L´earning to Love
Gloria Ornelas Hall
Lesson 5: Need
Desires elevate us. Needs keep us humble. Desires come from
the imagination. Needs come from want. Desires are for pleasure. Needs are to
avoid pain.
Manfred Max-Neef has
identified 9 fundamental human needs . These include: subsistence (physical and
mental health); protection (care, adaptability); affection (respect, humor,
generosity and sensuality); understanding (critical thought, curiosity and
intuition); participation (receptiveness, dedication); leisure (tranquility,
spontaneity); creation (imagination, boldness, inventiveness); identity (sense
of belonging, self-esteem, consistency);
freedom (autonomy, passion, open-mindedness).
Whatever the description of needs, whether it be this school
of Human Scale Development, or the hierarchical description of needs postulated
by Maslow, we need each other. However, modern society makes recognizing and
accepting it, a personal weakness. It takes courage to admit a personal lack, humility
to ask for it, and graciousness to receive it.
Much of the Human Right´s movement fights for equity in the satisfaction
of these needs, for all. Constitutions hold us responsible for guaranteeing
that others’ rights are not violated. Needing and satisfying each other’s needs
is what keeps societies together.
Tonight as I phoned my Mother, goodnight, she asked if a
close friend who has been courting me, had called. He had in fact, been a
little distant, which had thrown me off, to which I had protectively hardened.
“Oh, no, but better so. One can´t let oneself become
dependent of others”, I answered, defensively.
“You have to let yourselves need each other. It´s good for
you, both”, she said.
It suddenly struck me how independent I have grown,
self-sustaining, hardening all recognition of personal weakness, want and need.
This was my lesson today.
No comments:
Post a Comment