I was thinking yesterday about the idea of a person’s highest good and how it would appear, logically, that we’d have been built so that our strongest desire was to promote and pursue that good. When hungry we move toward food; when thirsty we want water: that’s the idea. But we’re not even close to operating this way. Is this because, in the examples, biological motivations are more powerful than those more remote? Partially, for sure, but when biology is provided for, why don’t we bring the same clear focus to the higher needs? It’s easy to get caught at basic levels and for some to stay there permanently. As possible goals become more obscure or take one away from the tried-and-true or, as I think commonly happens, fail even to capture notice before the immediacy of basic biological and psychological needs…motivation can’t arise for the invisible or difficult-to-imagine.
