20220118 : Maslow's hierarchy

This is a phrase I guess most of us have come across in several circumstances : "Maslow's hierarchy of needs".

Basically states that we don't wish/aim for very lofty things when basic things are not met.

I am sure there are many different versions to describe what I have put crudely but essentially meaning the same.

It can be applied to many situations - employees behaviour in the organisation, customer behaviour towards a service/ product, etc.

I recently wrote about my time/ schedule during the day and the struggle to find time to do much else.

I was pondering on what to do so I can fit more activities.

And it led me to think of Maslow's hierarchy. The way it is usually depicted is like a pyramid and different layers or rungs indicating the needs.

I made a crude translation for that in life:

The bottom most rung would probably have things like - Air, Water, Food, Shelter, Procreation, Clothes/ covering etc.

Next I don't know, in our time it probably is - healthcare, education, family, friends, some form of economic participation, etc.

On top of that would probably be things like - house, some material luxuries, leisure time/ holiday, fun with friends/ colleagues, etc.

On top of that would be happiness with family, happiness with friends, happiness at work, etc.

On top would be joy with oneself or joy with life/ living or contentment.

I know, I know - it's a very simplistic model. But you get the general drift.

It's a pyramid. I guess it was meant to be that way. With the base bigger and things converging to the top.

I am also seeing an inverted pyramid in it - the pyramid of our free mind.

At the base we have no ability to think - as we have the mind fully occupied to worry about basic/ survival needs. That's a very primitive society.

Then, when the basic things are made easier, the mind has some ability to think of the next needs and so on...

However somewhere along the way, we have inverted both the pyramids in our lives and society.

The basic needs are few and for most of the societies it is taken care of.

As we go up the rungs, we have started to fill the rungs with more and more things (wants), the pyramid actually has started widening as it goes upwards. There is no end - no convergence.

What that also means , is the mind is not free. Thinking all the time how to get things, how to do things, how to manage things,etc.

No space to be free from compulsive thinking. To think but not think about things.

Most of us think we are free from this. But we can't not do anything usually.

I guess it is like going to a restaurant by oneself. Sure, many of us can do it, but can we do it without taking our phone with us?

I also think it probably is not like meditation - you know, sitting in a quiet calm place with eyes closed. Either thinking/ focussed on one thing or trying to think about nothing.

It is more like being with eyes open, ears open, so on. With all senses fully aware, perceiving and thinking about everything around in that instance and not something else...

After my stroke, I didn't have to do anything. Sure some therapy here and there. But mostly I did nothing. All basic things were done, I couldn't do anything else - so I had a lot, a lot of think time. Yes I had a lot of time to worry as well, but since I could do nothing about anything, all I could do is leave it.

Then I could WhatsApp, that was something to do and it occupied space in my mind. What it also meant was when I worried, I could act. Sure, i could only tell my worry and leave it to someone else to deal with it (I am sure it rings a bell, rings lots of bells for my wife)

Then I started doing things. Anything online or course - some shopping, some payments, something/ anything else I could pull off online.

Before my stroke, I was quite involved with a project. I have started involving myself with it - online of course.

But as I start doing more, I am very aware of the reduction of free mind time.

Something I crave for now. Not because I know how it might be, but because I have experienced it earlier.

Am I unhappy doing all this. Definitely not.

Am I happy with everything I am doing? Absolutely yes.

But am I inching towards happiness - I don't know.

Have we filled up the pyramid with so many things/ wants to fulfill that we can't fulfill any of it completely and focus on other things.

Have we filled the mind with so much to think that there is no space to not think but really think.

I write this as I pile on more things to do at the same time wishing for more free time to think 🤷🏽‍♂️