Why I Count the Space Between Heartbeats
“Heartbeats”
Analog Collage, 2020
Like most people these days, I’ve been thinking a lot about my individual needs.
The word “individual” is a strange one. It literally means it can’t be divided, Yet, everyday, I’m at odds with myself. Like a cartoon trope there is a little devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. Am I really indivisible?
Beyond the internal incoherence, I zoom out and think about the rights of an “individual” in society. The spread of Covid-19 has been an important challenge to the notion of “self” encapsulated beings. Even with masks on there is still a risk of spreading a virus which shows me that even with extreme effort we are all physically connected through the air we breath.
We begin to realize that an “individual” only exists within the context of others.
For example, if you were the only person on earth what “rights” would you be afforded?
The questions about the “Self” may seem abstract but they help me understand my needs.
Most people have seen this simple triangle diagram by Abraham Maslow, what has been called a Hierarchy of needs.
I was reminded of this diagram while in a marketing class last semester when we were discussing the psychology of consumer needs.
To me, this diagram looks very Self Centred. As I mentioned earlier, which internal “self” am I to be actualizing? Am I the Devil or the Angel on my shoulder? If my “self” does not provide the feedback of Esteem or Belonging of my community perhaps I will never fully be able to be my “self” and have this basic need met.
In his later years, Abraham Maslow explored a further dimension of motivation, while criticizing his original vision of self-actualization.[15][16][17][18] By this later theory, one finds the fullest realization in giving oneself to something beyond oneself—for example, in altruism or spirituality. He equated this with the desire to reach the infinite.[19] "Transcendence refers to the very highest and most inclusive or holistic levels of human consciousness, behaving and relating, as ends rather than means, to oneself, to significant others, to human beings in general, to other species, to nature, and to the cosmos".[20]
For me what has been most important about evaluating the notion of the self has been understanding that there is no hard line of where “the self” begins and ends. Only by believing that there is a self can you transcend that said self. It’s up to each person to set their own boundaries.
It is my understanding that each self is just an ecosystem of bacteria and inherited cells expressing “themselves” through their environmental interactions. This ecosystem proposes a unity for evolutionary fitness, a story I like to call “Randy”.
I am not a spiritual person, but I believe in myself.
This piece of art reflects my current musing on myself in this time. I hope you enjoy it.
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