Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 18:15:15 GMT -5
We're all social creatures of course, and I was recently studying up on what makes humans "tick." This ended up bringing me to Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Back in '43, the famous psychologist put together a pyramid of just what exactly our species needs, from most important at the bottom (food, shelter, water, etc.), going up from there...
Third on this pyramid is "love and belonging." This got me to thinking - obviously we humans NEED love and belonging, no doubt about that. We need families, groups/tribes, romantic love, and everything else similar. But do some of us think we have it, but don't? Imagine your group of friends or "tribe" - you guys help each other out. But, what if you realized you were only part of that group because you pretended to act a certain way? Or, what if you had a piece of information about your life that, if you told them, would exclude you from the group? As long as the information is kept secret, you remain part of the tribe of course. Or do you? Are you really in the group?
Or, carry that to the idea of someone who loves you and you love, with the same questions. They love you as long as they don't know certain bits of information about your life history, or because you play a "certain character" around them (the Cobain quote "I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not" comes to mind). Is the love REAL then?
Maybe it depends on the person. Some people would still consider the love or place in the group to be REAL even considering the above, some wouldn't.
Oh Maslow, so many questions come out of your magic pyramid...
Third on this pyramid is "love and belonging." This got me to thinking - obviously we humans NEED love and belonging, no doubt about that. We need families, groups/tribes, romantic love, and everything else similar. But do some of us think we have it, but don't? Imagine your group of friends or "tribe" - you guys help each other out. But, what if you realized you were only part of that group because you pretended to act a certain way? Or, what if you had a piece of information about your life that, if you told them, would exclude you from the group? As long as the information is kept secret, you remain part of the tribe of course. Or do you? Are you really in the group?
Or, carry that to the idea of someone who loves you and you love, with the same questions. They love you as long as they don't know certain bits of information about your life history, or because you play a "certain character" around them (the Cobain quote "I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not" comes to mind). Is the love REAL then?
Maybe it depends on the person. Some people would still consider the love or place in the group to be REAL even considering the above, some wouldn't.
Oh Maslow, so many questions come out of your magic pyramid...
