Why does one person give their life for another, when another will take advantage of those around them just to feel significant? What is it that drives one person to higher purpose and another to depravity? What is the living urge that shapes our actions, thoughts, words, quality of survival, and the paths of our destiny? While each of us has a unique life, there are three basic needs that everyone uses to survive into the future with quality.
The three survival needs:
1. A need to predictably experience quality of survival: being assured that you can avoid pain and have pleasure.
2. A need to have variety: to focus on experiencing a joyous life through continually growing from new challenges.
3. A need to feel significant, important, special, or needed by friends, family, community: connecting with others through contribution, support and love.
These needs are encoded in our genetic composition. The means by which people meet these three human needs is open ended. For example, the need for predictability or certainty that we can avoid pain and gain happiness (pleasure and comfort) is pursued differently by different people—some fill this need by striving to control all aspects of their lives, while others obtain predictability by giving up control and adopting a philosophy of faith. When we can experience and grow from a variety of experiences we feel alive, engaged and compelled to live life to the max. The need for significance—a belief that one’s life has meaning and importance—is pursued by some through contributing to others to improve their quality of life, without wanting anything back except to resonate with them. While others fill their need for significance by destroying and tearing down those around them.
The spiritual force of life is the momentum that occurs when these needs are fulfilled. This force drives our urges to experience a life full of meaning achieved through building two spiritual characteristics each day:
(1) the urge to continuously grow a character that reflects higher purpose physical and mental behaviours;
(2)the urge to connect beyond ourselves to others in meaningful ways that allows us to be one in essence through life. All dysfunctional behaviours arise from the inability to consistently meet these spiritual urges, drives and needs. When our attempts to reach spiritual fulfillment fail, we often settle for comfort through indulgence or accepting a life of lesser quality.
Understanding the needs that you are trying to meet in any given moment can help you create the daily practices that will grow the character you desire and give you a quality life with lasting fulfillment. Our 10-week Unleash Your Happiness Course, based on my extensive knowledge of raja yoga combined with human psychobiology, can start to give you real answers to these questions. Discover guidelines and practices to change your life!
Why do we behave the way we do?
