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maslow: where shall we dine? (handles)

updated wed 14 dec 05

 

Elizabeth Priddy on tue 13 dec 05


I have used a shorthand/parody of Maslow with my
husband for the last decade or so:

I am hungry

what CAN I eat

what Will I eat

what SHALL I eat

where shall we dine

I am blessedly at the point in my pottery life where
I am wondering where shall I dine. Making things
is no longer an issue (Can). I have had a good run on top
of my niche area (will). I have chosen to keep doing it but
to let the "push" pass through and past me (shall). And
now I am to the part of the show where I work on what I
choose to work on, with no demands except the pure
internal compunction of will. And I choose to dine on
handles right now. I will see it through.

It is interesting to hear Lili's take on judgement.
I am with her. I care only in the most passing way
what various experts think of my work, me, my life.
The irreverence I have shown is innate, though. Some
people crave acceptance til their dying breath. It is
a hard life, chasing that ring.


(Veena, I am thinking about making a DVD on how to
do it, so bear with me on that. I am certain that I could
easily describe what to do to folks who already are
weaving handles, but you indicated no skill set there,
so for people starting from scratch, the learning curve
has to start at a different place from pure description.
Sheila Clennell's video sounds like a place to start,
although I have never seen it, personally)

EP

Ruth Ballou wrote:
Maslow's hierarchy of needs provides an interesting perspective on
human behavior, particularly if applied to an overall view of
understanding. However, there are many different opinions about the
validity of Maslow's hierarchy. The website specifically adds
introversion and extroversion as important considerations when
thinking of the hierarchy. Personally, I don't think any given
individual can be categorized quite so neatly, nor that one
progresses through the hierarchy, if it exists, in anything
approaching a linear fashion. A particular individual can move up or
down and back again over a period of time and for different aspects
of life. Someone could be operating at level 7 in personal
relationships and be in level 4 in another area. Anyone can be
blasted back to level 1 in the span of a heartbeat. As a society, I
doubt we've ever left level one. I prefer to see Maslow's hierarchy
as more of a web, with people moving among the different aspects of
understanding self and others, learning and growing somedays with
respect to some aspect of life, reverting to less mature behavior at
other times, but hopefully learning, nonetheless, through it all.
For another perspective, think about Martin Buber's philosophy in I
and Thou . Briefly, an I
- It relationship is one that distances and separates one's self from
the world. The I - Thou relationship recognizes the inter-
relatedness of "people, animals, trees, even... a heap of stones."
and implies an openness to the world. The I - Thou relationship can
be fleeting, and ebbs and flows. Utimately, though, the I - Thou
relationship provides the greatest opportunity for self-actualization
and transcendence. This site has a much fuller explanation of Buber's
I-Thou, I-It than I can describe here.

Ruth Ballou
Sometimes Here, Sometimes There





On Dec 12, 2005, at 3:57 PM, John Hesselberth wrote:

> On Dec 12, 2005, at 10:58 AM, clennell wrote:
>
>> if you get a racer out of the kiln today, resist selling it.
>> Photograph it
>> tonight and sell it tomorrow. If it is really a racer resist
>> selling it
>> altogether and when a juried show comes up enter it in that show.
>> Forward
>> your slides to every juried show and publication you possibly can.
>> Trade
>> your slides with other potters, so that they might show your work
>> when they
>> are asked to give a workshop. Wear all your acceptances on your
>> chest as
>> badges of honour. Document every step of your journey towards a
>> standard.
>> When you are old and asked to sit at the head of the Clayart table
>> you will
>> be able to point to a documented journey. There will be no doubt
>> that your
>> voice is one that has reached a standard.
>> It is all about your work and proof of your footsteps in the clay.
>> My work
>> is all in Italy, photographs are lies, juried shows are dumb, I
>> have no work
>> to show you, the dog ate my homework is all just more on a list of
>> excuses.
>> We've all heard them before. Usually we never get to see the work
>> at all-
>> past or present. Assignments not turned in, but of course they were
>> done
>> exceptionally well and they should be graded "A". I' ve been
>> teaching too
>> long and my list of excuses heard is longer than my steps in the
>> making of a
>> cup
>
> Hi Tony,
>
> Your post brought to mind Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I hadn't
> thought about it in a few years, but Maslow's hypothesis is that we
> progress "up a ladder" of needs as we grow and develop and progress
> economically. Specifically he identifies 8 levels (he sneaked a new
> one in since I looked at it last). They are:
>
> 1) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.;
>
> 2) Safety/security: out of danger;
>
> 3) Belonginess and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and
>
> 4) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and
> recognition.
>
> 5) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore;
>
> 6) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty;
>
> 7) Self-actualization: to find self-fulfillment and realize
> one's potential; and
>
> 8) Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or
> to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential.
>
> Most of what you address above is aimed at 3-5--maybe a touch of 6.
> All the people on the list are not there. Lili and Mel, for example,
> I would guess are almost 100% working in 7 and 8. So are lots of
> other people on the list. We are not all in your class trying to do
> what you want us to do and become what you want us to become. We are
> all over the map, including a few that are really struggling in #1.
> That is what I find great about this list. We come from all different
> places to share our love of clay and discuss things about it that
> interest us. So your advice above is good for those working in levels
> 3-5 --and we all had to pass through those at some point in our
> lives, although some are not able to get through those for one reason
> or another. For others working at higher or lower levels your advice
> is not what they should want/try to do. And it is not a matter of
> excuses. It is just they have passed through 3-5 and are working
> someplace in 6-8 or haven't yet made it through 1 and 2.
>
> For anyone who is interested a short paper on Maslow's Hierarchy of
> Needs can be found at
>
> http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
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>
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> melpots@pclink.com.

______________________________________________________________________________
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Elizabeth Priddy

Beaufort, NC - USA
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com

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