Completing the human form

I saw in the Maharal’s Way of Life (on the Mishnah of Shimon the Righteous) that he proposes such an idea: not only are there only two normative systems (man to his fellow man and man to the place), but in addition to both there is a third one – man to himself. The principle is clear and based on a familiar thesis – man is composed of a material animal part and a spiritual intellectual part, and there is value in “developing” the spiritual part, which is done by studying Torah, and there is also value in detaching from the material part. (Of course, the word development does not mean developing intellectual skills, but rather in the direction of bringing the person to spirituality rather than materialism).
A. Does the Rabbi think there is anything real in this thesis?
on. If so, what could be the reason for there being a normative value in “developing the spiritual part”? It is easy to intuitively understand what is good in helping others and doing the will of God, but what could be the logic in “developing the spiritual part” for the person himself? After all, if a person were asked what he wants for his own good, he would say something like enjoying life, not developing the spiritual part of it.