Yearning is to seek earnestly for what one desires or longs for. Most everyone has something that they truly yearn for. What people yearn for will be different based upon individual wants and needs. Back in the 70s Abraham Maslow was a leading authority on motivation and he had developed a hierarchy of needs to show how humans naturally partake in behavioral motivation. According to Maslow people have basic needs that have to be met before they can move on to a higher level of needs that need to be met.
This article is being rewritten from an article I wrote for The Outlook back in 1999. The info on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs I paraphrase came from my first psychology book from my first class I took that helped me realize I wanted to be a counselor, Psychology Today, 7th ed. 1991, McGraw Hill Publishing.
The first set of needs that have to be met are ones physiological needs, such as hunger and thirst. Someone who is homeless my have to continually operate on this level because all to often they may never know where their next meal or drink is coming from. Therefore, their higher needs of love and acceptance can’t be met either until their physiological needs are met.
Once the basic needs of survival are met then one also will strive to have their need for safety to be met. People want to be able to feel safe and secure and out of danger. Unfortunately, many who are in violent and/or abusive relationships get stuck at this level always seeking to be out of harms way from their perpetrator. If one never feels safe they will never really care whether or not other psychological needs are being met.
As needs are met at the lower levels of the hierarchy one can move up to the other levels. Once the fundamental needs are met then one can focus on their psychological needs. People will yearn to be accepted and loved and have a sense of belonging. According to Maslow once a person feels that they are loved, accepted, and belong then they will have a yearning to achieve and gain approval and recognition. At this time a person has developed self-respect.
This is very important because one has to have self respect before than can ever respect anyone else. This is like the principle of loving your neighbor as yourself. You can’t love others if you don’t even love yourself. The final stage is the need for self-actualization according to Maslow. He believed that only a small percentage of people ever reached this level. He believed at this level is when a person has reached their unique potential, such as Mother Theresa.
This does not mean that to reach your unique potential that you have to become a nun and dedicate your life to helping the less fortunate. Being self-actualized is very similar to being sanctified as mentioned in the Bible. The Holman Bible Dictionary defines sanctification as the concern with the moral and spiritual obligations a person assumes once their life has been transformed by the grace of God. To paraphrase Matthew 6:33, if we yearn for the kingdom of God and His righteousness then all of our lessor needs will be met.
Rewritten from December 22, 1999
~TRS
Rays of Hope 