Xiaoming Guo 郭晓明
From the perspective of pedagogy, the development and growth of adolescents is a process of growing from a family member to a member of society. It is a socialization process. They receive education in school, accept the principles of life, and become a citizen who is beneficial to society. This process from childhood to adulthood can be elevated to the principle of human growth and extended to the process of human civilization.
Figure: An embryo map drawn by naturalist Ernst Haeckel, from top to bottom is the early stage of development to the end stage, and from left to right are fish, lizards, turtles, chickens, pigs, cows, Rabbits, and people.
The naturalist Ernst Haeckel created the theory of reenactment, arguing that the development of human embryos has gone through the evolution of vertebrates. This theory is still controversial. Science is a hypothesis that can be falsified. Controversy is a normal scientific research behavior. Yet the observed phenomenon is a fact. The embryo is initially similar to a fish, with gills and a tail, and then the tail gradually disappears, which is indeed similar to the evolution of species. According to Haeckel’s recurrence theory, the growth of a human embryo has a development process from fish to human, that is, from animal to human.
It is now generally believed that the evolution of species is the result of genetic variation through natural selection. The replication of cells is the translation and expression of genetic code. Therefore, it is a natural process that the embryonic development and growth process is used as gene expression to gradually express the genetic information accumulated during the evolution of species. Physiologically, embryonic development and growth is a process of evolution from animals to humans.
The famous American psychologist Maslow studied human behavior and summed up a hierarchical theory of psychological needs. He believed that people’s psychological needs have a sequential order, one need has to be satisfied before other needs. Physiological needs come first, followed by safety needs, belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. In a word: only after basic food and clothing are satisfied, does one then tells honor from disgrace.
Maslow’s theory is widely used in business management, employee motivation, and marketing. In fact, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory can also be applied to the growth process of human psychology and the progress of society and human civilization, and it is also parallel to the evolution theory, which is the growth and development process from animals to humans.
Physiological needs and safety needs are animal needs, which are the genetic instinct needs of individual survival common to human behavior and animal behavior; love needs are also common genetic instinct demands of human behavior and animal behavior for the reproduction and continuation of species. Esteem needs can be extended to social needs. Human beings are social in nature, but sociality is not unique to human beings. Animals such as ants and bees have sociality. However, the highest level of sociality is human beings. Therefore, after the physiological safety needs are met, there will be social needs, which is an evolutionary process from animals to humans. Self-realization is the self-realization of human beings, it is the need of human beings to get rid of animal nature, and it is the behavior dominated by human will. To live in the world is to be a human being, and to be a human being apart from animals is to realize oneself.
When a baby comes into the world, the first behavior is to eat, drink and sleep, which is the instinctive behavior of animal genes. Babies need maternal love and care to feel safe. Going to kindergarten and going to school is a socialization process. After graduating from school, to break away from family dependence and become an independent individual in society is socialization. After entering society, the individual is to achieve self-realization. Human life is also similar to the evolution process. It is also a growth and development process from animal to human, from genetic instinct to moral will, and the ultimate goal is to become an upright person.
This is the kind of behavior of a free person, who tells honor from disgrace after he has enough food and clothing. After people satisfy their basic desires, they have higher needs. After satisfying material needs, people have spiritual needs.
There is another kind of human behavior, which is the behavior of people for themselves, who can use human will to transcend themselves. People can still have lofty spiritual pursuits when they are poor and destitute, and go directly to self-realization by crossing the bottom four layers of Maslow’s pyramid, which is not in vain for a lifetime. Countless people with lofty ideals throw their heads and blood for a great cause. It is this spirit, which is the self-realization of life. The Red Army crossed the snow-capped mountains and grasslands, and their physiological and safety needs were not met, but that did not hinder their self-realization in life. If you are poor, you are good for yourself, and if you are rich, you are good for the world. No matter what the environment and conditions are, you can enter the realm of self-realization in life.
There is also the behavior of a self-depraved person, a person who falls into Maslow’s trap. After these people’s physical needs of food and clothing are satisfied, they do not have a higher level of spiritual needs, no need for self-realization to become a human being, but raise the standard of physiological needs, and continue to stay at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy. The bottom of the hierarchy has become a trap of material desire to eat more delicious and feel privileged. Their social needs are based on the social hierarchy, and their needs for respect are based on disrespect for others. They use material ownership and enjoyment to build a vain sense of superiority, so they fall into the Maslow trap. This kind of material comparison is the biggest root cause of contemporary human society’s damage to the environment. Whether the earth’s resources can bear the burden of human survival is the greatest challenge facing contemporary mankind, that is, the issue of sustainable development. The material comparison, based on the amount of material possessions as the basis of dignity, results in everyone consuming more resources than their own physiological needs, which eventually leads to the depletion of resources and the destruction of human beings. Today’s most advanced marketing techniques are not selling what you need, but selling what you want. Many of these wanted things are just to get a certain sense of superiority over those who have less material possessions. The height of a person is generally no more than two meters, and no matter how big the house is, it is only a bed at night. You can eat until you become obese and can’t eat anymore. You have hundreds of thousands of clothes in the closet, and you can only wear one set when you go out. Too much material becomes a burden, and the bigger the house, the laboring to learn it. Therefore, it enters a cycle, requiring more material to maintain the possession of excess material. Self-degenerate people will always linger at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of animal needs, never enter the level of human self-realization, and will always be reincarnated in the animal realm. Social behavior is the behavior of the masses. Social norms cannot be so harsh that they require the masses to live poor and feel peace and happiness, but they can encourage and advocate higher spiritual pursuits under the condition of basic living security and the pursuit of the best of Maslow’s hierarchy. Quickly upgrade.
As is the case with people, so is a country. When you are poor, there is a shortage of materials, social conflicts are fierce, and there are many struggles. It is all about food and clothing. At this time, we can’t talk about communism. If we share a big pot of rice, everyone will become poorer and poorer together. Therefore, economic development must be market competition, and the gap between rich and poor should be moderate to stimulate labor. When the material conditions are sufficient, common prosperity, a well-off society, and everyone’s physiological requirements are met, it is necessary to go up to a higher level, to the social level, and to build a harmonious society. Going up to the level of self-realization, one can not only be self-interested but can also be altruistic. Mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit between countries is the fourth level of Maslow’s hierarchy, the need for esteem. The need for esteem is a state of mind. You can’t be bullying, you can’t be domineering, and you can’t be promiscuous if you are rich. Mutual respect is a very economic demand for esteem. It improves everyone’s sense of happiness without consuming resources. Happiness is the greatest economy, and mutual respect is the most efficient economy. If one base one’s own national interests on destroying the interests of other countries, and bases one’s national security on ignoring the security of other countries, then it is a degenerate country, a corrupt country, and a country that does not think about self-realization. The countries greedy for excessive resources are at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy. China proposes the Belt and Road Initiative and advocates a community with a shared future for mankind, which means self-realization and contribution to human fairness, justice, peace, and prosperity.
The United States maintains its hegemony because of habitual imperialism, a habit in an era of material scarcity, thinking and behavior at the Maslow bottom level, and animal behavior based on the law of the jungle. For hundreds of years, from the slave trade to the opium trade, from the Western powers carving up the world to the division of the world’s spheres of influence by the powers in World War I and World War II, to the Kosovo War, the Afghan War, the Iraq War, the Syrian War, and even NATO The bombing of Libya is an act of imperialism, a war in which Western powers oppress and exploit the people of Asia, Africa, and Latin America to rule the world. Not just wars, but also economic, political, and cultural infiltration, launching color revolutions, subverting the regimes of other countries, and carrying out imperialist armed intervention and economic interference in the name of democracy, freedom, and human rights. These imperialist acts are consistent with national interests in the era of a material scarcity economy, but they are contrary to national interests in the era of material abundance, and they are actually harmful to others and themselves. Western imperialism has just fallen into Maslow’s trap. At the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy, the country does not grow, and instead of becoming more human, it reverts to being more animal.
The inflation, high housing prices, and high oil prices faced by developed countries today are entirely caused by imperialist policies in international politics. The U.S. military-industrial complex consumes the most advanced and precious technology and resources of mankind to manufacture weapons and wars, destroy human wealth, dismember the global economy industrial chain, and reduce the wealth and production capacity of the global economy. When the United States abuses its US dollar hegemony and continues to loot wealth around the world, inflation is unavoidable.
The wealth that the United States has plundered from all over the world can no longer add more utility to life but has become a burden. American obesity is excess nutrition, a drag on excess wealth. The diseases of the rich such as hypertension and diabetes in the United States are caused by overnutrition and too little labor and are the burden of excess wealth. The United States occupied Afghanistan, invaded Iraq, and bombed Libya. Its war public opinion is nothing more than that the United States has power and can plunder wealth around the world. These war decisions in the United States were passed unanimously by both parties and supported by the whole country. Its mentality is to compete for material interests when it has power, and American democracy also feels at ease about this, as well as the moral superiority of “democracy, freedom, and human rights.” This is the abuse of power and the corruption of power. Power has corrupted Western society, leading to high crime rates, ethnic tensions, and extreme political views. Because imperialist foreign policies can no longer increase the effectiveness of material benefits, imperialist foreign politics can only be vanity to maintain the superiority of white supremacy. The pursuit of vanity corrupts society. Poor people in developed countries are obese and take drugs. Drug use costs money. It is the poison of material excess. This is the harm of a country that cannot ascent Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
The same is true for human civilization. International relations are still the law of the jungle, that is, there is no growth and no progress. Whether we can get rid of war and hunger, and whether we can protect the environment for sustainable development depends on the progress of human civilization, on ascending to higher levels of Maslow’s hierarchy, and on the self-realization of human civilization. The community of shared future for mankind is the self-realization of human beings, and it means that human beings ascend to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy. Today’s science and technology and material abundance have made it possible for a community of shared future for mankind. Building a community with a shared future for mankind not only has the basis of economic, technological, wealth, and resources but is also the only way to save mankind from destroying the ecology and causing human self-destruction.
