The Survival Instinct (Maslow’s Needs)

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

1. Survival: the state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of conflict and/or violence (an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances).
2. Security: the state of being free from danger or threat; the state of feeling safe, stable, and free from fear or anxiety; the safety of a state or organization against criminal activity such as terrorism, theft, or espionage; procedures followed or measures taken to ensure the safety of a state or organization.
3. Belonging: be a member or part of (a particular group, organization, or class); have the right personal or social qualities to be a member of a particular group; (of a person) fit in a specified place or environment; be rightly classified in or assigned to a specified category.
4. Esteem: respect and admiration, typically for a person; respect and admire; Self-Esteem: a person's overall subjective emotional evaluation of his or her own worth; a judgment of oneself as well as an attitude toward the self; beliefs about oneself, as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame; the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it.
5. Self-Actualization: the realization or fulfillment of one's talents and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone (A person who embraces the unknown and the ambiguous; who accepts themselves with all their flaws; they enjoy the journey not the destination; inherently unconventional without succumbing to shock techniques; motivated by growth, not a satisfaction of ego; have purpose in life; not troubled by small things; have gratitude and show appreciation; have close tribal relations while identifying with others; humble; resist enculturation; accept their imperfections).

The reason I have presented definitions to the Maslow hierarchal pyramid of needs is to show that ‘Survival’ is the very foundation of that hierarchy, it is the very essence of humanity itself. It is encoded not just in our gene’s but in nature itself and permeates every single atom that makes up our universe. Consider the concept and theory of the ‘Big Bang’. Isn’t that actually a form of violence, a form so huge the human mind has issues with the very concept and why it is referred to as a big ‘BANG.” 

There is a most excellent article about Maslow’s needs and you can read it here before continuing here (Note: this article has nothing to do with my article except as a subject of discussion, etc.)

There, in my mind, is an apparent dependency here and why I feel that survival holds up the pyramid and thus is meant to teach us that survival is the very essence, the cornerstone, of humanity and human existence. It is one of those reasons as to why I have the belief that every facet of human existence is based solely on humanities very survival/existence. It is the very core of why, what and how to  the very existence and meaning behind such disciplines as martial arts (Karate for me in particular). It is why I feel considerably strong about the existence of martial arts is about survival whether as a tool to keep our connection with that fundamental principle through a philosophical study or through the more violence oriented fense (defense/offense) studies. 

Hey, even playing video games has a thread that reaches toward an instinctual feeling in regard to ‘survival’. In truth, I see and feel that the five levels of the Maslow model is how we come to create our selves as to personality and character. I have also come to believe that the upper levels of security, belonging, esteem and self-actualization are all ego based personality and character traits the provide humans the ability to think, analyze and synthesize so that they can navigate the world and universe and survive the worlds and the Universes obstacles that are often dangerous and a threat to our very … wait for it … ‘SURVIVAL’!

You then have to ask yourself at every dangerous encounter, “How will this effect my survival?” Not just those immediate dangers that result in either or grave harm or death but the layers in between that affect your survival, i.e., your job stability as it relates to your income as it relates to your ability to provide as to the ability to have shelter and sustenance as to staving to death as to being exposed to the elements of the world as to your surviving those very elements by not freezing to death; being exposed to the dangers of nature; being exposed to the dangers of others who would need, want and require what you have for their survival and so on. Oh, and I didn’t forget that a pert of all this is also that drive to propagate so that your tribe (family) and you survive. 

If you stop and think of the connections they all find themselves connected to the very center of each individual and groups center - a need to survive. If we take the pyramid and change it a bit we can then see survival as the very center of human existence while the other needs circle and connect to make survival possible except when survival becomes and triggers our very instincts, i.e., the flight-fight urges. 

Bibliography (Click the link)

“In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter.” - Marcus Luttrell, Navy Seal (ret)