Month: August 2000

Last time, I theorized two types of Drive, internal and external. I withdraw that thought. After further discussion with my sources (okay, it was Aaron again), I came to the conclusion that the internal Drive IS in fact well-shrouded external Drive, as I had feared. This was something of a let-down to me, as I had hoped (perhaps naively) to find that internal Drive was set apart from external Drive, somehow “different” and “special”. Perhaps this was a defense mechanism at work, attempting to shield me from responsibility for my own lack of Drive. “I wasn’t born with it” would be such an easy way out.

Sources of Drive

Anyhow, Aaron suggested a few possible sources of Drive: status needs, needfor recognition, need for identity, and so forth. The common thread always seemed to be the word “need”. This reminded me of a discussion from high school about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Maslow’s Hierarchy

Abraham Maslow studied human needs and divided them up into categories. He then ordered these categories based on their dependencies. He postulated that a given category of needs could not be addressed until the requirements of all previous categories had been met. Depending on the source, I’ve heard a number of categories ranging from 5-8. I suspect that Maslow updated his theory once or more, creating multiple “revisions” of it.

Maslow’s five categories of needs (I’ve chosen the simplest model for this discussion) were as follows:

• Survival
• Safety
• Belonging
• Esteem
• Self-Actualization

These would all seem to be fairly straight-forward except for self-actualization. The idea here is a fulfillment of potential. A self-actualized individual would be constantly learning and growing, as well as accomplishing, and helping others to do the same.

Maslow’s Hierarchy as a Source of Drive

Both of my formerly-proposed two types of drive can be explained using these categories of needs. Each of my stated sources of external drive is fairly easy to restate in terms of a need: Fear is an expression of worry over one’s safety needs. Love helps to fulfil one’s belonging and esteem needs. This is pretty easy to see.

What’s not as easy to see without the context of Maslow’s Hierarchy is that even when the external motivator is not as visible, it is still present. A previously inexplicable drive can now be explained in terms of a need. Those that I see as being most applicable to your average person (whose most basic needs are met) are the three higher-level needs, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Belonging

The need for belonging can drive a person, although I don’t think this is nearly as common as the higher-level needs. A need to fit in with a certain group of people can drive someone, but I think that if someone were looking for social acceptance, people with high levels of Drive are not the group they’d be looking to join, as driven people tend to be looked at or labelled negatively by the mainstream population.

Esteem

Here I think we see a real potential source of Drive. The need for esteem, either from others or from oneself, can certainly be a source of Drive. As I noted before, drive is the source of achievement. Without the Drive to accomplish, one cannot DO anything, no matter how intelligent one is. Achievement, in turn, is frequently a source of esteem and self-esteem, and as such contributes to the fulfillment of that need. Thus, the need for esteem can generate drive.

Self-Actualization

This, I think, is the most valuable source of Drive, and the least selfish. This is the closest that there is to the chimera that was internal Drive. It is a Drive to achieve simply because achievement is part of growing. I am not yet certain whether I believe that intentionally attempting to drive oneself for this purpose is valid, or if the Drive must come naturally to be genuine. Perhaps I’ll explore that in a later rambling.

What Else?

This rambling is just an outline of some of my ideas. I think that more of Maslow’s eventual 8 levels of needs could work with this idea of drive, and I may explore that option at a later date. Also, more ramblings will follow soon as I explore how Maslow’s ideas relate to the ideas of Robert M. Pirsig, inventor (discoverer?) of the Metaphysics of Quality and author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (which I read earlier this year) and Lila (which I’m reading now). Look for something new on that in the next week or two. Here’s a teaser, in which I discuss how Maslow’s concept of needs and Pirsig’s concept of values might interact:

“Needs are values. If you need something, it has a high value to you. There are two kinds of values: those that you choose (wants, e.g. your own home, time for recreation, luxury items, etc.), and those that are chosen for you (needs, e.g. food, oxygen, water, etc.)”

Until next time, in the words of Jack Horkheimer, “Keep looking up!”