Break the wheel, flip the pyramid

 Have you heard about the pyramid? No, not the Great Pyramids of Giza, but a small invisible pyramid in your head called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? If you’re not familiar with the term, that’s a motivation theory. It puts physiological needs at the bottom of the pyramid, arises to security, then to social needs of love and friendship. After that comes the need of recognition, accomplishment and status. And the last level is achieving one’s full potential, becoming the true or the ideal self. This level is often said to be connected with creative activities.

Maslow believed that one moves to the higher level only if the needs of the previous levels are satisfied. For example, if you didn’t sleep for 3 days (physiological need), you don’t care much about hanging out with your friends (social needs). A promotion (recognition) will not make you happy, if you don’t feel safe and comfortable coming home (security and/or social). In other words, all these things – uncomfortable shoes, morning quarrel with a spouse, hungry stomach rumbling, feeling lonely or anxious – really don’t let us move forward despite all the self-discipline and positive thinking. “I’ll make this call AFTER I have my lunch”, or “I must feel happy because I got promoted – but I don’t because I missed my friend’s wedding and now he is upset at me”, that’s what you say. And millions of people say the same.

But there’s a certain category of people who turns the Maslow’s pyramid upside down! For them the need to express themselves, to follow the inner call, to create something meaningful is stronger than the need for sleep or food. Very often those people are artists.

Vincent van Gogh’s paintings now are one of the most expensive in the world – his Laboreur Dans Un Champ was sold for more than $80 million in 2017. However, the artist had quite a modest life and depended on his younger brother Theo until his last days. At the beginning of his career van Gogh even couldn’t afford using paints as he was unsure in his skills and couldn’t afford wasting such expensive materials.  He also used to paint over his own works to save money on canvas. Experts say about a third of van Gogh’s works is painted over the earlier ones. For example, in 2008 a woman’s head was found under his “Patch of Grass”. Van Gogh wrote to his brother about despair and sadness filling his heart. However, he never doubted in the chosen way. “At present this horror of life is already less pronounced, and the melancholy less acute. But I still have no will, and hardly any desires, or none at all that are to do with ordinary life.” Despite being exhausted, anxious or ill van Gogh kept painting and all the troubles of his life couldn’t distract him from seeing beauty around and tame the artist’s desire to capture it. He created at least 850 paintings and over 1300 drawings – less than 15 were sold during all his life.

Brilliant Oscar Wilde’s – one of my favorite writers – eccentric and glamorous life changed in one day when he was betrayed by his lover and later imprisoned. A person who had nothing to declare except his genius lost his status, his friends and admirers, even his aesthetic philosophy that was a core idea of his works – but not his skill. The imprisonment broke Wilde – and miserable life he had to bear after it hiding his real name worsened his mental condition. "This poverty really breaks one's heart: it is so sale [filthy], so utterly depressing, so hopeless” he wrote. But Oscar Wilde found strength for one more work - ­ The Ballad of Reading Gaol -  that was very different from the previous ones. Formerly careless, arrogant and egoistic dandy also wrote two letters describing the horrible conditions in prisons and ideas for improvements. Many of them were later used for the prison reform in Great Britain in 1898.  

If you prefer more modern examples, think of Andre Leon Talley, fashion journalist and author of The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir. He lived in an average family in segregated North Carolina. His grandmother who brought him up was a cleaning lady in. When Talley won a scholarship to Brown University, he was already intoxicated with the world of fashion and beauty. He spent his first money not on eating out in shining New York or presents for his beloved family, but on high-quality sheets and navy admiral’s coat. That was not the sign of selfishness or ungratefulness – but ways to bring him feel closer to his ideal self. This also helped Talley to build connections to the world he wanted to belong to. In The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir he recalls a moment when all food he had was a bottle of Hershey syrup, but he did not give up or return home. His dream was stronger than doubts or hunger.

What’s the moral? Maslow’s pyramid, in fact, is more like a diamond: one pole gravitates to our biological survival. If we suffer from food, or sleep, or social deprivation, we won’t last long. But we also won’t feel good, if we don’t care enough about the second pole. Development, using our talents and pursuit of our true self are as important for our well-being as air and water, and sometimes the sweet fruits of achieving our goals can fill an empty stomach! So the next time when you’re tired, lonely and upset, think about something you’re truly committed to, things you’ve always dreamed to do – and this energy will help you to keep going.

PS However, I don’t recommend ignoring your body signals for too long. Remember, it’s still a diamond – and both ends are equally important. Both a healthy body and a happy soul because are parts of the ideal you.