Where we are now
Often I can notice thinking on a short scale. And I’m not referring here at living the moment – which is a wonderful thing. I’m talking about limits and assumptions and judgments derived by living on the short scale theory, which I describe like this:
Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this way so there is no point to do it, cause it will not have any impact to myself or to the environment around me
I don’t know exactly from where it comes.
We are 6 billions of people on this planet.
Like Lao-Tzu said:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
What happens if a percent might be thinking like this? What if 1.000.000 people starts to smile today?
I hear:
- “It doesn’t matter if I throw one little piece of paper on the streets” – Really? Multiply that with 1.000.000 and see how your city looks like
- “It doesn’t matter if I plant 1 tree” – What if there wil be 1.000.000 people to do the same, how beautiful will the park or the forrest look like?
- “It doesn’t matter if I smile, the others won’t do it” – What if there will be 1.000.000 people smiling? Will they be alone?
- “It does’t matter if I take a stand for happiness and good communication between people” – What if there will be 1.000.000 people advocating for the same thing?
So what I’m saying is that we should start to take a look at the bigger picture.
The world moved from single manufacturing age to industrial age.
Then again from industrial age to informational age.
And now, we’re going to a new age.
The 4 level of satisfying needs
There are 4 levels of satisfying needs for a human being (from my own perspective):
This is a simplified Maslow pyramid of needs.
On the first level there is the satisfaction of physical needs: food, water, sleep, reproduction. Here the orientation is to satisfy only the basic needs.
On the second lever there is the satisfaction of mental needs and the development that comes from this: reading, learning, thinking, inventing. Here were the first observation of the nature, the simplification of the beautiful natural events in order to be easily understood, the models of the world. Here was and it is the center of technological progress and innovation.
On the third level, there is the satisfaction of emotional needs and development: exploring feelings, emotions, development of empathy and motivation, the state of flow, creativity and all the social behaviors. Here is the center of human connections and the source of first level of happiness: the “I’m happy now”,
On the forth level, there is the satisfaction of spiritual needs: Who we are? From where we come? What is our purpose in this Univers? What happens after death? What is death? And so on. Also here is the center of being part of the greater being and the source of the second level of happiness: the happiness inside
The Shift
Between this pyramid of satisfaction of needs and the ages of human society, there is a direct connection:
So far the our society evolve from Manufacturing Age where the orientation was to satisfy the Physical Needs to the Industrial Age where the orientation was to satisfy the Mental needs.
Now we are inside of informational age where most of us are making the jump to the level of emotional needs.
And from now and then, few people are already on the spiritual age.
And this is what I want to say about Living on the short scale:
Where do you see yourself? Do you see any benefits of going to the next level, or do you prefer the comfort of the current zone?
Interesting approach, but these “ages” (still) very well apply today if you consider the level of education and living environment
Yes, both models still apply today. And probably not all people jumped to the Emotional stage.
But the ones that did it, started the progress toward the next age, whatever that would be
No doubt that the first one is too. Hm … the future … I would love to see people more in touch with the inner self and the nature around us … just dreaming …
I like the article and I most like it because it is simple.
I HIGHLY disagree with The Shift, though
I believe that as the society evolves we are actually losing more and more from each of the 4 levels and the association you are describing is validated only by the exceptions.
So you’re saying that as the society evolves the boundaries between the needs are disappearing?
This could be an interesting vision for the human society evolution
I am saying is hard to speak about such boundaries. The needs were always there. But, in the past were all satisfied, much easier and naturally than nowadays. Now, as we evolve, some people get aware that there are things that used to be there and so they strive for them.
And, some other people, as we two for example, even try to put this in different assumptions and theories
)
From my point of view is a tricky think to talk about…the link between needs and how society evolves.
what do you mean from your perspective?
Maslow reached the pyramid of needs conclusion after years and years of research. From my point of view, you can not take a scientific research and transform you in “your perspective”.
You can though show how Maslow’s theory applies to yourself. But, if you want to do some good writing, start with the real theory and change it applying to yourself.
sorry, i feel almost offended when i see valid theory transformed from “personal” perspective. Science is science, come up with research to back your ideas or just don’t put it.
Now going back to your idea: basically Maslow had 5 scales as to show the human needs.
Basicallym with the evolution in all the areas (tech, medical and so on), we are definitely in the self-actualization -tip of the pyramid area. I would not say that we switched to emotional needs right now and we focus on that, i think we are actually getting out of this zone and moving up. Emotional needs is too complicated to be discussed in 2 lines.
I completely disagree to using the “spiritual needs” instead of self actualization. Please read about the concept, it means way much more and it has other bigger connections. Spiritual has a religious connotation that really bothers when used in discussing a scientific theory.
I understand that this is your perspective but i don’t see the logic and knowledge behind. What do you mean?
Yes, I get annoyed by the misues ot science.
I agree with Mihai’s idea, you can not put strict boundaries between the needs anymore. You can be thriving to fulfill your love/belonging or esteem needs while you try to reach self actualization.
Hello Andreea
Thank you for having the patience to read my article and to give me feedback.
You’re right, probably the form of this article (and probably of other articles) needs some improvements in the sense of presenting more from my own experience then show only some generalizations.
And also I should probably accentuate more that these concepts or perspectives are based on my own observations of life and some of them don’t have a research to back-up.
It was not my intent to diminish or take over of Maslow theory. I just used it as a based model to express my ideas about what it is and where I see myself going.
And Maslow’s theory, probably more deep than I understood it so far, remains valid in it’s own definition of domain.
Now as I’m an engineer and I love science, I’m also aware of the fact that scientific truth is a truth based on the current knowledge and/or axiom. And in most of the cases today’s truth was invalidated by or incorporated in tomorrow’s new paradigm.
So, I allow myself to question the truth
About what I wrote, it is simply an observation/insight I had about society evolution and needs. Could be true, could not be true. This is also way I enjoy communicating with Mihail about this subject and now with you.
For me, spiritual does not have a religious connotation. It is for me the state of being.
I think you’ve got the pyramid wrong
All the needs that are ‘Mental’ are requiring motivation witch is a direct result of changes/transformations/state of the ‘emotional’ layer.