Maslows Heirarchy of Needs

The other day I found myself in a high school health classroom.  On the board was a triangle divided into some parts and each one was labeled with different various things.  This Triangle was labeled as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  It looked similar to this following illustration.

Abraham Maslow was a Psychologist who became known for this Hierarchy of needs,  a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. Maslow was a humanist.  In 1963 he was nominated for president of Association for Humanistic Psychology at its founding meeting.  in 1967 Maslow was named humanist of the year.


Humanism is a philosophy, or world view, based on belief in the dignity of human beings, informed by science, and motivated by human hope and human compassion.   Humanistic psychologists believe that every person has a strong desire to realize his or her full potential, to reach a level of "self-actualization".
 

Self-actualization involves fulfilling your human potential and becoming all that you can be.  The focus is on the self.  It is about advancing the human race, intellectually and evolutionally through the perfection of self and raising oneself into the state of self actualization to best benefit human kind.  The Hierarchy to achieve this is all about meeting ones own personal needs and developing those to a point of fulfillment.


If that sounds a bit religious, it is.  Many religions, especially the eastern religions are all about the self disciplines to achieve an ultimate human state.  Some would call it Nirvana, and others would call it something else.  Peoples of India actually believe that you can work on your perfection over many lifetimes until you reach that ultimate human goal.  Whether it is self actualization, self awareness, achieving nirvana, or whatever you call it, self is the main focal point.


Christianity is unique among the belief systems of the world in that it does not teach anything about the self.  In fact, it says the self can do nothing.  While the Humanist believes that self actualization comes through the meeting of personal needs on various levels to attain self actualization to then reach out to others, Christianity says that we are to set our own personal needs to the side, and focus on Jesus Christ and surrender to His will and He will then use us as an extension of himself to reach others, not to have a better life in this world, but to have eternal life in Heaven with our creator.


Let's take a little look at the Hierarchy of needs and compare them with scripture.


First off, at the foundation of Maslows humanist theory, a person has to meet their basic needs; food, clothing, shelter.  As the theory goes, if your basic needs are not met, you cannot advance and be any success in any higher levels of understanding.  In Christianity, Jesus teaches us just the opposite.  Matthew 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  He concludes by saying, 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Immediately we see the foundational difference right off the bat.  Humanists say my own needs are preeminent, where Christ says He is first.  1 Corinthians 3:11 No one can lay any other foundation besides the one that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.


Second on the Maslow hierarchy is safety and security.  The personal safety and security is in making sure that the personal physical needs are to be met without worry.  If you can have a stable secure source to meet your basic needs, only then can you move on.  Again, this is all about self, and securing material needs in physical ways.  It could be considered that this is the level at which a gold digger operates.  They want to gain enough security and stability to meet their wants and needs through marrying into enough finances to secure those personal needs.  Christianity again is just the opposite.  God makes no promises to the believer about personal safety or security.  In fact, persecution is promised.  2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.  But, Christians don't find their safety and security in physical things.  Again, it is found in Jesus, and it comes despite what is happening to us physically.  Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Maslow says that once we have our physical needs met, and have secured them and feel safe that we have them, then we can move along to personal relationships, friendships, love interests, family, and the like.  Others come in third behind our own personal needs, and are in fact only meant as a means to meet our personal needs for relationships.  The argument would be that good relationships cannot be had or maintained if we have not met our needs and feel safe that we will have those needs met continually.  Christianity again, looks to Jesus.  It is only through the Holy Spirit He gives at salvation that gives us the capacity for true love.  If we have Jesus as our foundation in all things, we find that the love He gives will lead us to meed the basic needs of others even at our own expense.  Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31) takes the focus off meeting our own needs and places it on doing for others as we would have them do to us (Luke 6:31).  Because we know God meets all of our needs through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19), we can then go about meeting the needs of others.  Our relationship is with Jesus, who leads us to love others the way He loved us (John 15:12).


Next on Maslows Hierarchy is Esteem.  When our needs our met, and secured, and we have good relationships, we can then start feeling good about ourselves.  This here is really about pride.  You become proud that you have met and secured those needs, have stable relationships, and have accomplished things in life.  You are now a self made person who has pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and made a name for yourself.  Hard for others to speak ill of you when you have accomplished so much.  Again, The Bible says just the opposite.  Philippians 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.  For the Christian, all personal achievements in life are counted as nothing.  We know that pride comes before a fall (proverbs 16:18).  Mark 7:21-23 lists pride as part of the evil things that defile a man.


At the top of the Maslow Hierarchy is self actualization, the successful human being.  Everything along the way, physical needs, security, good relationships, positive self esteem, are all tools to be used along the way to reach the highest state of human person-hood, the alpha being.  It is all about me.  Jesus tells a story about such a man who had reached self actualization.  Like 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.  Here, self actualization is put into perspective.  All that we can gain or do or achieve in this life is a big nothing.  James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.


1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.


Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.


These are the things they are teaching our children.  The religion of Secular Humanism, man without God, is what is being taught our children.  Then people want to wonder what is wrong with this nation and why we are no longer the great nation we once were.  Well, everyone is to busy being taught to look out for number one, themselves, instead of looking out for each other as God teaches.  We are taught that we can ourselves become a self actualized being instead of being taught that we are sinners in need of a savior, Jesus Christ.  Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?



Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

The Bucket List

Every Semester as part of our children’s health class in our school district, the pupils are given an assignment of creating a bucket list for themselves.  For those of you who might not know for some reason, a “bucket list” is a list of things a person would want to do before they died.  It comes from the old phrase “to kick the bucket”, which most people know is kind of a slang term for dying.  The idea was popularized by a movie of that name starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman that came out in 2007. 

In the movie we see two old dying men gallivanting around the world fulfilling their dreams and accomplishing goals.  The Morgan Freeman character then comes to an epiphany about what the two were doing and decides that rather than fulfilling personal alone, he would rather try and spend his final days with family and close friends.  The adventures end and we see the difference between fulfilling the selfish desires portrayed by Nicholson as he spends a lonely holiday by himself as compared with the more selfless Freeman who is seen loving and laughing with family.

When a child of 13, 14, 15 years old is asked to do such an assignment, they usually default to a list of desires and achievements purely to satisfy their own lusts and desires.  They all want to hang with that famous musician or movie star, drive some fancy car, participate in some extreme sport, go to some distant exotic place, and do all this with their best friends.  I rarely see family time involved, but really that, I think, is beside the point.

This kind of a lesson could be a wonderful teaching opportunity for the children, but it really gets passed by.  All that happens is another reinforcement of the “me first” mentality.  The school is not allowed to judge, direct, guide, the students in any way.  It is deemed ‘healthy’ for the students to express their selfish desires without judgment or critique, without any values placed on their choices.  The most important value is that their self-esteem not be hindered in any way and even promoted. 

What is wrong with that?  One may ask.  Our children should be told how special they are and we should never harm a children’s ego or they may be scarred for life with feelings of inferiority or complexes for which they will need to be medicated and seek counseling for.   A child can’t be told that any value they hold is right or wrong.  All viewpoints are to be validated and not judged.  We’ve all heard this secular humanist argument before, and for many years.  It has failed.

Our children have been dumbed down to the lowest common denominators educationally, socially, and morally in the effort to not leave anyone behind, or to not make anyone feel like a failure, to not bruise any ego and to promote a positive attitude towards one’s self.  No one is punished for doing wrong, and everyone is rewarded whether they achieved or not. Everyone is made to feel like they are right (even when they are not).

The opportunity that is missed in the educational process in an assignment like this is truth.  It is a fantastic moment of teachability to our youth about how to properly prioritize our lives.  It is a grand moment where death, and what comes after, can be discussed.  It is a perfect time where different world views can be compared, analyzed, and scrutinized.  Yet, the powers that be in the educational world deny this wonderful learning moment in favor of teaching the kids that the only truth is whatever they feel is truth; that there are no absolutes.

In the Bible, we are given a bucket list to live by.  It starts with love the Lord your God who created you and to serve Him alone, believing upon His son Jesus who God sent to reconcile mankind to the Father.   It ends with loving your neighbor as yourself.     It is filled with great and noble works such as feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned.  It lists as good, things like taking care of widows and orphans; helping strangers in need.  Also on the list the difficult tasks of loving your enemies and doing good to those who are not good to you.  We could learn the great value in forgiving others and turning the other cheek.  Even perhaps the hardest thing of all, and one which shows no greater love, laying down ones life for another. 

We can only barely even imagine what life would be like were those things were on our bucket list.  I can scarcely imagine the great joys and peace that would be felt in a world where everyone is looking out for his fellow man and the best interest of others is the first priority on everyone’s mind.  Nor can I totally imagine a world completely devoid of any of them.  What a dark and horrid place this world will be when the full force of evil is unleashed and the spirit of God is removed.

Number one on the Biblical bucket list is to share this good news.  We are to tell others of how Jesus has made it possible for us to be forgiven of our selfish, lustful, evil ways and being reconciled to Father God through His precious shed blood; how Jesus rose again on the 3^rd day defeating death and clearing the path that through Him we might pass from death unto life.  That through the Holy Spirit that indwells us when we believe, that we will be capable of living out the Bucket list given to us in the God inspired words of the Bible.

The Kindergartener

The other morning I dropped the kiddies off at school and headed on my way back to the bus garage. I popped on the radio to one of the only 3 stations that I can get in. A Barry Manilow started to play and I began to sing along. Now, this is the fault of my 6th grade music teacher who is a Barry Manilow freak. She had us sing every song in his library. They are now stuck in my head forever.

Anyway, back to the story. I’m driving along belting out the Manilow when out of the corner of my eye I see a little head peeking out from behind the seat. OH NO! One of the new kindergarteners had forgotten to get off the bus at the school.

I pull the bus over and turn down the music. “Hi”, I says, “You forget to get off the bus?” No answer. “Well, what’s your name?”

Very quietly she whispers a name.

“What?”

“amy”

“What’s your last name?”

I get a blank stare in response.

“You know your last name?”

Another blank stare in response.

So, I call in and report the finding and head back to the school. I finally got the child back to school and headed on my way. Little kids just crack me up.