World Crisis and Man’s Hierarchy of Needs
Many of us are familiar with Abraham Maslow’s work on the hierarchy of human needs. This was not so much an original postulate, but more of an attempt to synthesize a large body of work related to human motivation. Prior to Maslow, most explanations for what drives human behavior focused on singular behaviors such as biological, success or power. Maslow created a hierarchy of needs divided into two groups, (deficiency needs and growth needs), with eight levels. These levels might be visualized as a pyramid with the bottom being one and the pinnacle being eight. These levels not only describe the evolvement of human motivation, but also the evolvement of human beings.
Deficiency needs:
1) Physiological: hunger, thirst and other basic bodily needs
2) Safety and security
3) Belongingness & Love needs: social needs, to be accepted
4) Esteem needs: to achieve, be recognized and gain approval
Growth needs:
5) Cognitive: to learn and to understand
6) Aesthetic: art, music, symmetry, order, beauty
7) Selfactualization: to find oneself and our highest potential
8) Self-transcendence: to connect with something beyond our ego
Maslow’s theory was first published over 50 years ago and still enjoys wide acceptance for its explanation of human motivation despite the lack of hard empirical data to back it up. Whether you might argue there should be only three levels or five levels or maybe even ten, the theory just makes sense on a gut level. We can also see a correspondence between these levels of motivation to the evolution of man.
Levels one and two can be viewed as corresponding to pre-historic man. These cavemen so to speak, woke up each day with the basic motivation to stay alive. They needed to find food, water and safety from the many physical dangers existing in their world. Families were very much a part of the need for safety and protection for there was strength in numbers. As this need evolved, families began to form bands because groups offered even greater strength in numbers. The formation of these groups spurred the beginning of the third level, social needs.
Early man roamed the land in bands to find food and water, but eventually they learned to grow their own. The transition man from hunter/gatherers to agricultural meant that they could now stay in one place. Eventually, enough people would be living in close proximity that man’s third level of needs further evolved. Communities formed because of man’s need to belong to a larger group and be accepted. As communities grew, so did the social needs within them.
Communities grew into cities, states and countries and man’s desires grew as well. Man wanted to not only belong to a larger society; he began to want to be a special part of that society. Man’s self esteem needs ushered in level four and he began to desire recognition, achievements and rewards. Sound familiar? It should! Today we refer to this as money, fame and power, but it is the same level. Although we have had many individuals throughout history expand into levels five through eight, in general, we are still stuck in level four.
It would be nice to think that most of us get out of bed each day motivated to gain knowledge, create beautiful art, find their highest potential or seek spirituality. Although there are places on our planet still focused on the first three levels, most of us get out of bed chasing level four. Herein lays the problem. Level four was a necessary evolvement, but we have been stuck here too long. The longer we stay stuck the more our esteem needs grow and our egos grow in order to fulfill them. Today, everyone wants to be a star. Everyone needs their own page on Face Book. We elevate celebrities to a silly stature of importance. We chase money, fame and power despite little evidence they bring happiness. We take from nature, we take from each other and we have created the many crises that now threaten our way of life.
Many studies have shown that we have more stuff than ever and are enjoying life less. We enjoy material wealth not even dreamed of 50 years ago, but at what price? The family unit is disintegrating and divorce is soaring. We see sharp rises in alcoholism, drug abuse and other addictive behaviors. Mental illness is on the rise along with suicides, crime and violence. In our efforts to keep up with the Jones, we have borrowed our way into bankruptcy.
The crises we face include the financial meltdown, environmental issues, new viruses that spread like fire, poverty and famine and the ever present possibility of the next big war. We can’t buy our way out or negotiate our way out. We need to evolve from deficiency needs to growth needs. Let’s put knowledge before wealth, beauty before power and self-actualization before fame. The happiness we seek lies before us, as we continue to evolve.
