Sunday, October 6, 2013

Hierarchy of needs

Maslow theorized that humans meet their needs in a pyramid type of progression.  At the base of his needs are the physical needs, next comes needs for safety,  not until these needs are met does one search to meet the needs of love and belonging.  Then he suggests that we proceed to know and understand then aesthetics, a need for beauty, eventually we progress to self-esteem and finally to transcendence.  Now many of these pyramids of needs removed transcendence completely off the pyramid.  Transcendence being a connection to a Universal supreme being.  This is being taught in many schools.

I propose mixing this up a bit.  Making our connection with God as our basis for all our needs.  The ten Boom sisters that shared their story of the concentration camps in the book the Hiding Place, placed their faith above all else.  The suffered in every way yet their faith did not waiver.

The barracks where Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsy were kept in the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck were terribly overcrowded and flea-infested.

They had been able to miraculously smuggle a Bible into the camp, and in that Bible they had read that in all things there were to give thanks, and that God can use anything for good.

Corrie’s sister Betsy decided that this meant thanking God for the fleas.

This was too much for Corrie, who said she could do no such thing.  Betsy insisted, so Corrie gave in and prayed to God, thanking Him even for the fleas.

Over the next several months a wonderful, but curious, thing happened.  They found that the guards never entered their barracks.  This meant that women were not assaulted.  It also meant that they were able to do the unthinkable, which was to hold open Bible studies and prayer meetings in the heart of a Nazi concentration camp.

Through this, countless numbers of women came to faith in Christ.

Only at the end did they discover why the guards had left them alone and would not enter into their barracks.

It was because of the fleas.


Betsy's faith and understanding surpassed all her other needs.  Corrie grew to know that Christ in her life made all else possible.  I am working in my life to make Christ the base of my life.  Christ's love for me comes through over and over again.  His desire to help me and every other person to return to our Heavenly Father played a vital roll in my survival.  Faith makes a huge difference in my life. 

1 comment:

Evan said...

Like you I think the hierarchy part needs to be done away with.

Though I do like that Maslow included needs other than the physical.