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According to Maslow’s need hierarchy theory each human being is governed by…well…a hierarchy of needs. According to him….oh fuck it. Just look at the picture. It’s self explanatory. If you don’t get it google it.

None of the needs mentioned mentioned are mutually exclusive of each other but rather since the human psyche is a complex structure it goes to reason that we employ a combination of needs to make our way in everyday. However it is also true that one of these needs is the overriding or alpha need. Which one is it is subject to age, economic status, mental health and a shopping list of other factors. I know mine and I’m guessing that you know yours as well. If you don’t or don’t care then you are probably a slacker watching life whizz by and wondering at the unfairness of it all. Well buddy here’s a newsflash.

You don’t want to work, you want to live like a king
But the big, bad world doesn’t owe you a thing
Get over it

But let’s not get digressed too much and focus instead of people who do have a clue about themselves. Chances are that you’re overriding need is Love/Belonging. I know it’s mine but people have different values and priorities in life so there is no universal answer and I’m not judgmental. HOWEVER if anybody’s most important need is excretion then I hope and pray I never get to meet you. I’m sure it’s my loss but I’ll somehow con myself into living.

The need to be loved and to belong is an extremely powerful one and no matter how much of a loner we think we are, it’s only the true sociopath who would willingly cut himself off from friends and family. This is why when I heard these lines of dialog it basically chilled me to the bone and gave me goose flesh. It was almost as I was hearing somebody’s Id speaking aloud. This and the rest of the film had me in a chemical daze for the entire weekend.

Plainview: Are you an angry man, Henry?
Henry Brands: About what?
Plainview: Are you envious? Do you get envious?
Henry Brands: I don’t think so. No.
Plainview: I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.
Henry Brands: That part of me is gone… working and not succeeding- all my failures has left me… I just don’t… care.
Plainview: Well, if it’s in me, it’s in you. There are times when I look at people and I see nothing worth liking. I want to earn enough money that I can get away from everyone.
Henry Brands: What will you do about your boy?
Plainview: I don’t know. Maybe it will change. Does your sound come back to you? I don’t know. Maybe no one knows that. A doctor might not know that.
Henry Brands: Where is his mother?
Plainview: I don’t want to talk about those things. I see the worst in people. I don’t need to look past seeing them to get all I need. I’ve built my hatreds up over the years, little by little, Henry… to have you here gives me a second breath. I can’t keep doing this on my own with these… people.

Yes yes I know about sanyaas, samadhi, abstinence etc etc but people who follow it have a different need so are exempt from this discussion. Normally our egos and super-ego’s keep our Id in check but there are times when it’s set loose. Ironically in most cases that’s the time when we are at our most destructive as well as most creative. Why do you think alcohol and substance abuse is so popular amongst creative types ? It allows the Id to escape from the confines of our psyche but sometimes the price paid is too much. Even so the lure of being one with our base instincts is too much to ignore.

If anybody is interested in more about this fascinating topic (for me at least) check out one of the greatest Sci-fi films ever made “Forbidden Planet”. I was in my early teens when I saw it on TNT and led me to discover Freudian and Jungian psychology. I think my mind has been screwed up ever since but that’s another story. It’s always a double edged sword to know what makes you tick. Incidentally one of the primary objectives of the philosophy / lifestyle I have pledged allegiance to is to embrace our Id as much as possible without killing ourselves or others.

So now this need for belonging is manifest is pretty much in everything we do but sometimes that can lead to consequences as unfortunate or deadly as an Id gone wild. That circumstance is the tendency to conform to what opinion-makers/society/The Man decide as what is the correct way of thinking. They seek a universality in the way we live our lives and approach the world in our dealings.
Why ? God knows why. It is as big a mystery to me as quantum mechanics. Somebody might get it.
I don’t. My idea of a dystopian nightmare is where people think alike in the name of reducing conflict and strife.

Well I’ve got another news flash for you. Conflict more than love is the basic building block of human existence. Either internal or external, conflict makes us who we are. The first thing you learn when writing a script is “Drama is Conflict”. That’s because life is conflict. Conflict is what will take us to the stars and beyond and touch the face of God. The idea of eliminating conflict is tantamount to eliminating what makes us human. Refer to “THX-1138″ , “Fahrenheit 451″ and “Equilibrium” which are 3 of the most under-rated sociological science fiction films ever made.

Alas we live in dangerous times where gatekeepers aspire to tell us what we are supposed to think. A time where “If you ain’t with us, you’re against us” reigns supreme. But then we have always lived in dangerous times. Socrates was poisoned, Galileo recanted and the Spanish inquisition burnt some of the brightest minds of that era at the stake for the simple reason that they went against popular opinion. In a way they rejected Maslow and society ejected them. Sad but true. Happened then and happens now.

I’m no fan of martyrs myself and especially of the self pitying kind.I’d much rather live a happy life and be relatively forgotten after my death like Rubens than live a life of penury and be hailed after I’m gone like van Gogh. But then that’s me. It might not be you.

But the point is that I don’t let anybody else choose for me. I don’t give anybody that right. In fact I’m constantly bemused and terrified by people who try to usurp that right. I’m like “Dude we have so little time in this world so why are you not concentrating on what you want to do rather than worry about what others are doing ?”

The road to hell is always paved with good intentions. Anakin Skywalker embraced the Dark Side of the Force to do good but he became Darth Vader instead and in the process destroyed the Jedi Order. If you feel that all this falls under the realm of Science Fiction and will never come to pass, I have one word for you. FASCISM.

Oh and in case you were wondering about the title of the post and how does it fit in, listen to the song.

Make your own kind of music