Religion versus Spirituality: Lessons learnt from Maslow’s Hierarchical Theory of Motivation

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 Living in these times I have always wondered, if the God(s) we worship is/are all powerful, where does the need to protect our God’s homes (religious places) and his/her people come from. Why do the followers of a spiritual force feel this overwhelming need to protect the One who protects them?

The answer for this question came to me from revisiting a theory in psychology that I have truly admired. The concept is simple- according to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchical Theory of Motivation; all of us have needs which lie in a hierarchy, starting from basic needs of nutrition and water to higher level needs of self-actualization (going beyond one’s own needs to reach out to one’s community at large)

These needs are the ones that guide our every action. For example- the basic need of hunger makes us look for food and eat. Similarly, it is our need for belongingness that makes us want to maintain social bonds, however limited they may be.

To explain my point today, I will have to explain the hierarchy of needs in brief-

1. Physiological needs: of having food, water, sleep etc. These needs are life-sustaining and the most crucial for survival.

2. Safety needs: of having shelter, employment, health, resources, etc. These needs are the source of and supplementary to our physiological needs.

3. Belongingness needs: of having a family, friends, social circle etc.

4. Esteem needs: of being respected by others, achieving things in life, being confident etc.

5. Self-actualization needs: of accepting differing opinions, being spontaneous, being creative, lack of prejudice etc. At this stage a person is theorized to achieve a state of transcendence wherein we are able to go beyond our own needs and work towards the fulfillment of others needs.

Now, if all our actions are motivated by these needs, where in the spectrum does the need to protect one’s God/religion lie? I am sure you must be able to bring two and two together having read the brief descriptions of the needs I just gave above.

Religion and its ‘protection’ as a whole comes from our needs for safety, belongingness and esteem wherein we strive to maintain our identity so much so that we most times end up vilifying the identity of the other.

It is at this purview that I want to introduce the concept of spirituality. The fundamental difference between a religious and a spiritual temperament is that the former aims to protect its own while the latter strives to protect all.

It is at this highest stage of self actualization that one is able to transcend the borders of social order and understand the needs of the ones who are polar opposite to who we are and what we stand for. This is when we develop empathy and truly learn to live in harmony with one another.

I hope one day we all understand that the identity we hold to fulfill our needs in life does not warrant us the right to take away the needs of the other. For, to be truly human is to feel for and work towards the benefit of the least cared ones in the society, and I hope one day we will reach that golden shore of harmony and peace.

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