Growing Through Challenge - Your Five Most Basic Needs

              WHAT ARE OUR FIVE MOST BASIC NEEDS?

You probably already know that there is a great difference between our needs and our wants. Our want list contains all kinds of things… some frivolous; some serious. But as we attain them, unfortunately, the list seems to grow and become NON-ENDING… somewhat problematic, most of us find.

Still, our need list is actually quite short when one really gets down to the basics… food, water, air, shelter… a few things like that and most can at least survive.

                 BUT WHO WANTS TO JUST SURVIVE?

Please allow me to give you something a bit deeper to think about! Study after study for scores of years by the world’s most prominent psychologists and psychiatrists have found that after the basic needs of the human body (the list above) are met, there are FIVE OTHER UNIVERSAL NEEDS that every human, everywhere in the world also possesses.

The studies found that it didn’t seem to matter if the people were young or old, rich or poor, educated or illiterate, cultured or backward… all humans have these very same five basic, decisive, and fundamental needs! This seemed to me to be worthy of at least our knowledge and some degree of our personal attention.

                                 THE LIST OF FIVE

So, in no particular order, here is the “list of five” needs which kept showing up for people all over the world… INCLUDING YOU & ME!

                                       #1 - LOVE

Universally, people sing and talk about the need for “LOVE”, but few seem to understand or acknowledge its differing meanings. While the English language certainly has more than enough words for most things, it is actually rather poverty-stricken when dealing with the subject of love. We “love” everything from pizza to cars to sports to our spouse, friends, and so forth. Wouldn’t a little more distinction be helpful?

For a basic understanding of the different kinds of love, the expanded definitions of the Greek language is much more helpful. If you learn the difference in the following four Greek words for love, you may well know more about the subject than most people ever seem to grasp.

Eros - This is where we get our word “erotic” from, so as you might expect, this kind of love has to do with purely physical attraction. In itself it is neither good nor bad… just natural. y itself, most find it to be rather lacking for long term relationships.

Phileo - Philadelphia, “the city of brotherly love” derives its name from this Greek word, and can best be described simply as “friendship”.

Storge - This is the word for the circle of love which exists exclusively among members of the same family… “a family circle love."

Agape - During our lifetime on this planet, we will all finally see the end of each of the above three forms of love. If you believe that you are more than your physical body… perhaps that you are really an eternal spirit, living briefly in this temporary body, then this fourth kind of love can mean something profound to you. This is the special level of love revealed from our Creator, which He Himself has for each of us, and is seen clearest in the historical personal life of Jesus Christ. This kind of love means “The sustained commitment of one’s will toward the good of another… no matter what their response.” Notice that this is the ONE kind of love that is not dependent upon our emotions or feelings. Rather, it is a matter of our choice and an act of our will.

EMOTIONS seem almost impossible to control. CHOICES & ACTIONS, however, are more within our control.

                    #2 - ACCEPTANCE AND BELONGING

Everyone on earth has a deep-seated need for some place where they can find a lasting sense of acceptance and belonging. Unfortunately most of us find our society offers only a conditional form of acceptance. Who among us has not felt the need to “change things about ourselves” in order to feel that sense of real acceptance and unconditional belonging of some group we really wanted to feel a part of?

And what about religion? Why are there so many scores of denominations in Christianity alone? Why have we let our faith in one true God have such a divisive and fragmenting effect?

I personally like the attitude expressed by the determined affirmation of John Wesley almost 300 years ago. This pioneering preacher rode thousands of miles on horseback, planting new congregations with this one invitation… “If your heart beats with my heart in love and loyalty to Jesus Christ, give me your hand!”

In my personal case, since I am not inviting you into church membership, I could even go a bit further. To be my good friend, I would only ask you: “Whatever you may or may not know or believe now, are you a sincere seeker of the right, the good and the true?”

Let us quit drawing lines that divide… and begin building bridges that connect!

                           #3 - A SENSE OF SECURITY

I state only the painfully obvious when I say that we are now living in a world of many uncertainties! We all long for security, but in fact, for all of human history, any form of lasting security has been very illusive. People, who seemed "on top" and secure yesterday, may have met with some form of catastrophe today. Everyday, as we read or watch the news, we learn of the security of powerful individuals being swept away.

Traditionally religious faith has been the place where so many have always turned when they had no where else to turn. Countless numbers have discovered profound comfort in somehow attaching their security to their Creator, even as their world may have been crumbling around them.

This is a marvelous thing… but even here we must be careful about our expectation. In such an imperfect and temporary world as this, even sincere and strong believers still lose jobs; lose dearest loved ones; contract terminal diseases, are sometimes robbed, suffer other atrocities, and are even killed.

                                PART OF THE ANSWER

As much as we would like to find it, lasting security cannot be found in temporary bodies, living in a temporary world. The foundation for this basic human need being met on such a world as this is found in the promise of the Creator that there is coming a day when He will personally dry every tear, and make all things new and right! Even now He invites us to “...cast all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you!”

So He really doesn’t offer us total security just yet… but He does offer us the GRAND ADVENTURE OF TRUST as we look eagerly toward that day and place where all our longings for security will finally be fulfilled!

                           #4 - FREEDOM FROM GUILT

We are told by many medical doctors and researchers that guilt and the inner struggles resulting from guilt are the major cause of mental and even physical illness in our society. What can we tell the countless hurting individuals to help release them from the deathly grip of guilt? A quick visit to the “Self-Help” section of any large bookstore will show you that we as a society are trying pretty much everything under the sun in search of relief from the painful effects of guilt.

                     GUILT FEELINGS OR TRUE GUILT?

The answer to this question quickly gets to the core of the issue. Famed psychiatrist, Dr. Karl Menninger, honored by the Presidential Medal of Freedom, asked the uncomfortable question, “What ever happened to sin?”   We probably don’t like this kind of question because it only makes us feel MORE GUILT.   But what if that one distinction between “guilt feelings” and “true guilt” is really the KEY to this whole thing? Would you still want to know?

Think about it… deep inside yourself you may agree with Dr. Menninger’s assessment that we don’t just “feel” guilty, but we do in fact have REAL GUILT!
We have wronged other people through words, actions and attitudes.

Most of us also feel that we have wronged ourselves by settling for so much less from life than we might have been meant for.

We further have wronged our CREATOR by so often disregarding our conscience, ignoring Him and His plan for our best life… stubbornly going our own way; doing our own thing.

                                    THE ANSWER!

If you don’t believe the above, then you are left trying to deal with “guilt feelings” which seem to leave many on a path of escapism, which often leads from one addiction to another.

If you do accept the “real guilt” premise, then you are entering the specific arena of religion. You are welcome to explore any religion you want while trying to deal with this fourth great need of mankind. My fear for you is that since there are hundreds upon hundreds of different religions… you may waste precious time and resources on disappointing dead ends… and in the end, run out of time!

Let me just close this section by telling you that I have found what I believe is the true answer in the historical person of Jesus Christ. He went about giving people help and hope by offering to forgive their sins if they would believe in Him as the Son of our Creator God. Instead of portraying God as a “cosmic scorekeeper”, Jesus tried to lift our vision of our Creator as being more like a Heavenly FATHER; One who is always ready to forgive our sins, welcome us back home, and help us make a fresh start out of the messes we may have made in parts of our life. He doesn’t deny our guilt… instead, He assures us that if we but ask Him... IN TRUE SINCERITY, “He will remove our guilt as far as the East is from the West!”

                        #5 - THE NEED FOR MEANING

Well, we have finally made our way to the last of the “List of Five”. As far as we know, animals live contentedly without every contemplating the “meaning of Life”.

Humans, on the other hand, and from what we can tell of history, have always pondered such questions as:
     1) Who am I?
     2) What am I, really?
     3) Where did I come from?
     4) Why am I here?
     5) Is there anything after this?

These are definitely "heavy-duty" questions which no one should take lightly! Throughout history many books have been devoted to this search for life’s meaning. Dr. Viktor Frankl, world famous Austrian Scientist, Author, Psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor wrote poignantly on this subject.

After his intense personal observations of fellow-prisoners in three different Nazi death camps, he penned his famous book which has been translated into 26 languages, “Man’s Search For Meaning”. His firsthand experience with thousands of dying people led him to believe that this is really the most profound of all the needs humans possess.

One may have all of the other needs met, but if he or she has not found some transcending sense of meaning and purpose… their life will probably still remain unfulfilled.

Religious faith has helped, but often is not enough! Just “making it to heaven” is not an exalted enough destiny to bring the kind of “meaning” that deeper-thinking people seek.

If, on the other hand, your religious faith drives you deeper… deep enough to seek to profoundly “KNOW” the INFINITE CREATOR, a task that would require an INFINITY to even begin to discover all of His depths… well, then you’re getting somewhere!

Unless your God is so infinitely grand that it would consume an entire eternity to discover the greatness of His majesty and the wonders of His yet unfolding creation, then you might consider that your concept of God is TOO SMALL!!!

And what of your destiny? In the incomprehensibly exalted position of being one of God’s own sons or daughters, He will take that same eternity to make YOU infinitely more than you could ever presently even begin to imagine! Just think about it!

Could this two-fold destiny be grand enough to give us all the MEANING IN LIFE that we could ever want or need?

                                      IN CLOSING

I close with the comforting words of famed scholar and author C. S. Lewis, “Think of your life as a grand book… this life is only the preface… someday we will get to step into chapter one! Then, each succeeding chapter will only keep getting better!”