{"id":498,"date":"2012-12-25T10:43:33","date_gmt":"2012-12-25T05:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saravanan.org\/?p=498"},"modified":"2018-07-29T15:24:58","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T09:54:58","slug":"seek-status-be-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saravanan.org\/seek-status-be-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"Seek Status. Be Happy."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Seek<\/p>\n

If you are a corporate type, I am sure they have already bored you to death with Abraham Maslow’s human need pyramid<\/a>. \u00a0Maslow proposed that human beings start addressing their needs from the bottom most layer. \u00a0Typically, after the bottom layer is addressed, they move to the layer above. \u00a0How-much-ever popular Maslow’s pyramid is,\u00a0I can never figure out what self-actualization is!<\/p>\n

\"Maslow's<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there is a delightfully alternative human-drive model that works for me. \u00a0Proposed by David Rock, the\u00a0SCARF Model<\/a>\u00a0identifies five human needs that have huge impact on our decisions. \u00a0And it is not as if one of them is more important than the other.<\/p>\n

\"SCARF<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Maslow and all other teachers before him (including the religious teachers) completely missed the human hunger for status. \u00a0Almost every religion, without an exception, preach that status seeking is evil or trivial thing. \u00a0People readily die in order to retain their status. \u00a0In fact, almost every one is spending their whole life pursuing status.<\/p>\n

With the help of modern science, animal studies and hard data, we now clearly know that having high status adds a few years to one’s life. \u00a0Not only that, we now know that the people\/animals with lower status suffer much higher levels of stress and anxiety, making even their shorter life much less pleasant.<\/p>\n

Status seeking is a selfish act, done to benefit the self and near-self.\u00a0 Selfishness in itself is not a bad thing till such time it affects others in an unfair manner. \u00a0Unfortunately, status seeking is a win-lose game; for one person to win, other(s) must lose. \u00a0An individual’s status seeking threatens the status of (few) others in the group. \u00a0Sometimes, the entire group is threatened by an individual’s status seeking. \u00a0Groups almost always hate status seekers.<\/p>\n

Religions are a product of group selection<\/a>. \u00a0They almost always put the benefit of the group above that of the individual. \u00a0Religions always belittle an individual’s self-centered reward seeking behavior. \u00a0Ironically, religions smuggle an individual’s reward-seeking mechanism to serve the group. \u00a0If we look at it from this point of view, a religion is a parasite on its member, though a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with the host might exist.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, status seeking is driven by sexual selection<\/a>. \u00a0Status seeking is usually an expression of the mate selection drive. \u00a0An individual’s status seeking drives roughly correlates with the level of androgens and other\u00a0gonadal hormones in their body. \u00a0People are most status seeking in their sexual prime. \u00a0Kids and elderly, with their low gonadal hormone levels, more readily cooperate. \u00a0Men, with their higher androgen levels, are much more competitive than women.<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Seek, and win, Status; it is good for your health and well being<\/li>\n
  2. Your status-run will threaten your peers<\/li>\n
  3. Institutions put their selfish motive above your individual welfare when they teach you not to seek status<\/li>\n
  4. As you grow old, your status-seeking drive might diminish. \u00a0And, you might think that the status seekers are all foolish.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We’ll look at “Fairness” in the next post<\/a>.<\/p>\n