The Movement of the Triangle

Posted on February 12, 2008 
Filed Under Zeitgeist

You might be familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It is a theory neatly wrapped up in a diagram of a triangle divided into 5 horizontal segments. The four lower segments represents physiological needs of a human while the top would be psychological. The 5 levels of needs are:

What I would like to point out are the simliarities between Abraham Maslow’s theory published in 1943 and Wassily Kandinsky’s “Concerning the Spiritual in Art” or “The Art of Spiritual Harmony” published in 1914. In Kandinsky’s opening chapter he talks about mankind’s spiritual awareness represented by a giant acute-angled triangle, divided into many horizontal parts. The people who exist in the upper parts of the triangle are more advanced spiritually, much like in Maslow’s diagram. As we go down the triangle, to the base, the segments become greater in breadth, depth and area. He explains that the whole triangle is slowly moving upward and onward continuously. This means that mankind slowly makes spiritual progress through the passage of time. What seems to be too advanced or incomprehensible to a lower level in the triangle at one point in the future will be accepted and embraced.

In Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs, we each individually make the transition from lower to higher segments as we fill the deficiencies of each level. As Maslow theorized, we all have the innate desire to grow, improve, become what we ought to become. It seems that these two ideas of spiritual awakening, becoming self-actualized are happening around us. People are more focused on personal spirituality, even in material areas of life people are more concerned with quality, appearance, style, design. These are all hints that a good segment of the population are filling their esteem needs and attempting to fill their higher psychological needs.

Going back to Kandinsky’s explanation of the ever moving triangle of humankind, we see that their are veritable prophets, artists that exist in every segment of the triangle. They are prophets because they can see what lies beyond their current segment. They make works and exploit what they see and then sell to their segment. Kandinsky makes the point that these are “fully understood by their fellows and acclaimed for their genius. The greater the segment (which is the same as saying the lower it lies in the triangle) so the greater the number who understand the words of the artist.”

We all have the ability to hone our artistic skills, our mind and become these artistic prophets. When we start to strengthen our right brain, see the all-at-once picture that the artist is privileged to view, then we can makes works, be fully understood, be acclaimed for our genius. This doesn’t mean that we are going to exploit the people who exist in the same plane or lower than us but we make an uplifting product for them. It doesn’t have to be art. It can be infusing high design into products for the masses. Entrepreneurs should be getting ready to fill the creative, self-actualized needs of the people. Kandinsky’s metaphor also seems to picture the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times, as concepts, ideas, styles gain acceptance with those closer to the peak of the triangle first and make their way down to the base. Do you know what has already been popular, well-accepted, remarkable beyond your current segment? Finding out could be a rich, meaningful experience and maybe even a profitable one at that.

-Thinkslice
[tags]artist, entrepreneur, future, hierachy, kandinsky, maslow, needs, perception, profit, prophet, Right Brain, self-actualization, spiritual, triangle, Zeitgeist[/tags]

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