If I asked you.. would you want eternal happiness and have just enough to live comfortably or a 100 million deposited into you're account right this second. What might you choose?
If I was to be honest i'd probably choose the eternal happiness.
But to make that choice you have to understand what makes someone happy.
Everyone on this planet is unique, wonderful in there own ways. Everyone has a different mind set and require different things to make them happy. Maslow's hierarchy of needs can actually be pretty accurate when it comes to explaining someones level of happiness. If you know someone that judges people from there appearance or is constantly a jerk to other people the chances are they are not self actualised and something is stopping them within the grand pyramid.
There are many things I wish to know about Maslow's theory like does everyone who smokes or takes takes drugs not self actualised? Which point off of the pyramid convinces people that Euthanasia is the only way out? What percentage of the world are self actualised?
The main question I really want to know, is if there is any short cuts into becoming self actualised, the first thing i want to discuss is mortality rush. Basically on average when humans get a near death experience they can actually become self actualised through a 'mortality rush'. I was reading about this guy who was happy with this girl, they went to every class together, they lived together and did everything together as one unit. And when they broke up he became depressed. He didn't want to do anything, he had little motivation. Until a few years later he was in car crash and he watched his best friend die. He described it as God giving him a golden ticket to live. He later became very successful at a young age because of this mortality rush he was given. This usually happens to people who survive serious cases of cancer because you know for that split second nothing else matters if you aren't alive. Perhaps he inst actually self actualised if he carry's the pressure of knowing death can happen at any time.
How are some people who have nothing happy?
If you have ever visited a 3rd world country filled with people who have next to no resources you would have seen happy people as well as sad people. According to Maslow's theory they shouldn't be happy however from my own experience they seemed really happy. Perhaps to make a happy world we have too raise people with little and minimum resources so they can appreciate what actually matters in life.
Is faith the answer to happiness?
22% of the entire worlds population are Muslim, and there are over 2 billion Christians on this planet. But does religion have an effect on someones happiness? There's so many arguments and counter arguments on this subject for religion. You could say having an afterlife in heaven is something to look forward too, having hope that there's something out there watching over you. Perhaps religion creates order and rules to make people nice to each other which then leads to more happiness. However in human history I believe religion has done so much more damage than good.
Where do you place you're self on Maslows hierarchy of needs?