Amidst the branches, we – volunteer harvesters – chatted through the silver-green leaves, our conversation punctuated by the rain of olives hitting the tarp below. Perched on ladders on the same Jerusalem hillside made famous by Jesus, we were under the direction of the cheerful Italian Friar who oversees the ancient grove on the Mount of Olives. Our group represented Jerusalem, Greece, Sweden, Holland, the US, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Japan.
We talked of work and children, online learning, families separated by the pandemic, and who among us liked olives. We admired the Dome of the Rock just across the Kidron valley peering over the massive stone wall of the Old City, shining gold against blue sky.
A fellow picker confessed to feeling restless with her life, and then guilty about that, considering all of her “Maslow’s Needs” were well met. She was at the top of the fabled pyramid–why the unease? That got me thinking…
What is Maslow’s Pyramid? And how it promotes supremacy thinking.
Like many Westerners, I first encountered Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in high school science class. I hear it referred to regularly as an explanatory model for so much–just yesterday on the radio as a psychologist discussed the pandemic. Last week on a Crash Course video about the history of games. Sociologists say it describes “how to be human.” [1] A Google search yields 2.5 million results, including 126,000 videos. It’s baked into the Western psyche.
Here’s how the internet summarizes it, which is how I remember learning it, and how I hear people using it today: “physiological needs are vital for survival and that they must be sated before one can move up towards actualization and fulfillment.” A few may then ascend further, achieving “self-transcendence” which enables “peak experiences in which they transcend their own personal concerns and see from a higher perspective. These experiences often bring strong positive emotions like joy, peace, and a well-developed sense of awareness.” [2]
To quote Maslow directly: “It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread. But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled? At once other (and “higher”) needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism. And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still “higher”) needs emerge and so on.” [3] In fact, Maslow surmised that if enough people transcended, a utopia called Eupsychia would result. [4]
How very linear. (Not to mention, a bit fantastical.) With the stunning implication: until a person has proper food, water, warmth, rest, safety, and security, they can’t experience what is higher up the pyramid: intimate relationships, friends, self esteem, even curiosity and appreciation of beauty. Once mastered, then one may reach the top of humanity’s Mount Everest: transcendence. Then one may pursue science or religious faith, and develop an “unusual sense of humor,” a need for privacy, or “concern for the welfare of humanity” to name a few.*
It’s not only simplistic and linear, but it’s also not correct. Anyone who has ever been in a place marked by poverty–a slum, a poor village, a dying town–or even in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, can tell you: that is where you will meet some of the most actualized, transcendent, humorous, curious, and contemplative people ever.
This blog is part of CDA’s From Where I Stand series, designed to listen to people most affected by aid as they explore and amplify their leadership experiences, stories, and lessons for the aid sector.
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