Motivational Work

37. Origins of Latent Motivation: Traumatic Events in Adulthood

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Single traumatic events can also cause latent motivation. This means that a manifestly motivated person can also, even as an adult, be latently motivated. He can encounter destructivity that is too intense for him to ward off the inevitable pain. Manifestly motivated children who live with manifestly motivated parents can also become latently motivated when their social atoms (from which they draw life energy) are unable to deal with some deeply painful experience (Motivational Work, Part 1 Values and Theory, page 292).

Consequently, there are no guarantees that anyone will remain manifestly motivated. Everyone has his breaking point, so regardless of how strong his positive core is, a person can still be propelled by severe pain into a state of latent motivation. The roots of the latent motivation lie in the interaction between the external trauma and the positive core when the individual does not have enough life force to deal with the pain and attain emotional contact with it. For the child, it means receiving insufficient life energy from his social atom.

A traumatic situation, such as being a hostage, can entail immense pain even if one has a great deal of life energy. Being a soldier in combat is another example of an individual experiencing unbearable pain. The manifestly motivated person cannot cope with the pain caused by destructivity, which can also come from external conditions such as natural disasters, disease, and so forth.

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