The Errors Of Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow postulated a hierarchy of needs, starting with “basic needs” such as food and shelter and reaching toward “higher needs,” the highest of which according to him was self-actualization.

He obviously did not study the seriously religious people. The seriously religious people put their higher needs first and have the “lower needs” fulfilled as part of striving to fulfil these higher needs (as in, “seek ye the righteousness of God and all else will follow”) or denied as being contrary thereto (as in, overcoming the “ego” or the “flesh”). The monks and the nuns deny many of their lower needs, such as sex and esteem, and even in the most basic needs they limit themselves, consuming plain food, living in humble accommodations, and enduring all sorts of physical discomfort.

This means that Maslow was wrong. And as with anything that is wrong, the results have been deleterious. The people are told to spend all their lives struggling to provide for the “basic” needs, which become ever greater and require consuming ever more resources, while letting the world go to hell.

Some people think that that is freedom. If that is freedom then I have a bridge to sell you. A person in North Korea has more freedom than people who live by this code.

The Europeans have a better idea. They live comfortably enough, but they do not overconsume resources like the Americans. They spend more of their time and their attention on culture. The Europeans score much higher on happiness tests than Americans. They do less harm to the world, and they pay more attention to what Maslow would regard to be higher needs.

Now I am perfectly willing to work hard, and I have proven that in any number of situations. I am also perfectly willing to contribute, and I have proven that in any number of situations as well. I refuse to live according to Maslow, or Adler, or “winners-and-losers,” or “survival of the fittest,” or “self-esteem,” or personality psychology. I would live by something that is truer and wiser. At this time this appears to be God. If God wants me to clean the toilets or to join the military, I would do it. I would not however live according to harmful theories which are also totally untrue.

So this is it on that matter. To hell with evil theories in psychology. Rather gain your wisdom from things that are actually wise and that actually make the world a better place.