Experiencing B-Values on the Camino de Santiago: A Culturally Mediated Path to Self-Actualization
Culture & Psychology May 21, 2026 Snežana Brumec, Andrej Naterer
The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage activates Maslow's Being values (B-values)—wholeness, interconnectedness, and harmony—through culturally situated, liminal practices. Analysis of 32 pilgrim travelogues revealed themes of unity, clarity, and self-transcendence aligning with peak experiences. A survey of 501 pilgrims found over 60% reported experiencing interconnectedness, highlighting shared walking rituals, sacred landscapes, and narrative reflection as key. B-values emerge as culturally co-constructed rather than purely individual, bridging humanistic and cultural psychology and reframing self-actualization as relational and embodied.