AL: I know you to be a very intelligent man. What is your opinion of Mazlow's heirarchy?
I know you to have ignored the lower levels in favor of the higher for extended periods of time, but this is
only after having had the lower levels fulfilled for a large portion of
your life. Do you think that one is capable of doing the former
without having had the latter?
L: I
am a huge respector of Maslow and his work. The hierarchy is among the
best known, and least important parts of his work. I'd suggest reading
all of his books. Your question is a very important one, on which I've
thought, over the years. We know the
answer - there are people born of extreme deprivation that seemingly
from birth, operate at the higher levels. So, on that one point, I
think Abe was very incorrect. I'd say it is 99% a matter of the
culture, community, environment in which one is raised that determines
what part of the hierarchy we operate at. For me, it was my dad. If
the community lives self-centered, the child, and adult will strongly
tend to operate as though the lower part of the hierarchy were THE ONLY
PART. Conversely, a child raised among those operating at the highest
levels, will live as though they don't know that the lower levels even
exist. That is my experience, that is my observation. By modern standards aboriginal tribes of today and 1000's
of years ago, were massively deprived at the lower levels, but my
understanding and view is that they tended to operate at the higher
levels, as do near all other of the higher species. We've ADDICTED
ourselves and our children to the lower levels, that's what we see.
That's why it seems 'normal;' it is 'normal' to our sick culture, but
not to our species epigenetic tendencies (maslow's term).
AL: Thanks. :-)
L: What are your thoughts on homosexuality?
AL: Well,
unimportantly, it is so foreign to my nature that I am uncomfortable
with it. But importantly: 1. It is biological; 2. It is a type of
sexuality, just as heterosexuality is; 3. To our earlier discussion,
there is nothing that dooms your world, you are young, to operating as
tho the joyless lower 'needs' are all there is... than our obsession,
sick addiction, to recreational sex (my #1 addiction for so many
decades) - singularly depriving us of the infinite Joy of the higher
level needs - yes, sex is Lust, with virtually no exceptions.. not Love
(Lust is me about gratifying me; Love is me about tending to the
neediest of my human family). I'm not moralizing, any more than Abe
did; I can be disagreed with, but I am not moralizing. So, #3. My sad
objection to homosexual sex and heterosexual is the same - recreational
sex which we've (especially we males) put at the center of our being in
this society, well, there may be no greater tragedy - it robs
individuals of meaningful service for their lives; and it robs humanity
of the selfless, dedicated sisters and brothers that a healthy planet
utterly depends on.
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