Motivation and Need

Where would we be without some level of motivation? Well certainly not in a good place. At best we would be apathic, or worse in a state of withdrawal from others and from nature, and at its most severe form  in a state of personal self-neglect and depression.  Motivation  put simply, is the internal energy or  the fuel that helps meet and sustain our needs. I was sufficiently motivated to write this post -the need for self expression, and those ideas sitting about in my consciousness  for some time, but no particular place that I wanted for them to go -well, that is,  until I discovered Google + and Blogger. We all have needs which continually seeks outward  expression in some form. At base are the survival needs, to avoid hunger, dehydration, for warmth, shelter, all that equating to physical security.  Beyond are psychological and social needs such as self esteem, social approval, respect, and of course love,  equating to psychological  and social well being. That is as far as most mammals go but we humans have another layer which grouped together form our needs for self-expression and self-realisation  and within this group lies creativity and mindfulness. These layers of needs can be viewed as a heirarchy, and indeed my description is loosely based upon the heirarchy of needs as first defined by the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow back in the 1950's.  In Maslow's view at its apex stands self-actualisation which approximates to full self-knowledge and understanding. In more religious terms it might equate with having a spiritual  experience or vision or a state of beautification or agape. My own current goals of self- fulfillment  and the aims of this blog  are definitely a couple of steps down from this apex -that is, unshackling the chains and impediments to creativity. I will  keep my posts on that level for I do not have sufficient self-knowledge beyond that. If I start having  experiencing visions inbetween posts I will let you know - always assuming  I am still capable of writing in a coherant  manner.   


 We are not likely to be expressing our so called higher needs if our life is all about survival -stated with a large caveat. Maslow's view was that higher needs could not be fulfilled if our basic survival needs were not being met.  I think it would be a limiter of truth if we were to compartmentalise all needs into boxes with non-permanable membranes. I think the so called higher needs are more maleable and can to a greater or lesser extent penetrate our survival and psycho-social needs. A person in east or central africa where finding food for survival is a full time activity may use a  form of creativity to find ingenuous ways of finding food. That same person might also find comfort in having knowledge and belief in the spiritual aspects of life. Indeed where life is so unforgiving their God/s may be the only source of solace or comfort. When it comes to creativity then we have all viewed  great images on Google+, Flickr or elsewhere taken in arctic like conditions where the photographer would have experienced various forms of hardship and discomfort. It has not limited their creativity. The difference of course  is between experiencing hardship on a temporary basis and an acceptance of this of a necessity to creating otherwise hard to get images compared with the near pernamant state of someone living below the poverty line. A more testing case might for example be Scotts fated expedition to the Antartic in 1912. Despite the fateful outcome some remarkable  pictures survive. And this in an era when cameras, tripods and accessories were much more bulkier and heavier than they are today. 


I guess that while many of us have some experience of being "in the zone" when creating our  images and in that  experience  we have certain things in common, (which I will attempt to describe in a future post) there are different levels of intensity of that experience. For example, for me it may last only minutes, perhaps whilst taking a series of shots of a single subject, to at best a few hours. It certainly does not happen every time I go out with a camera. I may go out for a day with initial enthusiasm with a clear idea of what I want to do but in the event creativity just does not switch on. The camera remains in the bag. I return from the day usually in a flat mood. "Oh well, another day"  I say. Clearly all the elements that allow creativity to happen are not in place but I am not always sufficiently aware about what they are at the time. I can also have "creativity lite" or "creativity deep" In that respect it is rather like sleep, the longer it lasts generally the deeper it is.


When I talk about lite and deep I am only comparing myself with, well, myself, not with others. I can only guess that my "creativity deep" when compared to gifted individuals awash with creativitly  is only equivalent to their "creativity lite". Even when I am as deeply " in the zone" as I can go and immersed in the subject I can still easily be distracted by internal or external events, a belly saying "feed me", a twitchy bladder (comes with age), a cold wind (hate it), - yes anything that has the label, itch, twitch, cold, pain, ache, singularly or in combination can do it. So, if you are one of those who can go out in arctic like conditions and get great images, I ask "How do you do it?"  in a sense of how do prepare yourself mentally, not your camera or clothing outfit. Comments welcome below


Before starting this blog I hesitated and procrastinated, one of my main doubts being:- "Will I have enough to say?" Well, no problem there, it seems. The words are flowing onto the screen, and  I have an outline of what my next few posts will  or may contain. I will keep each post reasonably short - it is not my aim to test your attention span to destruction or to induce a "logged on but in coma" state. Hopefully  in time as my blog gets more views my future posts will be mediated by you as reader, commentator, critic, provider of feedback and if you wish as a guest blogger. Next post , Inspiration, just off to find some!