19 October 2006

Theories


I received an interesting phone call today... some questions were put to me, and being the smarty-pants I am, I didn't know how to respond. But, I've been thinking about it. So, let's look at Maslow's Hierarchy of needs...ya know, just for fun.

1- The most basic fundamental needs are physiological (breathing, water, sleep, eat, sex). Ok. No problem there, I can do those all by myself (aren't you proud mom?).. I can even do them all at the same time, with my eyes closed. Now that's multi-tasking.

2- After those needs are met we can move on to safety and security needs. Resources (ie: money), physical safety, psychological safety, family security, health.. you get the idea.

3- The next level is love and belonging, the social bit. Family, friends, and sexual intimacy come in to play here. This is the desire to feel loved and accepted, part of a group. (Thank you to my faire family, and the rest of my wonderful family & friends... you all know who you are, and I love you with all my heart).

4- Moving on you find Esteem needs (aka: status needs)... the need to be respected and have self-respect. As this applies to me...um... well, anything for comedy (right Owie?). I have this theory, that if you can make a person laugh, you can gain a bit of respect from them. But, apparently being respected is not as important as respecting youself... makes sense.

5- The last part is Actualization (aka: Being needs)... this goes way deep into self-actualization and self-transcendence and its way too much psychobabble, that I'm not even sure I buy, to get into here. Especially since I feel that I'm already rambling.

So, with that in mind, here's my question (any other psych/phil majors out there feel free to help me out): Can a person have levels one through four fulfilled, and then walk away from level two without doing huge damage to one's entire "pyramid"? If you decide to destroy part of that pyramid, won't the rest just come crumbling down? And, if that is the case... why would one even consider walking away from the safety and security, just to go looking to perfect the third level?

Is it better to be safe and secure in what you know, or take a chance on embracing the unknown?

Could it be that our buddy Abe was wrong and the social aspect is just as important as the safety aspect? He says that safety and security rank above all other desires... but I'm not sure I agree.

Maybe its just that the grass is always greener, and it is easy to imagine throwing your safety and security into utter chaos when you've never experienced it that way. But, maybe its just time for a change, and time to experience life in a whole new way... or maybe its too late for that.