Running head: REIMAGINING MASLOW.

The Mas-Berg Model: A Paradigm for a Healthy, Sane and Happy World.
JP Steinberg
Kean University

REIMAGINING MASLOW.

The Mas-Berg Model: A Paradigm for a Healthy, Sane and Happy World.
Freud was clearly not the first man to examine the Human Condition and realize there
was a problem. We can look to the ancient philosophers, gurus, sages and mystical religious
scriptures and see that this has been at the forefront of mans mind probably since our earliest
stages of becoming modern Homo sapiens. At one time, all people lived as nomadic foragers. It
is believed that our planet consisted of mostly matriarchal societies. We were more peaceful and
able to live in perfect symbiosis with the Environment. We used only what we needed and
consumed only what gave us life and health. It is a myth that the average lifespan was very short,
prehistoric humans actually lived about as long as we do today.
We know that at some point along the evolutionary timeline the earliest humans figured
out that if one or a few people stayed awake at night they could protect the rest of us from being
eaten by lions. Besides the possibility of being eaten we faced a great many dangers including
inclement weather and lack of resources such as food and water. If we had not been able to pull
together out of a genuine empathic concern for one another and managed to protect ourselves
and each other from external threats we may not be here today to tell the story. Yet in todays
alleged civilization we no longer protect ourselves from dangers posed by nature and
circumstance, we protect ourselves from one another (Sinek. 2014).
At one time, tribes and villages functioned more along the matriarchal spectrum of
governance and community. As we move along the evolutionary timeline we see a general move
towards a more patriarchal society, particularly in the West. By this time, agriculture allows us to
settle lands for longer periods of time, in some cases permanently. We become able to grow and
harvest food as well as preserve and store it. It is essentially our most valuable resource apart
from water and air; the three we cannot live without.

REIMAGINING MASLOW.

There is actually one more very important resource we likely could not survive without
land. Some might call it property, but this is inaccurate and misrepresentative of the vitality land
possesses for us. For anything can become property as long as it is proper to one, but land is the
only surface and air is the only substrate in which humans can survive. And survival is only one
step above death.
Most living organisms seem to thrive quite well in highly controlled unnatural
environments given the bare bones essential to its survival. Even caged animals, plants and
microorganisms do not necessarily NEED love and acceptance, they need only nutrients,
sustenance and protection form harmful elements, predators and disease of course. For humans,
however, we see a very different paradigm. In 1990 the television program 20/20 showed us how
abandoned Romanian children responded to the lack of touch and love due to the orphanages
being extremely understaffed and destitute. Many died as a result. We are not creatures of
instinct, we must be nurtured and taught. Our minds are seemingly empty at birth and we
respond only to the stimuli from our nurturers touch, sounds, smells, and warmth.
If we make it past the first few crucial years of life when we must be fed, bathed and kept
from injuring ourselves, we must then be taught how to begin to perform some of these actions
on our own. Still at this stage of development, generally and theoretically, all of our basic needs
are provided and continue to be so for the duration of childhood and most of adolescence. We are
taught that love is unconditional. Then, again theoretically, at the age of eighteen we are
expected to suddenly be an adult and fend for ourselves entirely; conditions are set whereby we
must work to earn a fair amount of currency to be exchanged for our basic vital needs. To date,
the only vital part of our environment that has not been totally commoditized is the air, although
that may soon change.

REIMAGINING MASLOW.

Commoditizing and capitalizing are apparently a very masculine trait as it goes against
the nurturing nature of the feminine mind and heart, indicative of our current overly patriarchal
society.
Much like the philosophers and prophets of yesteryear have advised, we must be highly
critical and hyperaware of what gurus and sages might refer to as the divine masculine and
divine feminine energies within us. A modern day scientist might call it right or left brained, the
layman might think reptilian or mammalian qualities. In the East they have the Yin and Yang
depicting a balance in the universe. The ancient Egyptians donned the Ankh, a shape depicting
the male and female sex organs symbolizing eternal life. The ancient Sumerians used the six
pointed star to depict the Sun, the giver of life.
Many researchers and spiritualists see the six pointed star as being the divine masculine
or left-brained (the upright pyramid) and the divine feminine or right-brained (the downward
pyramid) also indicative of the respective sex organs. The left brain possesses the more logical
functions which are necessary for a more rigid competitive existence and the left brain is the
creative and intuitive which allows for an emotion centered compassionate one. As society
became patriarchal we became more warlike and mongering. In a very short time we went from
being driven by love and culture to being motivated by need and greed. Here is where Abraham
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs comes into play.
In Maslows model we see an upward pyramid used to depict five rungs of basic human
needs essential to our being healthy and happy creatures. The bottom rung is physiological
needs, those which you will die without. The next three: safety, belonging and esteem can be
lumped into one category where the provision or acquisition of each can be said to be rooted in
love or fear or connected to our fight or flight response. As well in this model, if the bottom rung

REIMAGINING MASLOW.

is not met sufficiently one will surely perish and if the first two rungs are lacking and inadequate
the next level cannot be easily attained. Yet we look to Maslow often to help us understand what
is missing in our lives and why we are in crisis. And while Maslow gives us a great outline and
his theories hold true in a very logical sense, he provides little answers as to how we may best
traverse the pyramid to the very top where one is loved and full of self-esteem able to selfactualize aligned with our inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Here is where the Mas-berg model turns our world right-side-up.
It is conceivable that human beings are born self-actualized. We see the evidence of this
in the behaviors of most average healthy and happy children whose needs are entirely and
abundantly met and for whom safety and security is little to no concern. Not only in examples
which deviate greatly from the norm such as Jaden and Willow Smith or the Sparkling Martins,
but even within the confines of mainstream, middle class, Western society where we see that
children are playful, friendly, willing to explore and have an innate desire to be creative almost
all of the time barring any deformities, disabilities and trauma; and even then we have seen
evidence that children can be quite resilient and heal rather well.
Therefore, I propose we give credit to Maslow for drafting us the imagery of the current
paradigm so that we may understand its flaws and better see its reciprocal in order that we begin
to reform our world according to the Mas-Berg Model where we return to a balance between the
matriarch and patriarch and restore a balance to our ways of life. We must embrace the nurture of
the feminine and utilize the logic of the masculine to refurbish and rebuild the destruction left in
the path imperial colonialism. A right-brained society is one constantly at war with itself vying
for control of all resources constantly feeding the ego part of our being to the extent that it is
never satiated. The left-brained have given us culture; the beauty of art, music, dance and spirit.

REIMAGINING MASLOW.

It is typically the women who keep babies warm while the men are expected to keep the lions at
bay. With growing global social movements such as Housing First, Criminal Justice Reform and
the end of the War on Drugs we can see how the Mas-Berg model enables us to see ourselves as
one. The human being can then be allowed to thrive and the world can be the anarchic utopia we
all truly wish it to be.
Tom Shadyak showed us that money cannot buy happiness and that materialism and
consumerism are not all they are cracked up to be. In the documentary Happy we see that finding
value in one another and cherishing our loved ones and our culture is the correct recipe for
happiness. I often wonder how many times people like Freud, Skinner, Piaget and Jung spent
with their heads buried in their hands shaking slowly back and forth; I wonder how many times
Marx sat down to write when only tears could pour from his eyes rather than words from his pen.
I wonder this because for me this is a regular occurrence.
In the coming years, as I work towards a terminal degree, I plan to develop a new
protocol. I call it the HAHa Protocol Holistic Approaches to Happiness. This protocol will
align with the Mas-Berg model in that it will incorporate many non-conventional and traditional
techniques and methods for treating and curing mental illness. It will align itself with current
social movements in the way of Housing First, Criminal Justice Reform and ending the War on
Drugs. It will align itself with Psychedelics Research, moderation management and harm
reduction, the study of Epigenetics and Peacemaking Criminology. It will incorporate such
modalities as Emotional Freedom Technique, Yoga, meditation and chiropractic care. Perhaps
one day I will follow this up with a paper titled Poor Wilhelm Reich, He Was Right All Along.

REIMAGINING MASLOW.

7
References

Belic, R. (Director). (2011). Happy [Motion picture on DVD]. Thehappymovie.

Padgett, D., Henwood, B., & Tsemberis, S. (2015). Housing First.
Shadyak, T. (Director). (2011). I Am [Motion picture on DVD]. Shady Acres.
Sinek, S. (2014). Leaders Eat Last. New York, NY: Penguin.
TEDTalks: Brene Brown--The Power of Vulnerability [Motion picture]. (2010). TED.