The paper presents new data on the Miocene development within the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. The Miocene succession of the study area is characterized by high thickness and highly variable lithology. In the Miocene sediments of the studied area, the presence of organic matter in the form of a coal layer, coal crumbs, and dispersed organic matter has been found. The research focused mainly on the analysis of organic matter in terms of its origin, degree of coalification, and depositional environment. The degree of coalification of organic matter was determined by the huminite/vitrinite reflectance. The hard brown coal layer with a thickness of about eight meters was identified within the Kłodnica Formation. Based on the textural properties and degree of coalification, brown coal was classified as dull brown coal and bright brown coal. Organic matter in the form of coal crumbs and dispersed organic matter were found within a package clastic sedimentary. On the basis of petrographic analysis, two types of allochthonous organic matter with different degrees of coalification were identified. The coal clasts are mainly of Carboniferous origin, while the Miocene redeposited brown coal grains dominate within the dispersed organic matter. Coal fragments and dispersed organic matter derived from the Miocene brown coal were also found within the black claystones. The study of organic matter of the Miocene sediments in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin showed both its autochthonous and allochthonous origins.

The article is an invitation to discuss the way of understanding human development as an actualization of individual’s potential. I present two opposite approaches to this particular problem: human development as choosing preferable potentials and also as striving to actualization of, in some way, every potential, especially these which concern the uniqueness of an individual. In the following parts of the article I locate the problem of human potential in three main discourses regarding: 1) human nature and its origin, 2) the possibility of full experience of individual lifespan 3) the possibility of influence through people on the content and the form of their actualizing potential. To the latter and strictly practical issue I pay most attention. I formulate five thesis regarding this issue. They may, in my opinion, be a starting point to discuss the general problem mentioned above. Therefore, they encourage to think about the mechanism of human development and the future environment of his life.