By Engr. Mohammad Iqbal Mirza, CEO, Green Leaves
Since the time of Adam and Eve the priorities of Human being have not changed – the physical needs, without which it cannot continue its existence. The life of today’s human being seem impossible without the technological comfort and use of modern appliances, but wait a moment: Let’s stop breathing and if we can continue more than couple of minutes without being concerned, we will be refuting the physical need of breathing for our existence. Similarly, we may go without food and water for few weeks refuting the need of these, but does it mean we can stay alive without these! Unfortunately, most of humanity even today is preoccupied with satisfying its physical needs, even the affluent and fortunate are also engrossed in ensuring the provision of their physical needs first.
Our so called civilized world in the name of development have devised economic systems which look after the interests of small groups for whom physical needs are not more than a meal time activity, but for masses at large- a dire need to live on. Karl Marx wrote “Life involves, before everything else, eating and drinking, a habitation, clothing and many other things”. Aristotle regarded the family, a smallest social unit to satisfy physical needs of man. In Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, first come physiological needs, the absence or lacking of even one of them distracts human to concentrate on any other thing. Mankind in Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov” says to Church: Make us your slaves, but feed us; there is a German proverb “First comes food, then morality”, both speak for the priority of human physical needs.
When human being cannot meet its basic needs, the human behavior declines and this is an absolute truth today, as it was for ancient man. There are plenty of instances when morality and social relationship dies in the presence of strong hunger, people have resorted to cannibalism – recall the crash of plane in 1972 in the high Andes, when 16 survivors ate the flesh of 29 dead before they were rescued. We can argue it was necessary to save their souls, but don’t we find any parallel in the incident of plane crash and of people starving to death or hardly meeting their daily physical needs in our bustling world of today! What parallel we draw in asking and offering bribes, receiving kickbacks, adulteration of edibles, selling fake products by a group of people to satisfy their physical needs at one hand and common man toiling to hardly keep himself alive. The priority of both sides are same – how to keep the string of life in tact, but in this modern world of ours “survival to the fittest” is as much valid as it was thousands years before – brutal, savage and no ethics.
The first priority of man is his physical needs and that is what in fact actual needs are. All other needs are secondary or tertiary or we can term them as instrumental and potential needs. It is quite understandable if ancient men exploited their physical strength to seize control of resources vital to physical needs, but it is not understandable at this point of civilization. We have seen men against men in the past and nations against nation where millions of people lost their lives. In all human societies around the world, the men are civilized, but their quest for basic physical needs is cruel and savage; it is monopolistic, we don’t want to share the surplus we have and are keeping it for our potential and instrumental needs.
The Corporate world of today and business ethics have only been given a clean and enchanting attire, but in essence it is usurping of fellow human right to have access to adequate resources adequate for their physical needs. The wages history goes back to ancient Egypt, Greeks and Romans. It has always been the prerogative employer to decide the wages. It is injustice to the working class who run hand to mouth for satisfying their physical needs whether it is in Pakistan, third world or developed western world. After Abu Bakar Siddiq became Khalifa, how much remuneration he shall draw was under discussion and he himself chose a remuneration equivalent to the wages of a common labourer. One of the companion remarked that it is so less that it will be hardly sufficient for your expenses; the Khalifa replied that I will increase the wages of labourer if it didn’t suffice for his expenses. This speaks evidently the importance of physical needs in the society. Quantifying physical needs on the basis of class, rank and status is depriving one his basic physical needs and instrumental needs. Allah SWT in surat Al-Nahal beautifully depicts human nature:
وَاللَّهُ فَضَّلَ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ فِي الرِّزْقِ ۚ فَمَا الَّذِينَ فُضِّلُوا بِرَادِّي رِزْقِهِمْ عَلَىٰ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ فَهُمْ فِيهِ سَوَاءٌ ۚ أَفَبِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ-
And Allah hath favored some of you above others in provision. Now those who are more favored will by no means hand over their provision to those (slaves) whom their right hands possess, so that they may be equal with them in respect thereof. Is it then the grace of Allah that they deny?
We all recognize that there are innate needs of human beings besides physiological needs. The priority of human needs begins with physical needs before social affection followed by self-esteem, dignity or equality and then comes self-actualization or we can say all the substantive common needs of all human beings. Most of the people are concerned with their physical and elementary social needs. Human beings follow substantive needs because these are a source of self-gratification and relate to some other desires which in turn can satisfy a substantive desire.
It is everyone’s experience that the affluent are hardly preoccupied with their physical needs. It is also in our knowledge that in middle, lower middle and poor classes, the domestic violence and disputes arise because of deprivation of physical needs. We also observe that severe physical deprivation causes break up of social ties even within a family. Any retrogression or no progress in meeting required physical needs tend to create anarchy in struggle against each other. Anarchy is total rejection of a set hierarchy, whether at home, office or government and advocates individualism. The satisfaction of physical needs has enormous importance in human life. The struggle to satisfy physical needs tended the primitive man to resort to any means available to him and so does the man of today in legitimizing his actions.
People with physical deprivation are more in social conflicts than and have weaker tendency in affection and love needs. Our all needs from food to recognition are transacted between human beings. The human psychology gets complex in either case with deprivation or satisfaction alike. The theory of priority of needs is rightly built on satisfying basic physical needs necessary to sustain life. We all as a child, spouse and citizen demand recognition, equal treatment, equal political rights and equal justice by law, but this comes after satisfying physical needs. We, human being vary widely in our ability to withstand hunger and pain, but this reversal display of priorities occurs only to some people and under specific circumstances. The frequency of this reversal of priorities is brief and unusual.
One can argue that world has progressed and is progressing despite physical needs not being full met with. Yes, it is true; and our Lord will make us accountable on the Day of Judgment for the choices of our priorities!
