Maslow's Hierarchy and the Pursuit of Pleasure: Human Nature and the Desire for Wealth and Security
The baser function of human nature is to provide for itself through the progression of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. But in today's society the progression upwards through the more integral bottom parts of the base to the less, and more sparing nature of the top can be highlighted through four key principles:
- Money
- Physique
- Relationships
- Connections
These principles serve as the modern hierarchy for our navigation through the oceanic bastion of our stormy self-perceptions of ourselves and our hopeful seeking of the ocean of love for one another, and the divine.
Money
"The money you have gives you freedom; the money you pursue enslaves you."
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau
An integral portion of human striving should be invested into the acquisition of tradeable assets. Currency in all forms is a signal of hard work being done and a reward for the time invested to achieve it. But the wanting pursuit of greedy ambition can be adequately surmised by a childish naivety that is deeply engrained into the darker depths of our human nature. It is the chase, the thrilling seek of the hunt that must motivate men to provide for the relationships he cares the most about, including and most importantly the relationship to that individual alone and God. Without occupation and duty to your earth and our fellow brethren we are without the greatest asset of all: Our ability to blossom and seek the fruit for what it makes us become, not the low, reaching of pleasure and eudemonic comfort but the flow of living our trades with an honest illumination and truth.
Physique
"Your ultimate reason for staying in this crooked world is not to imitate its devastating physique, but trying do something about its ugly appearance."
— Michael Bassey Johnson
Like the chisel of marble amongst the stagnant rubble, we must adequately assemble ourselves in the face of a testing God to combat the dire circumstance of non-immortality. In the face of the divine we are nothing but acorns desperately wanting to grow into the strongest of oak. In order to face the trials and tribulations of the hardship of disease, famine and fragility, we are all trying to survive despite our failing bodies and aging minds. We must take care of health as if it were our only vehicle for traversing through the snares and speed bumps on the taxing road to redemption and grace.
Relationships
"A true relationship is two imperfect people refusing to give up on each other."
— Unknown
The deepest of bonds whether it may be familial or spousal are the most intimate, beautiful parts of what helps us grow from our past, and accept the nakedness of who we are so that we may see the stark agency of the moment for what it is and act on a passion and drive for the hopeful seeking of future success. As we help each other through our shared darkness, there is a light gleaming with the approval of heaven and the assurance that it is sufficient to fall so deeply in love with someone that trust becomes the driving factor in your desire to maintain relationship with the idea of love itself.
Connections
“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”
— Brené Brown
It is the friends that you have in this life and the desire to seek community that elevates the human soul into a greater desire to help all the reaches of mankind. Whether it be with a dog, online friends, your relationship to team sports, or your love of your communal longing to your own respective religious idol, it is the crux of our social well-being and integrity of human connection. Without our earth to call home we are nothing but stardust amongst the primordial beyond.
From the seeking of wealth to the humble desire to share it, we are all desiring to live this life with an ability to retrospectively view our lives as a homage to the great Father Almighty. It is our connected love of the obstacle that must drive us forwards into finding an eternal salvation in the security of human conviction. With an unwavering spirit we must seek the dangers of peril, and navigate it with the relationship of community and peace. As the tunnel of light shining from the highest reaches of heaven beckon us to see ourselves showered with the grace of God, I can tell you that the thirst for something more in this life is abundant as oceans glittering in reflection of the distant empyrean sunrise.
"The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."
— Isaiah 58:11 (NKJV)
