Who
Else Would I Be, Dr. Maslow?
My thoughts, so seems, scaled a pyramid
To decide to do the things I did.
Each day I act within its shade,
As my wants and desires are weighed.
Physical needs are first to choose
With control that none can refuse.
Feed me, clothe me, and keep me warm,
Protect my vital, creature form.
But once my body rests at ease,
Fears for safety my mind will tease.
Save for later, and watch my steps,
Stay out of rain, avoid all streps.
Yet when those fears are reassured,
To other’s company I am lured.
To love, be loved, to give and
get,
To belong, to owe or hold a
debt.
I may linger in these thoughts long,
Building my links both wide and
strong.
But more remains for me to want,
As to me of me I may vaunt.
Your praise and my pride blend a mix,
Confident, to set out to fix
All I am for all that can be,
To bring to life the inner me.
Who is this me who waits in queue
For all other needs to quell ado?
And who is real in other eyes
When I do not self-actualize?
A noble peak was placed atop
The mount for our most elite crop.
If no peek there I ever see,
You say I have never been me?
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An Alternate Arrangement of Maslow Needs
We react to our
perceived needs. All our needs areas are continually "shouting out" their wants and suggestions for what we should do. As individuals, we might differ in the relative strengths with which they broadcast their demands into our brains. But as we act to fulfill these needs, we develop remoteness from an imperative to listen further. In this illustration, the needs sphere moves away from our inner decision appartus and its shouts fade like sound (inverse squared) traveling a greater distance. We may also fatigue from repetitively hearing demands we cannot (or at least do not) met and develop an acclimation that has the same distancing effect. Or we may habituate to some demands as a sort of meaningless "white noise" as we find we so seldom respond to them. But all the needs area are sending messages constantly, whether faintly or loudly perceived. We are not always able to met all those needs in the moment, but we will tend to act to satisfy as many as we can, relegating others to the waiting list (or a later repeat request). Thus, the hungry man, with a choice of door A to eat a doughnut in soltitude and door B to share a sandwich with a friend, might be expected more frequently to chose door B. And the hungry parent might fetch his portion of the shared sandwich and give it to his child (or to a stranger's child acting on the faint calls from hypothesized nobility of the Maslow unrealized self).
