Society generally experiences a myriad of problems and is generally discontent and unhappy due to un-satiated material desires.  This is in part due to the over-emphasis on interpersonal needs based on Maslow’s Hierarchy - from the bottom up, instead of from the TOP (our Source) down.  Maslow’s Hierarchy describes a pyramid of human needs (levels 1-7), from the most basic at the bottom of the pyramid (level 1), to the most advanced human need at the top (level 7). It has been theorized by Maslow, and it does make sense, at least superficially, that in order for human needs to be fulfilled at the highest level, such as the aesthetic need to experience beauty (which is the most advanced level), that each succeeding layer of needs to be fulfilled first (McLean, 105).  Level 1 is described as physiological needs or the need for air, water, and energy.  Level 2 is safety, or the need for protection and shelter.  Level 3 is a sense of love and belonging.  Level 4 is the need for self-esteem, or how we feel about ourselves.  Level 5 is the need for self-actualization, or being accepted for who we are.   Level 6 our need to know, which impels up to grow and learn.  And finally, level 7 is the aesthetic need to experience beauty.  This can be interpreted in many ways, such as sensually or mentally stimulated experiences of pleasure, appreciation of art, music, philosophy or connectedness to each other, nature or God.

Keeping the lines of communication with the Source-of-Everything open at all times, and not just in the church, mosque, temple or synagogue, but in the home and on the streets as well, is the inevitable solution for happiness and the fulfillment of all desires and needs.  In this short essay I will attempt to demonstrate my thesis based on metaphysical assumptions along with practical observations in everyday life.  For brevity’s sake I will only contrast levels 1 and 7. 

As far as Maslow’s first level goes - air, water, and energy - they are already in plentiful supply, and because they are an absolute necessity for human survival, they are rightly taken granted.  The majority of humans, at least in the Western world, do not usually need to consciously worry about these things.   Just like sometimes in the lifecycle of a relationship, the relationship has the possibility of coming apart, so, presently, mankind’s true relationship with God is experiencing deterioration and internal dialectical tension.  This can be practically observed from the Twin Tower catastrophe, the wars in the Middle East, terrorist threats, global warming, nearly uncontrollable fires in the Western US, and the collapse of the world’s economies.

There are thousands, if not millions of published writings (biographical, expository or poetic) that communicate man’s interpersonal needs.  Each exposition is expressing the author’s theory or position on a wide variety of interpersonal needs that can be applied to Maslow’s Hierarchy, but after all the expression, the real problems of life have not been solved. My assumption is that the need to understand God, be it personal or impersonal, if placed first, then all other reasonable desires would automatically be fulfilled, at any level or order.   As it as it is stated in the Bhagavad-Gita (the bible of India), “All purposes served by a small well can at once be served by a great reservoir of water” (Ch 2, Txt. 46).  Similarly, if one waters the root of a tree or plant, then all the leaves and branches will become nourished automatically.  This insinuates that in order to be happy, one needs to first seek out the Root of Existence and satisfy that part of our own Self, which is rooted in God.  In the New Testament, most Christians are familiar with the speech given by Jesus known as the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus was recorded as saying, “but first seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mathew 6.33).  Comparing the nature of man to that of the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field, Jesus explained that one’s basic needs are taken care of very easily, if not automatically by God, so always seek Him first.

To communicate and appreciate the highest human need, which is the aesthetic need to experience beauty (i.e – God, Truth, Beauty), a change in consciousness may be necessary.   In order to accomplish this, firstly we need to ask ourselves, what is consciousness?  Consciousness is the noun for the adjective, conscious.  The American Heritage Dictionary defines conscious as, “having an awareness of one’s own existence and environment; not asleep, but awake”(149).  The word consciousness, then, would apply to one possessing the attributes of awareness and wakefulness.  In the physiological context, a gland in our brain, the thalamus, regulates consciousness, but on the metaphysical or spiritual level, consciousness pertains to an awareness of those things not usually seen, like God and our own Self (soul or spirit).  This awareness usually relates to faith because we can’t perceive these things through our senses.  Ernest Holmes writes in his famous metaphysical text, The Science of Mind:

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  The thought of faith molds the undifferentiated substance, and brings into manifestation the thing that was fashioned in the mind (156).

Together with faith in the unseen, one may pray to God, and sometimes until they are, so to speak, “blue in the face,” but this faculty of prayer does not necessarily guarantee that God will immediately or directly answer.  Prayer as a means to resolve interpersonal conflict has been recorded throughout history.  There have been those, especially personalities in the bible, like Moses and Abraham, who supposedly not only prayed to God to resolve personal and interpersonal conflicts, but had first hand experience and communication, with a Super or Supra Intelligent Being who was thought to be God  - at least by the authors of the Old Testament.  

There is ongoing scientific research into the effect that prayer has on healing, and it has been found that those who pray regularly live longer lives than who don’t.  Sarah Glazer, in her article on Prayer and Healing writes:

[R]esearch seeking a connection between the spirit and the flesh has produced mixed results. The only persuasive indication of a link, according to a federally sponsored review, is found in studies showing that regular churchgoers live longer on average than non-worshipers. (Par. 8) 

Everyone has an individual relationship with the Source.  Communication with the Divine can be unique, be it meditation, prayer, yoga, or religious activities and study, and each person is dealt there own set of cards, so to speak, by the Divine.  In some spiritual circles it is said that God will not test, or give one spiritual lessons that are more difficult than one can handle.   We should all be glad then, we're not in Jesus’ shoes.  Does one need to make the “ultimate sacrifice” to become liberated from the problems of material existence?  Probably not, but sometimes it feels that way. 

  The Science of Mind, presupposes that the answer to prayer, since there seems to be limited direct communication with a personal God (either through clairaudience or clairvoyance) these days, is in the prayer itself (153).   Then communication with God is not what we think it is.  It is within the device of prayer itself – like the fragrance of a flower, or the heat of the sun, and not in the words them selves, but from the emotion or feeling.  Can we communicate with God in language alone, or is it much more subtle than that? 

In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna,  “I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and moon, the syllable Aum in the Vedic mantras.  I am the sound in ether and ability in man" (Ch. 7, Txt. 8).  As in Maslow’s seventh level of needs, the active principle (taste, light, sound, ability, enjoyment, happiness), or aesthetics, is the transcendent awareness, or emotion and feeling contained within the subjective realization, and not the material action, in of itself.   In other words, the way to communicate with God is with feeling, emotion and vigor.  The words are only secondary.

Modern science and education have erroneously taught us that we are solely responsible for our happiness, so the outcome is that mankind is generally unhappy due to the myriad of seemingly unsolvable problems.  This is due to the emphasis on fulfilling interpersonal needs based on Maslow’s Hierarchy - from the bottom up, instead of from the TOP (our Source) down.   Scientific discoveries are supposed to make our life a lot more enjoyable and easier.  But this mentality has gotten the world into so much trouble.  Dishonesty and greed have been prevalent for decades in America and around the world, and especially so in the last twenty years.  Wall Street has become a gambling casino for the affluent and super wealthy.  We have also, to a large extent, become brainwashed by the media, our government and by our religious institutions.

In the mid 1800’s Chief Seattle, the famous Chief of the Suquamish Indians, wrote to the American Government.  In this letter he gave an insightful perception of the Creator and the Earth.  He wrote, “The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth” (Par. 8).  This famous oration of 1854 is known to be one of the most powerful statements on the environment, culture and the future of humanity.

Communication with God, through any means, is a way to begin to solve the problems of life.  Keeping the lines of communication open with the Source of Everything may be the only solution for happiness and the fulfillment of all of our desires. In order to illicit positive change from the top of the pyramid down, a new paradigm of free thinking needs to be taught to our youth including the future leaders of society.  As the 17th century Victorian poet Matthew Arnold wrote in his essay on God and the Bible.., "the free-thinking of one age is the common sense of the next."  

In the Tao Te Ching, by the sage Lao-Tzu, it is said:

Express yourself completely, then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:

When it blows, there is only wind;
When it rains, there is only rain;

When the clouds pass, the sun shines through. (Ch. 23).

Citations

Arnold, Mathew.  God and the Bible: A Review of Objections to Literature and Dogma.

            New York:  The Macmillan Company, 1901.

Bernube, Margery S.  The American Heritage Dictionary.  New York: Dell Publishing, 1986.

Bhaktivedanta, A.C. “Bhagavad-Gita” Los Angeles:  Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1986.

Chief Seattle's Letter To All THE PEOPLE - http://www.barefootsworld.net/seattle.html

Feng, Gia-Fu.  Lao Tsu -Tao Te Jing.  New York:  Random House, 1972.

Glazer, S. (2005, January 14). Prayer and healing. CQ Researcher, 15, 25-52. Retrieved

November 20, 2008, from CQ Researcher Online,  library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2005011400

Holmes, Ernest.  The Science of Mind. New York: Putnam Books, 1938.

McLean, Scott. The Basics of Interpersonal Communication. Boston: Pearson

              Education, Inc., 2005.  

The Holy Bible: In The Kings James Version.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers,

            1984.

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