Life is real

Author: Bi Shushu / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: American psychologist Abraham Maslow once said, "If you deliberately avoid the heavy and focus on the light, doing smaller things than what you can truly achieve, I warn you, you will be very unhappy in the days to come. Because you will always avoid opportunities and possibilities related to your abilities." Every time I read this, I am filled with a trembling sense of awe. A person is like a seed, born with the desire to sprout. As long as it is a healthy seed, even if buried underground for a thousand years, even if it has traveled in space, even if it is covered by ice and snow, even if it has been soaked in bird and animal digestive fluids, even if it has been continuously slashed by wind and frost, as long as the precious embryo is still there, when the time is ripe, it will push its head out in the sunlight and burst with vibrant vitality.
Modern psychology has many compelling arguments. These arguments cannot be like empirical physics and chemistry, which can present solid evidence, but rather, many hypotheses in psychology are based on the inference and research of human behavior, confirmed by countless people. The "pyramid" theory of basic human needs created by Maslow is such a great theory. He studied the behavior and motivation of many people, especially those with a high degree of self-actualization, and drew a conclusion. In short, there exists an inner pyramid of needs within the spiritual core of humans, divided into five levels.
On the first level are our basic needs for warmth and food—the fundamental principles of survival. Starving, what will you eat tonight? This is a person's consideration. In the depths of winter, where will you sleep tonight? On a long bench at the train station or in a concrete pipe on the street? These are all top priorities. Once this need is met, the need for security follows. You have food and shelter, and your life is secured today, but if you are attacked by others, animals, or harsh natural conditions, your long-term life will be in peril. Therefore, as soon as basic needs are no longer a concern, people immediately consider safety. If you don't believe this, just look around. You can see the strict security in wealthy areas and the various self-defense tools that are popular in the world. When you move from a familiar environment to a new one, the unease and tension, as well as the fear and discomfort when talking to strangers, all confirm the importance of security to people.
Now we have reached the third step of the pyramid. Greatly written on this step is "love." This is not just the love between men and women, between parents and children, or between siblings, but also the love between peers, the love of the collective, the love for one's country, the love for one's nation, and the love for culture. In short, the "love" mentioned here has a broad meaning, but it is utterly indispensable and represents a higher-level need in human spiritual activity. We often say that a person who does not understand love is bleak and lonely. This means that if a person's spiritual needs cannot fulfill this transcendence and elevation, they are a flawed, unfinished product. At the highest point of love lies a sense of dignity. Humans are a special kind of animal; they have a sense of dignity. An insect can have no dignity, a tree can have no dignity, but a person is not like that. If you lose a sense of dignity, you are no longer a complete person. Chinese proverbs like "not eating food offered with disdain," "a scholar can be killed but not humiliated," and "a gentleman's word is as good as a horse-drawn carriage" all speak to the issue of dignity.
At the very top of the pyramid stands the realization and pursuit of self-worth. What is the highest expression of self-worth—that is, creative labor. I believe that labor has different levels, not in terms of value, but in terms of the genuine joy it brings to people. You can imagine and agree with a scientist who, without any reward, tirelessly studies a purely academic problem far removed from reality, such as the "Goldbach Conjecture," not even for a piece of steamed bun, but there is no doubt that Chen Jingrun finds joy in it. You basically cannot agree with an old farmer who, upon learning that no one will buy wheat for three years, will still toil tirelessly to sow wheat beyond what he needs to eat. In the former, creative labor contains a powerful challenge and joy, while in the latter, it is filled with the exhaustion and fatigue of repetitive labor.
The pyramid of human spiritual needs, in a sense, is an iron law, almost inescapable. Of course, we cannot imagine a person who cannot even guarantee their basic needs, like Stephen Hawking, studying such a problem as the Big Bang. This is also what Mr. Lu Xun once said: "Young people must first survive, and then develop."