The Search (Part 1/2)

Entire life, we're constantly looking, searching for something. From infants to old-age, we are trying to fulfill different needs, as described by "Maslow's hierchy of needs". But that model has became a cliche; you've probably seen it a thousand times in different contexts.

However, there are many cases where Maslow's hierchy fails. Consider a genius with IQ over 150. Though he has fulfilled what Maslow would call the "highest level of needs", which are creativity, problem solving, acceptance of facts etc. However, these geniuses may lack their more-basic need for belonging. A significant number of cases have suggested geniuses and child-prodigies have anti-social behaviour and relatively lower EQ compared to their IQ. This phenomenon falsifies Maslow's claim that the highest level of needs can only be fulfilled once the lower ones are fulfilled.

Because of these evident flaws in Maslow's model, it's time we have a new model. I'm going to call it, Guo's Order of Search. Although "Search" and "Need" can be used interchangeably in this context, I decided on "Search" because it has a more active connotation than "Need".

So, here is a very brief version of my model. In Part 2, I'll use this model to explain many social phenomena.

In this model, I'm going to categorize people's psychological state of mind in a very abstract way based on the question "what is it that we're searching for?", of which I broke into four stages: Search for meaning, Search for answers, Search for reasons, and Search for truth. Like Maslow's model, each stage is associated with an age by empirical evidence. However, age is not bounded to any particular stage by any means. This model exceeds Maslow's in that higher state of mind cannot be reached without reaching the lower levels first, thus it can precisely pin-point a personal "mental age".

Search for meaning:

Entering this world, we had blank minds filled with nothing other than basic 'animalistic' instinct. In a world so new to us, our objective is to make sense of our surrounding. We're constantly looking for meanings of things, starting with the meanings of sounds and facial expressions. We cry in discomfort, and as such, sound of our cry gathers the attention of care-takers who then reduces the level of discomfort. We associate 'crying' as means to get attention, and the learning process continues.

As the world makes more sense to us, we begin to ask questions to further our database of 'meanings'. The search for meaning peaks in childhood and pre-teen; remember how much questions your younger siblins/cousins used to ask?

Search for Answers:

Unfortunately, the innocence of childhood ends when we begin to search for answers. Needing answers implies that we now have problems of our own that are yet to have an explanation.

No other stage where we dedicate most of our time to answers than those dreamy teenage years; we were quite fascinated yet puzzled by natural and social phenomena. Instead of searching meaning of things, we engage in a more active way of searching for answers to our questions. Instead of asking "What is the meaning of life?" the person enters the next level by actively searching for answers to answer his own question.

Search for Reasons.

In the search for reason, a person evolves into a higher-order of state of mind. One is to realize that previous answers could be short-lived, and many came about emotional responses. This for most people occur at college years and carries into mid-age. Through this time, we find many answers no longer apply to our questions. Yet instead of looking for answers, we are looking for reasons for the origin of questions and why things ought to be. Relying less on emotional responses and more on logic, people at this stage has the maturity to face future with a high degree of certainty.

Search for Truth

As bulletproof as sound logical reasons are, they can still be falsified in some circumstances. If reason is to logical truth, truth is to tautology. In the last stage, a person grasps inner truth. The person is not using logical analysis to seek reasons, rather the person goes through an intrinsic search that breaks logical rules in attempt to understanding questions of metaphysics....this, ladies and gentlemen, is the highest state of mind.

For some, this highest state occurs at young age, for some, it is the brief period of life before death. Looking at a person's tombstone, the most important thing on there is not the name, not the year of birth, no the year of death, but it's that tiny line that connects the two numbers. That tiny line is when a person's life happens

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