The
deficiency needs are the most basic of requirements for a healthy life,
but remaining stuck there does not lead to
a happy life. I think of that primary level as being very much like the
cave existence of Plato's allegory and very much like American culture.
Cognitive:
to know, to understand, and explore
Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty
Reaching
this first level of growth needs is comparable to when the person of
Plato's allegory is freed and leaves the cave. The next part of the
growth needs section of the hierarchy consists of:
Self-actualization:
to find self-fulfillment and realize one's potential
Transcendence: to help others find self-fulfillment and realize
their potential
For
Maslow, self-actualized people are characterized by being
problem-focused, incorporating an ongoing freshness of appreciation of
life, concerned with personal growth, and having the ability to have
peak experiences. His basic position is that as one becomes more
self-actualized and transcendent, one develops wisdom and automatically
knows the right thing to do in a wide variety of situations.
Transcendence is the moment when the person in Plato's allegory returns
to the cave with the intention of freeing the others. It is fulfilling
these last two needs--self-actualization and transcendence--that I think
of when I talk about being happy. To exist in this space, to have these
concerns and goals, is what suggests happiness to me.
© Salahub 2003