The world as a stage of madness
July 24 2015 By Abi Giwa
Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs"
Would this world ever end as being suggested by some religious pundits? Is this world not beautiful enough and human life the most wonderful, which no one want its end? Looked from an angle of a common saying that many people want to go to heaven, but no one wants to die, gives a picture of the beauty of human life, makes it easy to grasp the goodness of the world, despite the often harshness of nature and the endless toil to make ends meet.
It is the endless toil and the insufficient means to make life amenable that makes people talk about suffering. Yes, there is suffering on earth, when you have not cornered enough money and material wealth. It could mean lack of access to comfortable home and nutritious food. People who know say whoever may have gone through that awful cycle would never wish his or her own enemy to lack those things that make human life spicy. Others say whoever thinks that wealth makes the possessors happy is wrong.
But they agree that imagining waking up in the morning without money and food in the house, and you have a wife and children, who expect you to fulfill your obligation as the head of the household is not what anyone who wish for himself. They say the first unusual thing a victim suffers is a feeling of an empty head. What will he tell his wife and children about what has rendered him incapable of rendering his natural role as a father and husband? Crying doesn't come as a solution.
Lack of work for an income will be first cause of such a bad situation. If there is work, laziness leading to lack of incentive to work may play a role. They say laziness and not lack of work, easily takes its victims down. The society discountenances men who cannot aspire to be anything in the family and the larger society, because one will interact favorably with a scum of the earth. And when there is a need to seek advise, it is those whose lots are better off financially and materially that will be first considered. No one cares about the source of people's wealth.
It is here that Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" comes in. After satisfying the physiological needs, man begins to think about security and ensuring that nothing happens to send him back to square one. No man who has been rich or comfortable - as wealthy people often say to delude observers - wants to return to the struggling level. It is here people start using what they already possess to get what they want, since need is hardly in people's dictionary. It is here that the gate of greed and insatiability are open and more and more become the norm.
Despite all the striving, few people actually know what is called love and happiness, because it is at the stage of seeking security that people feign love and happiness. A woman will seek a rich man to love to satisfy her everything, and the man will go to any length to provide what he actually lacks to satisfy his love. Deception and betrayal have set in to escape falling in the category of the scum of the earth.
Yet those who are poverty ridden are more on the face of the earth than those who are financially and materially better off, making the part of It of the business of governance to avoid a situation of too much wealth concentrated in few hands a mirage. It is partly the reason that made Democracy - government of the people, by the people and for the people, a fluke. Democracy is supposed to enable participate in how their resources are managed. But from the beginning and very long time ago - before the beginning of the modern democracy - a philosopher like Socrates saw that something was wrong with democracy, because according to him, the select who found themselves elected by the people became manipulative of the system.
It was why Socrates was opposed to democracy, but preferred a royalty with the spirit of leadership, rather than those he called rogues who are not better than scums of the earth presenting themselves to be elected as leaders, and after assumption of power, they seek for themselves and forget the voters. For this reason, rather than be an elected leader, Socrates chose to be a teacher teaching children to be inquisitive and to learn to ask questions.
But the leaders in Socrates' land were opposed to Socrates ideas and the result was fatal for Socrates as a philosopher, and the society. Anyone following political developments today all over the world would see that as it was yesterday in Socrates' Greece, the same way it is today everywhere. It is dangerous to ask questions or to be critical of leaders, who think they are next to God in the hierarchy of affairs. It is what Ray Bradbury portrays with Clarisse McClellan in "Fahrenheit 451" and the type of a society we don't want, but which we have anyway.
Despite widespread democracy, a larger percentage of the world's population are poor and poverty ridden, while few are in control of the world's wealth. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Poor countries are at the mercy of richer countries. Devastation of war have worsen the levels of poverty in many countries around the world. Many people are fleeing the poor countries in search of succor in the richer countries, where the doors are open on the strict conditions not to allow more than number of immigrants they can provide for.
Yet there are many faces of poverty in rich countries too. You see beggars everyday begging for food and money to survive. Homeless people are there too, because the cost of decent housing is beyond the poor. For those who can get work, one source of income is no longer enough. Many people work two or three jobs to make ends meet. All these have made mess of the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, because before reaching the level of self-actualization, many are frustrated or get lives snuffed out of them.
Imagine the number of people who get killed in wars, in dastard situations - trying to cross the sea to Europe in search of security - and many more people getting frustrated before reaching the level of esteem. And you hear that many people who have achieved self-actualization also cry, because in reality they live in illusion as fulfillment is never totally achieved.
Would human suffering ever end? Would the day dawn when every human person on earth will have enough to live on? Let's see what Thomas Robert Malthus has to say about population explosion and poverty. But many people say that population is not the problem, but that the problem is mismanagement by the so called leaders, their lobbyists and special interests, who live like Kings on people's hard earned income. Imagine the colossal amount budgeted for state ceremonies from country to country, and a larger number of tax payers who are the sources of this money live in penury.
It is the endless toil and the insufficient means to make life amenable that makes people talk about suffering. Yes, there is suffering on earth, when you have not cornered enough money and material wealth. It could mean lack of access to comfortable home and nutritious food. People who know say whoever may have gone through that awful cycle would never wish his or her own enemy to lack those things that make human life spicy. Others say whoever thinks that wealth makes the possessors happy is wrong.
But they agree that imagining waking up in the morning without money and food in the house, and you have a wife and children, who expect you to fulfill your obligation as the head of the household is not what anyone who wish for himself. They say the first unusual thing a victim suffers is a feeling of an empty head. What will he tell his wife and children about what has rendered him incapable of rendering his natural role as a father and husband? Crying doesn't come as a solution.
Lack of work for an income will be first cause of such a bad situation. If there is work, laziness leading to lack of incentive to work may play a role. They say laziness and not lack of work, easily takes its victims down. The society discountenances men who cannot aspire to be anything in the family and the larger society, because one will interact favorably with a scum of the earth. And when there is a need to seek advise, it is those whose lots are better off financially and materially that will be first considered. No one cares about the source of people's wealth.
It is here that Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" comes in. After satisfying the physiological needs, man begins to think about security and ensuring that nothing happens to send him back to square one. No man who has been rich or comfortable - as wealthy people often say to delude observers - wants to return to the struggling level. It is here people start using what they already possess to get what they want, since need is hardly in people's dictionary. It is here that the gate of greed and insatiability are open and more and more become the norm.
Despite all the striving, few people actually know what is called love and happiness, because it is at the stage of seeking security that people feign love and happiness. A woman will seek a rich man to love to satisfy her everything, and the man will go to any length to provide what he actually lacks to satisfy his love. Deception and betrayal have set in to escape falling in the category of the scum of the earth.
Yet those who are poverty ridden are more on the face of the earth than those who are financially and materially better off, making the part of It of the business of governance to avoid a situation of too much wealth concentrated in few hands a mirage. It is partly the reason that made Democracy - government of the people, by the people and for the people, a fluke. Democracy is supposed to enable participate in how their resources are managed. But from the beginning and very long time ago - before the beginning of the modern democracy - a philosopher like Socrates saw that something was wrong with democracy, because according to him, the select who found themselves elected by the people became manipulative of the system.
It was why Socrates was opposed to democracy, but preferred a royalty with the spirit of leadership, rather than those he called rogues who are not better than scums of the earth presenting themselves to be elected as leaders, and after assumption of power, they seek for themselves and forget the voters. For this reason, rather than be an elected leader, Socrates chose to be a teacher teaching children to be inquisitive and to learn to ask questions.
But the leaders in Socrates' land were opposed to Socrates ideas and the result was fatal for Socrates as a philosopher, and the society. Anyone following political developments today all over the world would see that as it was yesterday in Socrates' Greece, the same way it is today everywhere. It is dangerous to ask questions or to be critical of leaders, who think they are next to God in the hierarchy of affairs. It is what Ray Bradbury portrays with Clarisse McClellan in "Fahrenheit 451" and the type of a society we don't want, but which we have anyway.
Despite widespread democracy, a larger percentage of the world's population are poor and poverty ridden, while few are in control of the world's wealth. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Poor countries are at the mercy of richer countries. Devastation of war have worsen the levels of poverty in many countries around the world. Many people are fleeing the poor countries in search of succor in the richer countries, where the doors are open on the strict conditions not to allow more than number of immigrants they can provide for.
Yet there are many faces of poverty in rich countries too. You see beggars everyday begging for food and money to survive. Homeless people are there too, because the cost of decent housing is beyond the poor. For those who can get work, one source of income is no longer enough. Many people work two or three jobs to make ends meet. All these have made mess of the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, because before reaching the level of self-actualization, many are frustrated or get lives snuffed out of them.
Imagine the number of people who get killed in wars, in dastard situations - trying to cross the sea to Europe in search of security - and many more people getting frustrated before reaching the level of esteem. And you hear that many people who have achieved self-actualization also cry, because in reality they live in illusion as fulfillment is never totally achieved.
Would human suffering ever end? Would the day dawn when every human person on earth will have enough to live on? Let's see what Thomas Robert Malthus has to say about population explosion and poverty. But many people say that population is not the problem, but that the problem is mismanagement by the so called leaders, their lobbyists and special interests, who live like Kings on people's hard earned income. Imagine the colossal amount budgeted for state ceremonies from country to country, and a larger number of tax payers who are the sources of this money live in penury.
