Since the ego perceives itself as separate from the world, it always feels a sense of lack or deficiency. By contrast, the absolute Self, which is the spark of divinity in each and every one of us, experiences the luminous interdependence that makes everything possible.
The finite ego and the absolute Self
In my last post we began exploring Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a diagram for understanding the nature of creativity, focusing on the difference between “deficiency needs,” which occupy the first four levels, and “being needs,” including creativity, which occupies the fifth. Let’s continue.
Maslow’s distinction between deficiency needs and being needs parallels the thoughts of other psychologists and religious traditions.
For example, Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung, described each individual as consisting of a finite ego and an absolute Self.
Western religious traditions divide the world into the relative (the manifest world) and the Absolute, while the Eastern traditions, such as Buddhism, divide the world into samsara, the world of cyclic existence, and nirvana, the cessation of cyclic existence, and also form, the world of discrete things, and emptiness, the world of interdependence.
Where does our sense of creative abundance come from?
In all of these systems, the message is essentially the same. Since the ego perceives itself as separate from the world, it always feels a sense of lack or deficiency. By contrast, the absolute Self, which is the spark of divinity in each and every one of us, experiences the luminous interdependence that makes everything possible.
As their names imply, when any of the needs listed in the first four levels go unfulfilled, we feel a sense of deficiency and lack a broader outlook. If you need any proof of this, simply hold your breath for as long as you can and watch your whole body reacts; it physiologically forces you to take that next gulp of air.
When we lack something vital to our body-mind makeup, creativity is not possible because our attention either consciously or unconsciously, is focused on fulfilling that need.
At the level of being needs, however, the world looks very different. With all of our physical and psychological needs accounted for, we are able to broaden our view beyond just ourselves, and see the world with a great deal of appreciation and choice. With all our basic needs met, we can be more fully who we are, creative and Self-expressed in whatever it is that is meaningful to us.
In my next post, we’ll explore how creativity is related to choice.