Chapter Two

Needs

One of the starting points in understanding the source of supernormal powers is defining a special aspect of need[3] that provides the stimulation for the appearance of special supernormal powers. This need is not the commonly used "need" (meaning something that we desire or want) but rather is something like a commandment or scientific law. Need is used in some technical statements such as a chemist would state that an oxygen atom needs two more electrons which controls its chemical reaction with other atoms or molecules. An engineer might state that a steel beam needs room to expand with increasing temperatures. A pediatric nurse might state that an infant needs touching and cuddling. In genetics, evolution within a species is dependent upon need to survive. These cases are examples of how need is used almost synonymously with the word Law.

Needs (not bold), on the other hand, are generally decreed by institutions and fulfill some specific and well-defined societal purpose. A politician can develop support for herself by stating that our country needs more day care centers. A mother of a handicapped child cries out that her child needs special services in school. A concerned citizen proclaims the need for better public transportation. Needs are also often synthetically created in society such as everyone needs to use a deodorant or to own an expensive car.

Evolutionary needs arise only in the immediate moment, will not extend into the future, are not anticipated or planned, and are accompanied by supernormal powers[4]. Societal needs, on the other hand, can be planned for, controlled, and change with the current political viewpoints. In this chapter and throughout the rest of this book, the common usage of the word “need”, meaning something akin to desire or wish, will be used without italics; while the Mystical usage of need, meaning something like a scientific fact with a commandment from the immediate world, will be in bold italics.

The origin of need requires discussion since it is not self-generated. The word need will be related to the word love. In the opening examples of supernormal feats, the common explanation would be that some higher aspect of love was manifested that overrode the concern for self and ego. Obviously a different type of love is required to endanger our life to rescue someone else’s child from danger as opposed to the love that has us giving candy to our own child.

Love is a word that has been suppressed in the modern society even though it was a fundamental word in the original writings of the world’s major religions. As an example consider what we have been taught to understand what it means to love God and our neighbor. The majority of people would respond quickly with similar statements to the effect that loving God implies being good and declaring the greatness of God, while loving your neighbor is giving charity. The original meaning in the Bible was that love of God required a total commitment of heart and soul[5] and we are required to love our neighbor as ourselves[6]. In the East, the old writings described love as beginning with samadhi that could only be obtained with the loss of ego and self following dhyana or meditation on that person[7]. Needless to say, the East has generally also lost the meaning of love.

The early Greeks had four words for love that differentiated the various meanings. Love was expressed by the word agapao and love by agape or phileo. Agape was primarily a Christian term meaning charity, while phileo was love resulting from habituation, familiarity, desires, or senses. The latter is close to our modern usage of the word love. (The fourth Greek word eros meant the love of a thing including sexual things.)

Agapao is a verb generally used by Jesus to refer to the unthinking powerful action behind fully meeting the instant needs of another person, whereas the noun form, agape, generally used by Paul, refers to the charity thoughtfully given to others to meet their needs. Agapao relates to the surrendering and yielding to the demands thrust upon us through the immediate needs of an individual(s), whereas agape is, in general, related to the things or actions used to control or better the lifestyle of those considered to be less fortunate. The word agapao is used in loving God and your neighbor (without restraint or judgment) while agape relates to giving charity[8]. It should also be pointed out that since agapao rises spontaneously, it is questioned many times by the conscious brain. As an example, we have found ourselves doing some heroic or exceptional act, but while our body is launched into motion, our thoughts are screaming about our inability, the dangers, or that others are more qualified to do it.

The original religious usage of need and love and its subsequent reinterpretation is perhaps evidenced in one of the parables that Jesus gave to describe love[9]. Jesus had been talking about finding love with your neighbor when someone asked, "Well, who is your neighbor?" His reply was to tell about a man from Samaria (which was a place of doubtful conformance to Jewish Law), who found an injured man beaten by robbers and left beside a well-traveled road. Jesus added to the impact by stating that many of the other travelers along the road (who were devout Jews well versed in love or charity) ignored the plight of this victim. Jesus also stated that the Samaritan’s “bowels yearned”[10] for the injured victim and he immediately ignored everything else in his life but the wounded man. Trusting in the power in his bowels, he stepped in and did what was probably impossible for him to do normally. His ministrations were obviously correct for after a day with his patient, he was able to move the now bandaged man to an inn (rest home) for which he paid the present and future bill for his recuperation. At the time of Jesus the question was, “Who was the neighbor?” In today’s world, even with prevalent charity, the question should also include "What is love?"

This rendition of the parable is not popular today because most of us can remember having turned our backs on some unfortunate person and hence look for another interpretation as well as a solution to such problems. The modern rationale is that social reform arising from agape should correct the problem so that we do not have to be concerned with it. The modern Liberal in reviewing the parable would come to the conclusion that the innkeeper is a better model of an effective caregiving individual than the Good Samaritan. This is because he maintained a professional care over a longer period of time, even if it was paid for. (In the modern versions it may even be considered that the inn had to correct the first aid blunders of the Good Samaritan). This rationale, of course, lauds the professional caregivers of our society rather than the unprofessional and untrained people who respond to agapao. Another modern agape view is that the parable teaches that what is required is safer roads and more police and ambulances. Modern churches and governments also ask the question of who would we rather take care of us, some untrained and unwashed Samaritan or the highly trained professionals. It should also be pointed out that there is also the threat that those who respond to agapao in our world of agape may end up being sued in the courts of law or victimized in turn. Professionalism has overshadowed and replaced the recognition of the inner supernormal powers of individuals. Referring back to the secretary who caught the baby, it is almost certain that the baby was rushed to a hospital for testing for injuries since the secretary was not professionally trained in catching babies and might have injured it.

In the modern world, individual differences and needs are becoming ignored and denied with the rise of the power of the institutions that attempt to bring everyone to conformity. Needs of an individual are well defined by academia, churches, and schools and the attempt is made to control both the caregivers and the methodology of caring for these needs. The social world is becoming highly regulated and controlled well beyond the wildest concepts of the early Jewish and Christian charities. Personal needs are largely bypassed with prescribed drugs or therapies that serve only to reduce the awareness of these needs. As for instance, the real need for closeness is met with tranquilizers or the selfimposed therapies of forgetting needs with such things as TV, movies, social chit chat, or alcohol. Another method of reducing the need for closeness that is proving to be very effective is to overpower it with the fear of litigation from harassment, fear of violence from others, or the fear of acquiring of some fatal disease. Everyone is also being heavily indoctrinated with the politically correct viewpoint that everyone is the same with no real differences, hence there are no individual needs.

One of the important ancient discoveries was that in meeting a need, there is an evolution that takes place as the body and mind readjust to meet the demand. This is illustrated in many of the newspaper stories of an individual who does the nearly impossible to save someone, where the body is able to do super feats and the mind has an insight and clarity far beyond the normal. Another example is the long lingering effects after we truly meet someone else’s needs. There is a sense of comfort and warmth, but also there is an increase in inner confidence and an increased awareness of the outer world. After we touch agapao, the world is different and we seem to extend further or deeper into it. The opposite of this experience occurs when someone does not attempt to be concerned with others and avoids intimacy, thus there can be no personal evolution or social growth. This can be experienced when we are at a social drinking party in which all the guests take turns in bragging about themselves. We do not grow, even though we might take delight in feeling important. However, when we are with someone who forces us to drop all social barriers and simply respond to the immediate needs of the conversation, we can find ourselves lost in the conversation. Later we can find a sense of having approached some more perfect nature of ourselves and the outer world. This results in the sense of finding an inner knowledge of the self and world.

3. The word need in the New Testament is chreia in Greek, which may also be an early root for the word Christ.

4. For a more technical approach to this concept, read Peat’s Synchronicity which includes other models as well.

5. Deuteronomy 10:12

6. Leviticus 19:18

7. Patanjali, American Meditation or The Golden Triangle

8. The Appendix contains a short comparison of the difference between agapao and agape since many modern churches deny that agapao is anything more than agape as they remove the supernormal from the laity.

9. Bible: Luke 10:29-37

10. From the Greek splagchnizomai meaning compassion.

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