Finding Discernment

What does it mean to be human? Does it mean to bare the fruits of the spirit? Does it mean that we are capable of building so many diversely beautiful ways of life and yet capable of bringing so much pain and destruction onto one another? Can I express what it means to be human in a mere blog, painting, poem, song, etc.?  Can anybody express what it means to be human so simply? We all have different interpretations of what humanity is and neither interpretation is more right or more wrong than the other. They are all different; each interpretation is as beautifully unique as the person who composed their ideas on humanity. 

I am no moral compass. I do not speak for all humans. I am simple a woman of faith that yearns to know the truth. I do not have all the answers, and since I do not have all the answers you are free to agree or disagree with this blog all you want. But I believe, coming from experience, being human means being able to love and be love. Let’s be honest, life is a journey of constant struggles. Within those struggles we all crave the need to beloved, to be accepted, to have a voice say, “I love you. No exceptions.” I believe that voice is God, but sometimes people can’t hear that voice, so it is our duty to be that voice of God that says, “I love you. No exceptions.” It is our duty to be that love that God has called us to be.

That love is a light that we all have in our hearts. It shines in many different ways, and sometimes it’s difficult to figure out where God wants us to point our light. Part of my DOOR year is to figure out the direction that my light should shine. Although, I have a clue where God wants my light to be in this world. For several years I have been interested in counseling, and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I have been interested in spiritual counseling. I believe God has given me the empathetic power to listen to the demons and insecurities of people. I do not judge them for their insecurities, I do not shame them for their demons, and I simple give them the space to be. This is something that I believe all therapists and counselors should acquire, but I believe this intentional state of mind of just letting someone be holds more weight when it is viewed from a place of spirituality. In order to give love, we must experience love, and I know God is love.

I can write a book about God’s love, but that has already been done before (several times in fact.) I think it is quite clear that I have a strong connection in working with people’s emotional and spiritual needs, the upper half of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I am not really interested in working with the lower half of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the physical needs. This is why I studied social work, in order to prepare myself for a degree in counseling. Overall, I enjoyed being a social work major, and I’m proud of my BSW, but there were times when I did not enjoy it. I felt like a lot of my social work classes focused on the physical needs of a client and not the emotional needs of a client. I felt like my social work classes focused more on the bottom levels of the hierarchy and not the top levels. (At the time I did not realize this but that is ok since it is a bachelors level and not a masters level.) It made me feel uncomfortable, as if the emotional and spiritual work did not matter as much as the physical work. It was like the physical issues were more important than the work I wanted to do. I am embarrassed to admit this, but I began to resent social services because of this.

Now how does this feeling fit into my DOOR year? Well the agency that I’ve been assigned to is PATH, people assisting the homeless. At PATH, it is focused on getting housing for the homeless, the physical work; PATH address issues that are at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy. Since I built up a little resentment in college to social services, I was not thrilled about working at PATH at first. I’d prefer to work with the kids during neighborhood hours, something that I consider working with their emotional needs. By giving the neighborhood kids a safe place to express themselves, I am addressing issues at the top of the hierarchy. While I see the importance of PATH, I am not ashamed to admit that I enjoy the neighborhood hours more. To me, working with the kids seemed to fit my personality more.

However, several questions came up while thinking about this. Is it bad for me to enjoy working with the kids more than working at PATH? Isn’t working at PATH more important than the neighborhood hours because it addresses the physical needs, the building grounds of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? Or is working with the kids more important because it addresses the needs that are on the top of the hierarchy? Which is more important the physical needs at the bottom or the emotional needs at the top? I feel like it was forced upon me to believe the physical needs are more important, but it took me awhile to realize that is only because they are the ground level for the pyramid. In away, the physical needs hold an extremely high importance in heeling someone because those needs are the groundwork. For example, if a client has to worry about dinner for the night, that person is not going to be concerned with “Am I living a joyful and meaningful life.” NO. That person is going to be concerned with, “How am I going to feed myself tonight?” We must first understand the physical needs in order to understand the emotional needs. That is why the hierarchy of needs is shaped like a pyramid and not a wall.

Although learning about the bottom levels are important to understand the top levels, I do not think one is more important than the other (this takes a lot of grace for me to say considering the struggles in college that I went through.) What happens if a case manager has a client who is addicted to meth because that person does not know how to express their feelings? Or what if a counselor has a client who ran into money trouble and now has no water or electricity? In these situations the case manager is going to need the skills of the counselor and the counselor is going to need the skills of the case manager. It is not a question of who is better, it is a question of how can we share our resources. Maybe a pyramid isn’t the best illustration for the hierarchy of needs because it promotes a since of superiority and competition, but maybe scale is a better illustration. Some times the physical needs are going to weigh more than the emotional needs and vice versa.

Plus if I’m saying one need is more valued than the other, then I am not honoring God. God created all different types of people, with all different types of light, to work with all different aspects of the human condition. If I say the counselor does more important work than the case manager, then I am saying that the counselor’s light is more important than the case manager’s light. This is not fair to the case manager, and it is not fair to God. God is a God of diversity and acceptance, not one of favoritism and competition. I think all levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are something that our Lord wants us to address, not just one particular issue. As a woman with her BSW, I need to respect all areas of social services, and as a faithful follower of Christ, I need to respect all different types of light God has created.