Waking up to Needs & Wants

During my quarrel with Rebecca on Thursday night, I stumbled upon this revelation about living as a human being. It came as quite a shock to me, as I continued my ongoing 'lecture' with her because of my frustration about the complexity of living as a human being (though guys and girls struggle differently in some ways).

I came to the realisation that human beings live through each day filled with needs and wants. Of coz, this reflection was primarily a reflection on myself (though there are some aspects which reflect on men in general too). From the moment we wake up each day, our thoughts and actions centre on what are our needs and wants. At times, the definition of a 'need' and a 'want' may seem hazy, but it started to seem a lot clearer if I define them separately depending on whether it is instinctive to human nature or something that can be responded to accordingly based on a person's will. In my discovery so far, the first is defined as a need, and the latter refers to a want.

Typical Work Day

A typical work day begins with a 'want' to spend time on personal hygiene and grooming upon waking up. This is followed by a 'need' to go off to work because we need to earn a living for ourselves, despite having to put up with all sorts of happenings as part of our job. Soon enough, it is lunch time and we set out looking for food because we 'need' it for energy and to survive. After that, we 'need' to get back to the office because there is work to be done and we need to keep our job. Once the next half of the day passes, we leave the workplace because we 'want' to go home, seek recreation, escape from the pressures at work, spend time with people, or just get some rest. Of coz, we 'need' to have dinner, we 'want' to maintain our personal hygiene once again, and we 'need' to get some sleep before the next day begins again.

Typical Rest Day

A typical rest day for me (unless I'm working on that particular Saturday or studying a part-time course) would have the normal routine of needs and wants, as part of basic lifestyle. Mostly about rest, recreation and spending time with people.

For Sundays, there is another activity in my schedule which is going to church. Now this is complicated (if we think of it in human terms) because some people believe that there is a God, whereas others don't. For those who do not believe that there is a God, this is neither a 'need' or a 'want' for them, so let's leave it as that.

For those who believe that there is a God, it may be both a 'need' and 'want' to spend time with Him and with believers at church. Perhaps the 'need' comes when we go to church because we 'need' to seek God and/or ask for pastoral prayers. Then, there is also a 'want', which is when we want God to answer our prayers (hopefully our desires are in accordance to His will). Of coz, we also 'want' to fellowship with believers and build a relationship with them. Yet, despite my effort to try to define what is a 'need' and a 'want' with regards to religion, both aspects still seem hazy to me... difficult to distinguish.

Ending Reflections

So you see, we go through life day by day... and it IS indeed filled with needs and wants. I am sure Mr Maslow would raise all his fingers and toes to agree with me. Except that perhaps I have taken this one step further by breaking his theory on hierarchy of needs, into 'needs' and 'wants' practically happening on a weekly basis. After all, Mr Maslow's theory isn't entirely correct that it is ALL needs coz needs mean that we must have it to survive. That could possibly refer to his first level of needs in his theory. The rest of the hierarchy seems to be 'wants' that are derived from and after meeting our first level of needs.

Why am I so philosophical about life? Perhaps its becoz there has been many happenings in my job over the past year (that is after another previous year of other forms of happenings). At times, I figure that I'm getting to understand life a lot more... but at other times, it seems like there are still so many complexities in it.

So is this is what living as a human being is about? Yeah, I can just feel the pointing of fingers at me, by people who talk about special calling in their life. Well, yeah... for some people, maybe. Or at least the rest of us have not yet discovered our special calling... or perhaps that time for us to begin our efforts in the assigned special calling has not taken place yet.

But is a special calling considered a 'need' or a 'want'? Do we need to do it? Well, I believe that it is a personal choice and God gives mankind a choice. If this is true, then it is not a 'need'... but a 'want'. So those who made that personal choice 'want' to fulfill this special calling.

Strange, isn't it... that living as a human being is ALL about needs and wants... day after day...