The most valuable thing you can do for the world is to create what you need.
What!? That sounds awfully selfish.
Maybe we need to go back to the distinction between what we want and what we need. [https://markleerobinson.substack.com/p/needs-and-wants]
Add to that the distinction between being self-centered and being centered in yourself. “Put your own mask on first…” says the flight attendant because you can’t help others if you don’t have what you need. Loss of cabin pressure will suck the oxygen out of your lungs and you will get very confused.
When we begin with the dual assertion
- healthy organisms are ones that act to create or collect what they need, and
- you will be better able to act on behalf of others if you have what you need,
We are then left with a fundamental question.
“What do you know about what you need?’
My students hate that question. I am prompted to ask them this when they are presenting a problem and looking for a solution and I can’t tell what they need. It is rare that they know. If they did, the problem would look very different. I am not asking because they don’t know, but because the beginning of the solution is determining the outcome they are longing to create. Knowing what we need is crucial and often obscure.
But remember that what we need are not objects or events but qualities of being.
Pay attention to your longing. You long for what you need. But be careful that you are not distracted from your quest to find what you need by what you discover that you merely want. The capacity to discern the difference between what you want and what you need is one of the most important distinctions we can make.
If it is finite, if you can lay hold of it, if it has a beginning and an end; then it is something you want. Needs are infinite, they can never be fully grasped, they are not the thing itself but rather a quality of being. I want a relationship; I need intimacy. I want money; I need security. I want a sandwich; I need nourishment.
Healthy organisms are those that move toward what they need. The chance that I will move toward what I need is dramatically improved by knowing what I need… and that I am able to distinguish it from what I want. This essay is meant to guide you in determining what you need.
We cannot clearly know what we need without accessing our own interior. We have to be able to know our feelings… those aspects of our being and our awareness that are available only to ourselves. These are such things as sensations, emotions, thoughts, wishes, intuitions, imaginations… and so on. No one else can know these things about us until and unless we give voice to them in some way.
Most especially we must be able to notice our own interior discomfort. Those things that bother us are indications or clues to discern what we need. If we try not to notice things that bother us, we may miss a chance to discover what we need.