Motivations = Maslow + Subtle

Spiritually WAKING UP – Kundalini Rises effortlessly in the Life of a Sahaja Yogi. Vibrational discretion and empowerment happens. Sahaja Yogis can use their powers and pure desire to facilitate entry into higher Samadhi states, by raising up their Kundalini and attention, and deepening their experience of God-Self or Spirit through meditation. After initiation or Waking Up, spiritual growth happens naturally over time, with meditation and Sahaja practices. Growth may also be enhanced with Bhakti or devotional practices like puja, bhajans, and ‘Sewa’ or service to GOD, Guru and the Collective or Sanga.

Personally GROWING UP – Is personal maturation and growth and can also be accelerated. The principle obstructions to personal growth are often around the Agnya chakra, where the ME of Mind-conditioning and Ego-centricity are usually two developed character traits. Self-Realisation is the shift in our sense of identity which involves the integration and then transcendence of our previous levels of identification with body, mind, ego. Progressive evolutionary spirituality involves liberation from our more human security, sensation and power identifications into more mature and subtle understandings characterised by Truth, Beauty and Awareness.

Modern Humanistic Psychologist Abraham Maslow saw an ascending ‘Pyramid of needs’ that shows increasingly subtle development levels of personal growth that culminate in ‘B Values’ of Self-Actualisation, and finally Self-Transcendence. These levels have some parallels with the subtle body chakras spiritually, and also with our personal maturity process.

What transports Maslow’s PYRAMID from a theoretical set, or hierarchy, of observable developmental needs or levels, into a Vibrant Yogic experience, is the advent of a new Subtle Body Awareness for Sahaja yogis. This is part of the empowerment that comes with true Kundalini Awakening, as it is shared in Sahaja Yoga. This awareness shines a Pure Light on our inner state that is from above the mental and ego levels.  This new awareness gives the practising Yogi the new power of Vibrational Discretion. In real time, if one is clear, they can sense the state of their own subtle body. This reads out on the hands and fingers showing their current state, as foretold by many religions, including Islam. “At the Time of Resurrection (Last Judgement) your hands will speak and give witness against you.” And so the ancient edict to “Know Thy Self” is realised.

Brooklyn-born American psychologist Abraham Maslow wanted to know what constituted positive mental health and happiness, not just mental illness and misery. Maslow was inspired to start a whole new movement in psychology which he called Humanistic Psychology. This was a real departure from the two dominant theories of the time in that it acknowledged a human or existential urge within to grow, to seek happiness and fulfilment, to live up to our potential. Without actually rejecting the insights of earlier psychologists, Maslow proposed that human beings are driven by different factors at different times. These driving forces are hierarchical, in the sense that we generally start at the bottom layer and work our way up. The Hierarchy of Needs is a model in which Maslow attempted to capture these different levels of human motivation. It represents the idea that human beings are propelled into action by different motivating factors at different times – biological drives, psychological needs, and higher growth goals.

Now the hierarchical arrangement is not meant to imply that those who focus on higher needs are somehow “better” than those who focus on lower needs. It’s not that kind of hierarchy. It’s a hierarchy within you, within your day-to-day experience. It simply means that higher needs don’t appear unless and until unsatisfied lower needs are satisfied. If you are suffering from cold and hunger, for example, you just don’t have the time or energy to worry about your self-esteem. Your entire being is focused on food and warmth. For this reason, the different levels also broadly correspond to different stages of life. The basic physical needs at the bottom are predominant in infancy; safety needs come into focus in early childhood; belonging needs predominate in later childhood; esteem needs predominate in early adulthood: self-actualization comes into focus in adulthood.

Self-actualization is different from all the previous needs. We don’t feel spurred into action by a sense of deficiency “Must find food…” “Must make friends…” Rather, we feel inspired to grow, to explore our potential and become more of what we feel we can be.

In Maslow’s late life he found another uppermost level or drive he called Self-Transcendence.

 See PDF Free Maslow Article on Maturity and Motivation HERE

Physiological needs are the first level in the hierarchy, called Maslow’s hierarchy or pyramid, and these tend to dominate the individual until they are satisfied, even at the expense of personal safety. Safety needs are for shelter, security, order and protection and these arise when physiological needs reach some level of gratification, and in turn are transcended for higher social needs. One might be reminded of Eliza’s song from My Fair Lady : ”All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air” and then she goes on to include an imaginary fire, food and armchair.

Social needs are for acceptance, belonging, employment, intimacy and love. Eliza sings, ‘Wouldn’t it be loverly’ as she goes on to this 3rd level to wish for someone gentle to “take good care of me.” Likewise her drive to learn to speak as a lady expresses her belonging needs and need to achieve a greater degree of self esteem.

Esteem needs are for acknowledgement, status, prestige, and self-esteem. Eliza finally wins acceptance as a ‘real lady’ not only amongst the public, but from her mentor Dr Higgins who assisted her in her transformation, and ultimately of course in her own mind as well NB. Esteem is first gained externally through recognition and then derived internally through self fulfilment. The mature person is then more intrinsically motivated and seeking their higher B Values.

So finally, we usually seek Self-Actualisation, the desire to realize and become everything we can become. The self-actualised person is often aware of how little can be accomplished by themselves. Having achieved a sense of independence the more mature self-actualising person realises they exist as part of a whole.

Maslow’s late work is concerned with synergy, the process where one can combine optimally with another. The self-actualising person seeks fulfilment in a way that keeps the other needs and other people, optimally satisfied. This is Collective Consciousness. Persons developing at this fifth level do not therefore outgrow, or become superior, to their lesser needs or less developed people, rather, the person’s life is organised ultimately to satisfy and express all the needs. Self-actualization Maslow explained “is a description, not a prescription.” It comes to those people concerned with something beyond themselves.

Maslow made a special study of these self-actualizing persons in history and modern society. He found them to be: – more efficient in perceiving reality (Discernment and Intuition awareness) – more accepting of themselves and others (Detachment and Diplomacy) – more spontaneous in their relationships (Grounded and Spontaneous) – with a tendency to focus more on solutions than problems – to have a quality of privacy and detachment (Internally derived Self-Esteem) – an autonomy from cultural influences (Self-mastery and Self-Confidence) – a freshness of appreciation (Open minded and Open hearted) – a capacity for transcendence and oceanic feelings (Inspired awareness + Mental Silence) – a deep identification with humanity as a whole (Collective consciousness) – a humorous and democratic character structure (Open to Change and Collaboration) – and a rare capacity to resolve moral dichotomies and dilemmas. (True Leadership)

Maslow explained “Self-actualizing individuals (more matured, more fully human), by definition, already gratified in their basic needs, are now motivated in other higher ways, to be called ‘metamotivation’.” Maslow declared that the definition of human nature must include these meta-motivations and ‘B-Values’ and that these were ‘instinctoid’, intrinsic values in each person. Maslow explains “They are equally part of his ‘nature’, or definition, or essence, along with his ‘lower’ needs, at least in my self-actualizing subjects. They must be included in any ultimate definition of ‘the human being.’

“It is true that they are not fully evident or actualized (made real and functionally existing) in most people. And yet, so far as I can see at this time, they are not excluded as potentials in any.” In approaching these higher values he could not suggest a hierarchy as the ‘Metaneeds’ seemed equally potent among themselves. “It looks as if any intrinsic or ‘B-Value’ is fully defined by most or all of the other B-Values. Perhaps they form a unity of some sort, with each B-Value being simply the whole seen from another angle. That is, Truth – to be fully and completely defined, must be beautiful, good, perfect, just, simple, orderly, lawful, alive, comprehensive, unitary, dichotomy-transcending, effortless, and amusing. Beauty fully defined, must be true, good, perfect, alive, etc..”

“It is as if all the B-Values have some kind of unity, with each single value being something like a facet of this whole.” So how to approach these B-Values to attain more Self-Actualisation and even Self-Transcendence?

Maslow explains: “It is so easy to forget the ultimates in the rush and hurry of daily life, especially for young people. So often we are merely responders, so to speak, simply reacting to stimuli, to rewards and punishments, to emergencies, to pains and fears, to demands of other people, to superficialities. “It takes a specific, conscious ad hoc effort, at least at first, to turn one’s attention to intrinsic things and values. e.g. perhaps seeking actual physical aloneness, perhaps exposing oneself to great music, to good people, to natural beauty, etc.

Only after practice do these strategies become easy and automatic, so that one can be living in the B-realm even without wishing or trying, i.e…….. the ‘Unitive Life’, the ‘Meta-Life’, the ‘Life of Being’.”

The first level, at the bottom of the pyramid, consists of our short-term basic needs, also known as physiological needs: air, water, sleep, food, warmth, sex.

The second level consists of longer-term safety needs: security, order, stability, health (homeostasis).

The third level represents the social need for affiliation, “love and belonging”. We want to be accepted by others around us. We want to have stable relationships.

The fourth level represents the need for esteem, derived first externally ie Within our social groups we want to be recognized and admired. We do want prestige and power. But then an important shift in maturity occurs and self-esteem becomes ‘internally derived’, independent of any outside approval.

The fifth level Self actualization is the desire to experience ever deeper fulfilment by realising (actualising) more and more of our human and trans-human potential.

At the very top of the pyramid then is the desire for self-transcendence — To experience, unite with and serve that which is beyond the individual self : the Unity of all Being. This is the realm of Yoga, or peak unitive experiences. Of continuous flow, connection and inspiration from the Higher Self and Whole Life Energy. The Unity or Yoga of the Individual, with the Universal.