From the dawn of sentience, humans have tried to free themselves, and those for whom they care, from suffering. The history of humanity is also a history of the various attempted solutions to this broad problem.
Suffering can be due to various causes and unfulfilled needs or desires. As a human being, one has various categories of problems. The body can present its problems, care of the body and of one’s dependents can be troublesome, maintaining relationships can be challenging, earning a livelihood can be stressful, finding fulfillment can be elusive, and so on. Those needs and desires can be categorized, as per Abraham Maslow, into a hierarchy:
Physiological: Breathing, Food, Water, Shelter, Clothing, Health.
Safety: Security of having enough resources, security of body, family and property, security of livelihood.
Love/Belonging: Friendship, family, community, sexual intimacy.
Esteem: Respect in society, self-esteem, confidence.
Self-Actualization: Creativity, living a moral life.
There are at least two important questions about the above conception of human needs and desires:
1. Is it worthwhile for a person to advance from one level of needs to another, and be unsatisfied there instead of here?
2. Is it possible to be a fulfilled human being in toto?
Both are extremely important questions, and are also related to each other. If there is no ultimate fulfillment, then why not be unfulfilled here and now, rather than there and then? Why even try?
My answers to the two questions are:
Those who are struggling with the first two categories of needs (the physiological needs) usually do not worry much about the psychological ones. And since one sees no end to psychological suffering, and doesn't see anyone fulfilled, it is easy to conclude that psychological fulfillment is all bunkum. But that is no commendation for physiological struggle, in which one is lives and dies more or less a primitive mammal.
The progress of science, of economic systems, and of social institutions is eminently worthwhile insofar as it seeks to provide the greatest number of human beings with a reasonable level of fulfillment of the first two categories of needs. By a “reasonable level” I mean providing a level of satisfaction, security and health which leaves a person with the possibility of at least 6 hours of wakeful leisure everyday. A person may still choose to work overtime, or generally undertake compulsive activities in that leisure time (e.g. watch television) but those choices are not then enforced by outside agencies or circumstances. And I assume that the person will not be too tired after work to spend time on other activities. I also assume that caring for dependents and for the family are required activities and are part of work. “6 hours” may seem an arbitrary duration, and maybe 4, or 2, hours will do. But the point is the existence of leisure time.
The other three categories are those of psychological needs and, according to me, can never be completely fulfilled. These are desires, which can be somewhat satisfied, but never completely satiated. One can have occasional peak experiences in each of these categories, but these experiences do not fulfill one for all time. A human being dies unfulfilled if he seeks ultimate fulfillment in these realms. There is no “true love” which lasts forever, there is no societal respect which is permanent and free of fragility, there is no self-esteem which is not beset with doubts, and there is no morality which is completely livable 24x7x375.
The desires for love, for respect, for self-esteem and for being moral are desires which have an elusive “being”, a lonely psychological entity, at their foundation. “You” can not be fulfilled. “You” are forever destined to be unfulfilled. But fulfillment is possible if “you” cease to be.
That peak experience, that experience of perfection, does not require either love, or others’ respect, or being creative and moral. That peak experience is available to all, irrespective of their background. Being healthy and being safe in one’s person and property is required for one to feel at ease, and feeling at ease can lead to feeling happy and content, which can precipitate such a peak experience of perfection. To chase love, beauty, and morality is a hindrance to that peak experience because in these one is ever unfulfilled and striving, and moreover, since the feelings of love and beauty and morality keep “me” in action.
That peak experience can enable something far better than love and belongingness, something far better than beauty, and something far better than a conscientious morality.
(The Sombrero Galaxy, image courtesy www.spacetelescope.org)
It is therefore worthwhile to enable the fulfillment of the first two categories of needs for oneself, and for others. And needless to say, it is worthwhile to experience perfection, and to share one’s experiences and findings in what enables this experience, and what prevents it from happening.