Maslow was right about one thing:
People who remain gratified with mere “secure” and “basic”
lives are inferior people indeed. And in all fairness, society's
situation is not Maslow’s fault. Although his theory is deeply
flawed, he must have had a sense of what it means to rise to where
one can see reality for what it is.
But he must not have transcended very
much himself. I can't explain it any other way; he obviously failed
to perceive the contradiction, that people at both his highest and
lowest levels share so many characteristics. The theory is a good
one, but it lacks verification.
Maslow sucks because his theory remains
nebulous.
Real self-actualization is rare. It is
rare because our society blocks thinking. (Perhaps it did with
Maslow.) The government stresses party politics, serves entitlements
to big money, deprives the less fortunate, and endlessly proclaims
that it is impossible to spend too much money on “security,” the
absolute upper limit of Maslow's Basement.
Political parties also serve the
interests of big money. Big money owns them. They pare decisions down
to the essentials of “we against them.” According to the parties,
somebody has to lose, and if you're not one of us, you deserve to
lose.
Parties worship at the altar of a “Free
Market” that constantly seeks superior production of wealth at the
absolute lowest cost of labor. Their thinking stops there. Now we are
all capable of knowing perfectly well that if the “Free Market”
has its way, it finds slave labor, or the closest equivalent, to
accomplish its purposes, but that reality is visible only from a
higher perspective, and we don't like the view from up there.
Politicians certainly don't go there. They too stop thinking when
they arrive at security. Theirs is a fear game: “The other party is
out to get you. Vote for us,” they advise. Most of the time, their
rhetoric remains on the lowest levels: “If we win, you'll get more
– more freedom, more equality, more security, more wealth.”
And if you're already truly one of the
party, that is, if you already have ample wealth, and if your party
“wins,” you do get more.
In the meantime, most of us get
fleeced.
Public education has now been taken
hostage by the “basic” authorities of government and the “basic”
priorities of politics. They keep kids focused on math and reading
and discourage enlightened, creative thinking. Politicians,
government officials, and most educators prefer not to have their
schemes probed by high school and college graduates. The days of
student protest are a thing of the sixties; they're over.
To an astonishing degree, kids have
complied. They've memorized the mantra: “Stay in school. Graduate.
Get high level skills and take an entry level job. Consider yourself
lucky. Join a political party – either one, it doesn't matter –
Go to work for us, and become a good consumer. Oh, and stay in line,
because we, the big corporations, are entitled to our profits, and
you, the little guy, must make do with much less.”
It's not a political party that
controls power in America. Its not a Constitution or a President or a
Congressional body, or even a confused Supreme Court. The Master of
Ceremonies in America today is the “basic” thinking behind greed
and wealth.
Do people sense a dramatic change
coming?
Of course they do. Anyone smart enough
to be about half stupid can see that our current condition is
untenable. We do not solve problems anymore. We fight over money and
power. We're consumed with a desire to accumulate and “secure”
wealth. The so-called “gridlock” of government is all due to a
failure to rise above that “base” thinking.
It's time for self-actualized teachers
to enter this discussion.
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