stepping forward, showing an example, and in 1946 others begun to live their lives with the same acceptance of unbridled determination to help others (Guntzelman, 1999).

In many respects her father's death may have caused a harboring of repressed thoughts; the possibility of becoming poor like those she found in Calcutta was a revisiting of her childhood experiences. The inescapable trauma of sudden loss of a loved one, as a daughters love for her father, may have been a required concept providing her drive to help others. In some way she may have given up her sexuality in favor of motivating herself towards a life of helping others who have lost much more than she had in life.

Since her early life was spent in a comfortable atmosphere, and her early times at the nunnery were spent teaching rather well off young girls the essentials of reading and writing, one would assume she had enough experience to know what comfort meant in relation to her observances in Calcutta. In many ways Mother Teresa goes against the basic ideals of humanistic theory on the surface. To believe that she was in some way looking for self-actualization would lead one to believe her good deeds were in fact self-serving. If this is the case then her realization of Maslow hierarchy of needs provided her with the comprehension of how to help others in need. Recognizing that those without have to fulfill their basic needs of physiological and safety before they can begin to realize their full potential (McAdams, 2006).

Though Mother Teresa's motivation was to help other realize their potential, it cannot go without recognizing that in some way she was fulfilling a self prophecy; she was fulfilling her own potential. In order to accomplish her goal in life, or as ordained by God, she needed to be a person of strong will, great confidence, and had realized her position in life early on. By relinquishing her conscious personal needs she in essence mastered Maslow's hierarchy.

Henry Murray's theory of needs is based on the simple basic fundamentals, or viscerogenic needs, of nourishment, breathing, and sleep; as well, it is base in additional psychogenic needs of socialization, autonomy, and recreation, to name a few. Murray believed both psychogenic and viscerogenic needs play an important role in defining a person's behavior in relation to the time in which they exist. He also believed in Freud's concept of tension-reduction, by which a person's needs build up needs over time and then they are finally released in an overwhelming orgasmic discharge (McAdams, 2006). Essentially Mother Teresa best fits within the confines of the diversity view, in that she filled a need within a specific time in history, a need that was self-fulfilling as a result of a trauma suffered in early childhood; her father's death.

In cultures this ideal is often represented by divine intervention, as she believed, or as karma; a moment in which we receive back what we give in the world. Mother Teresa believed God was the maker of her destiny and in many ways this was her personal truth. If not for the death of her father at that specific moment in her life she may have never accomplished her self-prophesized goal of helping those less fortunate; one may even say she was acting in subsidiation, in that she was reacting to the pain of the loss of her father. This may have been triggered by a Freudian love; though further analysis of her father-daughter relationship would be required.

Even though I believe further detailed analysis is required to devise a scientific reasoning as to Mother Teresa's motivations in life, it cannot go without saying that regardless, she had many positive accomplishments in life. Her traits and goals in life are, in my opinion, something we must admire and strive to meet in our own lives. If by divine intervention, as she believed, or if by simple motivation from a trauma as a child, we should remain humbled by the acts of determination and kindness pursued by this amazing woman in history.

References

Guntzelman, Joan (1999). A Retreat With Mother Teresa and Damien of Molokai: Caring for Those Who Suffer (2nd ed.). Saint Anthony Messenger Press.

McAdams, D. (2006). The person: A new Introduction to Personality Psychology. (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.