kill 'em with kindness

Void, 2019

10,5 x 12 cm

Pencil and graphite

I know I was also tagged by the lovely @flammaelunae​ a little while ago to post selfies (sorry I’m so late to this, had a case of the uglies for a little while there)

“Most of what you think you know about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is wrong.

This is the model that we all learned in psych 101 is wrong [image of Maslow’s pyramid is shown] where our basic physiological needs are at the bottom of the pyramid and achieving one’s full individual potential is at the apex.

What you may not have known is that Maslow spent 6 weeks with the Blackfoot First Nation in the summer of 1938. He learned about their worldview and the Blackfoot Tipi, appropriated and misrepresented their perspective to establish his own Maslow’s hierarchy, and then didn’t give them credit.

[Image of Maslow’s pyramid and Blackfoot tipi shown, described below]

According to the Blackfoot Tipi, self-actualization is at the bottom of the pyramid. In the middle we have belonging and community actualization, where people take care of each other and help each other with their basic needs. And at the top, we have cultural perpetuity, which is teaching each other how to live in harmony with the land and achieve community actualization through generations.

It makes so much sense, right? Taking care of oneself is not enough. We need to take care of each other and our community.

Doing what is best for you doesn't always feel good. It is fucking painful. It can feel like your insides are being ripped out of you. It can empty you, make you feel like the shell of the person you once were

But it replaces the emptiness with something better, something healthy, something extraordinary

You have to keep going