As an entity between animal and God, human beings are a bundle of potentiality capable of anything and everything between bestial-demonic and divine-angelic manifestations in their lowest and highest extremes. Both in Western and Eastern cultures, there have been various schemes of illustrating the different stages of development towards the highest reachable state of human existence. I will pick out two quite similar and yet very different models: Maslow’s need-oriented model and Indian purpose-oriented model.
Maslow identified five needs along the scale of human development (terms are adapted for comparison): 1. bio-physiological needs (survival, procreation, basic physical needs and safety); 2. material and emotional needs (secure environment and affection); 3. social needs (sense of belongingness, acceptance and friendship); 4. needs of esteem and development (self-respect, autonomy, achievement, status, recognition and attention); 5. spiritual needs (self-actualisation, self-fulfilment and self-realization).
The Indian model is based on four human purposes: 1. Dharma: right path to individual and social justice; 2. Artha: active life of value creation and accumulation; 3. Kama: enjoyment of the fruits of efforts; 4. Moksha: liberation from the bondages of needs and desires (for more details, you may wish to read my earlier post Purushartha). Bypassing terminological and cultural peculiarities, I would like to sum up these four goals of life along four human stages of life: education, active life, retreat and transcendence. Up to the adulthood, we need to learn how to direct our lives as useful members of society. Then we form our own family and work for the benefit of the society. After the active years, we take retreat from the role we played for the family and society and start to enjoy the results of our past achievements. At the end of consuming the harvest, we should go beyond all social and individual constraints and reach the highest turiya ('fourth') state transcending the phenomenal world of three states such as past-present-future, birth-growth-death, waking-dreaming-sleeping, right-middle-left, conscious-subconscious-unconscious, etc.). Unlike Maslow's need hierarchy, these four goals are not necessarily linear, but rather interactive and proactive.
We build up our own value systems as we progress further towards the highest possible state of being, i.e. the summit of Maslow’s need pyramid and the transcendence of material constraints respectively. The person walking on a right path (Dharma) progressively overcomes the material (Artha) and sensual (Kama) needs and increasingly becomes independent of material conditions while she is pursuing her higher intellectual, ethical, aesthetic and altruistic needs and quests. From the height thus achieved, she looks beyond her conditional existence and becomes aware of the unconditional reality and enters into the realm of transcendental freedom (Moksha).
We need to take time from time to time to scrutinize our own value systems from the angles of our present needs and set goals, and make a conscious mapping of our values in order to lead our lives in goal-directed efforts driven by higher needs along the path of Dharma.
Maslow identified five needs along the scale of human development (terms are adapted for comparison): 1. bio-physiological needs (survival, procreation, basic physical needs and safety); 2. material and emotional needs (secure environment and affection); 3. social needs (sense of belongingness, acceptance and friendship); 4. needs of esteem and development (self-respect, autonomy, achievement, status, recognition and attention); 5. spiritual needs (self-actualisation, self-fulfilment and self-realization).
The Indian model is based on four human purposes: 1. Dharma: right path to individual and social justice; 2. Artha: active life of value creation and accumulation; 3. Kama: enjoyment of the fruits of efforts; 4. Moksha: liberation from the bondages of needs and desires (for more details, you may wish to read my earlier post Purushartha). Bypassing terminological and cultural peculiarities, I would like to sum up these four goals of life along four human stages of life: education, active life, retreat and transcendence. Up to the adulthood, we need to learn how to direct our lives as useful members of society. Then we form our own family and work for the benefit of the society. After the active years, we take retreat from the role we played for the family and society and start to enjoy the results of our past achievements. At the end of consuming the harvest, we should go beyond all social and individual constraints and reach the highest turiya ('fourth') state transcending the phenomenal world of three states such as past-present-future, birth-growth-death, waking-dreaming-sleeping, right-middle-left, conscious-subconscious-unconscious, etc.). Unlike Maslow's need hierarchy, these four goals are not necessarily linear, but rather interactive and proactive.
We build up our own value systems as we progress further towards the highest possible state of being, i.e. the summit of Maslow’s need pyramid and the transcendence of material constraints respectively. The person walking on a right path (Dharma) progressively overcomes the material (Artha) and sensual (Kama) needs and increasingly becomes independent of material conditions while she is pursuing her higher intellectual, ethical, aesthetic and altruistic needs and quests. From the height thus achieved, she looks beyond her conditional existence and becomes aware of the unconditional reality and enters into the realm of transcendental freedom (Moksha).
We need to take time from time to time to scrutinize our own value systems from the angles of our present needs and set goals, and make a conscious mapping of our values in order to lead our lives in goal-directed efforts driven by higher needs along the path of Dharma.
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