The Human Aspiration Matrix

THE HUMAN ASPIRATION MATRIX

Many philosophical studies over the centuries have tried to determine the framework of human aspiration. Schopenhauer believed that all human aspiration was based around the will to live; while Friedrich Nietzsche postulated that human beings were most motivated by their will to power.

In essence, human aspiration is perpetually connected to the nature of consciousness and the fact that it is finite. As the human being can only truly connect to itself, the end of consciousness is an unknowable and unthinkable barrier that all human beings must rationalise around.

Many choose the religious notion of the soul, a representation of the consciousness continuing its journey through time once the body has ceased to exist. Some choose to connect to other human beings, through the notion of community and through breeding, so that they can allow a trade off where some semblance or memory of their existence may leave a footprint that carries through time. Major world religions tend to marry these two notions together, in a form that allows the most comfortable world view for humans to tackle the dilemma of death.

As such, it is important to categorize human aspiration as it appears in society. There are a myriad of motivations and actions a human being may take in their lifetime, each can be categorized into four different categories.

SECURITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

This aspiration is the foundation for all other aspirations, and is most aligned with Schopenhauer’s will to live. In essence it is a human being’s desire to extend their life for as long as possible. This aspiration motivates a human being to eat, and to do things that ensure its survival. It is the aspiration that most directly influences the emotion of fear, and is directly responsible for the notion of the afterlife.

INTENSITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Often human beings take immense risks with their lives. A BASE jumper will risk their lives in an attempt to feel an intense emotional experience. A person may turn to drugs out of an intense dissatisfaction with their lives, possibly with the boredom, and people may take risks with their livelihoods such as gambling in an attempt to feel more “alive”, or some may flaunt the law in full knowledge that they may end up in prison. It is clear that these actions are not influenced by the security of consciousness aspiration, but are rather influenced by a primal need to experience a far greater range of conscious experience than what would normally be available to human beings.

Hence there is a second aspiration called the intensity of consciousness. In many ways it works against the primary aspiration in that it can compromise security of consciousness greatly, but it is important to note that those that partake in this aspiration do so partly because they underestimate the risks involved with their actions.

This is not the only reason it exists however, and it is fair to label this as an aspiration separate from the security of consciousness, however it is not likely to be as powerful – in times where the security of consciousness is constantly threatened, it is fair to say that the intensity of consciousness aspiration is weakened (in times of war).

SECURITY OF INFLUENCE

It was mentioned previously that the human mind, unable to get around the idea of finite consciousness, may make a trade off that allows it to continue after death. Religious notions of the afterlife are an example of this, though this is most directly related to consciousness. Another trade off the human mind can make is to leave an imprint of itself on other humans, such as a community or offspring. This phenomenon can be labeled influence.

Human beings often talk about the notion of having a child to “carry on the name”. It is in breeding that we find a third aspiration, the security of influence. By breeding, human beings guarantee an imprint of themselves over time, so much so that they become less interested in the continuation of their consciousness – it is common for adult humans to change life priorities from themselves to their children, which in some ways makes the security of influence a more important aspiration than the security of consciousness.

Often suicidal people will state that the major reason for their suicidal behaviour is that they feel useless, unwanted or unneeded. This suggests that these feelings, whether real or imagined, are signs of detachment from other humans and a lack of ability to secure influence. These feelings lead these people to take their own lives in futility, robbing them of their consciousness. The nature of suicide also suggests that the security of influence may be a more important aspiration to humans than the security of consciousness.

The security of influence can also be seen in the concept of conformity. In many ways, human beings are programmed in the myriad of social norms from birth, for the purpose of being able to ensure they can fulfill their security of influence aspirations. As these humans wind through their lives, the better they conform to social norms the better they are thought of amongst the community of humans around them, leaving a positive impression of that person on the community. Examples of this in Western Society can be any actions that can be construed as altruistic, generous, honest, brave, and many more. On a small scale, this can give as much security of influence as breeding. On a larger scale, it leads to the next aspiration.

INTENSITY OF INFLUENCE

There are cases where some humans may risk their reputation and a comfortable life to pursue the opportunity to influence as many people as they can. People of power in both government and industry sacrifice every other component of their life in order to pursue that position of power, and often have to compromise highly regarded social values to do so. People may pursue fame so that they are exposed to as many different people as possible, often allowing their freedom and privacy to be violated in an attempt to do so.
It is clear that the desire in humans to influence large amounts of people causes them to sacrifice other aspirations, meaning that the intensity of influence can be considered as a separate, fourth aspiration.

In many ways, the intensity of influence aspiration is similar to Nietzsche’s will to power.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE FOUR ASPIRATIONS

The two “security” aspirations and the two “intensity” aspirations themselves have a bond to each other in their underlying nature.

The “security” aspirations are both related to the survival instinct in human beings and in that way are naturally related to cautious and prudent action. They are aspirations that attempt to minimize risk rather than create it. These aspirations are instinctive and will always remain a part of the human psyche.

The “intensity” aspirations are related to a desire for human beings to fill their period of consciousness with events of importance, things that allow them to more fully appreciate their consciousness. In each case, they work against the security aspirations as they are associated with actions that are riskier and that have uncertain conclusions. They are also intermittently important – they become extremely important in times of extreme living comfort, and less important during times of hardship.

Let’s take the example of a soldier enlisting to fight in a war. The soldier, who has come from a peaceful home, is motivated by the intensity aspiration in attempt to do two things: see the action of war (intensity of consciousness) and to make a name for himself as a war hero (intensity of influence). Often military recruiters target poor areas as the army is a good avenue for poor people to make steady cash, hence the security aspirations come into play.

The soldier arrives at his destination and is immediately greeted by a perpetual threat to his consciousness. In his mind, every action he makes from here is motivated purely by his survival instincts, the security aspirations. He is paralysed by fear, a survival instinct, but is able to unblock his paralysis in order to survive.

The soldier comes back from war to his home. He is immediately hit with the routine of peaceful activity and he becomes bored quickly. He is used to a particular intensity of consciousness and the lack of stimulus drives him to create conflict in order to raise his intensity of consciousness. It takes time for the soldier to adjust to the routine of consciousness at his home again.

The example of the soldier shows two things: it shows how the “intensity” aspirations and the “security” aspirations are very much related to each other in the way they motivate a human being; it also shows how an imbalance in consciousness made through force of habit can cause social problems in human beings. The same imbalance can be seen in the influence aspirations, and can be related to many occurrences in abnormal psychology such as psychopathy, sociopathy and other disorders.

As a result of these relationships between the aspirations we can draw a two by two matrix separating them. This matrix would allow the intensity and security aspirational groups to be paired together, as well as the consciousness and influence groups. The reasons for this is that not only can each aspiration be successfully studied in its own right, but the controlling factors can also be studied, and the primal nature of these controlling factors.