The Four Primary Drives: The Need for Meaning, the Need to Belong, the Need for Ideology, and the Spiritual Drive
Religious beliefs are primarily created and generated by four very basic and fundamental “Needs” or “Drives.” From a rather practical and pragmatic approach, in general, religions could be said to involve meaning or purpose, others and relationships, as well as structures and principles for both meaning, relationships, and group coherence and integrity.
1. Need for Meaning: “The meaning of life is to give life a meaning!” – is a quintessential illustration the of the iconic psychoanalyst, Viktor Frankl’s, theory of the human mind! (p. 22 Will) Frankl’s primary principle is that human beings have a Will to Meaning!”
2. The Need to Belong is deeply rooted in human consciousness. As the prominent social psychologist, Roy Baumeister, observed that “It is apparent that people have a deeply rooted need to have contact with other people.” (p.14 Meanings) Baumeister and Leary forcefully argue: “We [Baumeister and Leary] suggest that belongingness can be almost as compelling a need as food and that human culture is significantly conditioned by the pressure to provide belongingness.” (p 498 need)
3. a. Need for Ideology: Religions, as everybody knows are ideologies, the same as political ideologies such as communism or capitalism. In his writing about the politics of emerging countries,
4. Spiritual Experiences and Beliefs as Making sense of the World and Synthesis-Consensus Function: Any objective view of spiritual and religious beliefs – of the myths, the narratives, the parables and the teachings – it would be self-evident that these beliefs “made sense of the world. On top of that there is the Synthesis-Consensus of Frankl, James, and Jung that spiritual experiences [spirit] creates meaning and constructs a sense of reality and makes sense of the world