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By Professor Steven Reiss, Ph.D

09/04/2013 Human Needs, Buddhist Psychology and Mindfulness | Psychology Today
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/enlightened-living/201301/human-needs-buddhist-psychology-and-mindfulness 1/3
Whichever school of thought we subscribe towhether the implied
collection of needs suggested by Freud, the rigorous research of Reiss or
the historically derived and empirically demonstrated strengths and
virtues cited by Seligmanit is clear that human needs can be identified
and that identification, allowing for some difference in perspective and
labeling, is fairly consistent over time.
Buddhist psychology identifies seven psychological characteristics: life,
order, wisdom, love, power, imagination, understanding and will. These
were initially described in the Abhidharma, as well as the Rig Veda, and
are remarkably similar to those found in the Western narrative compiled
centuries later. Some map directly to the various Western systems and
some more indirectly, but the relationship is consistently clear and
reasonable.
f one were intent on drawing a direct line between the human needs
spectrum described by Buddhist psychology and a Western counterpart,
Seligman's positive psychology would likely be the best choice. This is not
so much because of any coincidence in the labeling scheme, but more
because of the coincident perspective. Western psychology tends to
issue from a place of damage and illness. Seligman's work in positive
psychology has been a relatively antithetical response to that position.
Buddhist psychology would similarly have us start from a place of
wholeness and perfection.
So, now we get to the question of mindfulness. What makes mindfulness
a challenge is that there is no real starting point for witness
consciousness, or the objective observation of the 'Self' by the 'self'.
That's mainly because the self, or ego, interferes with that process by
way of our assumptions, expectations and ideas about the way the world
works. mindfulness can be even more of a challenge because,
once we get the meta-awareness of witness consciousness going, we
need somewhere to point it and very often we don't know where that is,
exactly. So, we may be all "aware and stuff, but often nothing really
changes.
EnIIgILened IvIng
Mindfulness practice in everyday life.
by Michael J. Formica
Human Needs, Buddhist Psychology and Mindfulness
Targeting mindfulness
Published on January 17, 2013 by Michael J. Formica, MS, MA, EdM in Enlightened Living
Buddhist psychologyand the Shankya yoga science from which it issues describes seven
psychological characteristics that inform our four life meta-categories (work, relationship, self and
spirit) and also map directly to the various needs spectrums found in Western motivational
psychology.
We can think of the life meta-categories of work, relationship, self and spirit as occurring in four
quadrants. Within these quadrants are smaller categories, like job, love, sex, health, religion, etc.,
respectively. The way that each of us balances the four quadrants and their sub-categories creates a
framework for our lives. To understand how and why we create that balance, we need to consider
our underlying motivation.
Theories of human motivation abound. Most of us are familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, as
well as Freud's less rigidly presented spectrum of human needs. William McDougall, William James
and Henry Murray have all contributed to this conversation, as has, more recently, Steven Reiss. n
addition, Martin Seligman's positive psychology would appear to be informed by Jung's focus on
spiritual fulfillment and Frankl's will to meaning.
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MichaeI J. Formica, M.S., M.A.,
Ed.M., is a psychotherapist, teacher
and writer. He is an nitiate in the
Shankya Yoga lineage of H.H. Sri
Swami Rama and the Himalayan
Masters.
more...
Just as the joy that good things bring us fades as
we habituate to it, so does the pain of loss.
Alex Lickerman, M.D.

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09/04/2013 Human Needs, Buddhist Psychology and Mindfulness | Psychology Today
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/enlightened-living/201301/human-needs-buddhist-psychology-and-mindfulness 2/3
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Tags: abhidharma, anxiety, anxiety symptoms, buddha, buddhism, buddhist psychology,
chakra, formica, four quadrants, freud, henry murray, hierarchy of needs, human motivation,
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michael j., michael j. formica, mindfulness, motivation, motivation theories, murray, needs,
positive psychology, psychological characteristics, rig veda, rigorous research, school of
thought, sex health, spiritual fulfillment, steven reiss, theories of human motivation, william
mcdougall, witness consciousness, work relationship, yoga, yoga science
Now, getting back to needs, if we can gain an understanding of our
needs and then unravel the dissonance around those needs we then
have somewhere to point our mindfulness. The Reiss Motivational Profile,
the Meyers-Briggs and the Enneagram are examples of tools that can
help us to do this because they force us into a state of pseudo-witness
consciousness by asking us to be objective observers of ourselves
without (too much) interference from the ego.
For exampleand we'll use the Reiss Profile here because it is fairly
clear and easy to followlet's say you're experiencing feelings of an
ongoing, non-clinical, free-floating, generalized anxiety. n layman's
terms, you're freaking out a bit for no discernible reason.
You take the Reiss profile and discover (these are simplistic
interpretations) you are Low Order (not much for structure), High
Tranquility (don't like chaos) and Low Vengeance (non-confrontational).
Your anxiety may well be, in part, derived from the fact that people who
operate with little structuredon't pick up after themselves, don't pay bills
on time, are tardy for work or social events--naturally invite both chaos
and confrontationmessy house, late fees, irate bosses, coworkers,
clients and friends.
An unaddressed dissonance around disparate needs creates psychic
tension, which here we have labeled anxiety. f we want to backtrack into
the Buddhist perspective, we could also say this dissonance is creating a
disturbance in the muladhara and atala chakras and the manamaya
kosha. This works because Western needs spectrums map quite easily to
both the chakra and kosha systems found in the yoga Vedanta. But,
digress.
Without a direct perspective on your needs bias, you would likely point
your mindfulness at the symptom (the anxiety)and that can get a bit
murky on both sides of the equation. With a more concrete notion of the
source of the symptom, mindfulness techniques can be targeted. And
that's how we can loop back to witness consciousness.
Witness consciousness examines the state of the 'self' from the
perspective of the 'Self'. f we consider an understanding of our basic
needs as a snapshot of the state of the 'self', then we have in hand the
objective distance we need to effectively apply mindfulness where it is
needed, rather than simply being generallyand likely less effectively
mindful.
2013 Michael J. Formica, All Rights Reserved
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