The human brain is currently undergoing a massive change. It is a physiological and psychological change, the results of which will only become apparent by the middle of this century. The momentum for this change in the brain is building up at the moment, and in fact, it has been building up since the 1950s. This is admittedly a long time, and we must accept that nature does take a long time to bring about any change; such changes are always slow but inevitable. The brain will change because human needs will have changed. In the past, capital defined poverty, where the rich had abundance and wealth while the poor scavenged for their next meal.
All that is now changing, we are entering a new era. In fact, we are in the transition phase now. A new world is waiting to emerge. Political, economic and military power is moving from the West to the East. At the same time, we are witnessing an increase in wealth and literacy among the so-called Third World countries. As I have argued in previous articles, within two decades or so some sort of welfare system will be established in Asia but also in other undeveloped regions of the world. This will ensure that the vast majority no longer scavenge for food. Asia will fully develop and there will be no shortage of capital or food. It will be an era where no one will be needing or requiring charity of any kind.
The image below shows Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs; this will help illustrate the logic of my argument.
As the world changes, so will the priorities; emotional and social needs will replace the physiological and security needs (see diagram above). A booming global economy and a functioning welfare system will take care of the physiological and security needs. As a result of this unprecedented change, for the first time ‘man’, the so-called social creature, will feel the power of alienation and individualism. Man will be yearning for his ‘social needs’ such as a sense of belonging, being appreciated, and to give and receive love. It will be a scene reminiscent of a fish out of water.
Poverty will be then defined as an unwholesome and unwelcome condition, a malady of discontent. Psychological depression will become the single most common debilitating melancholy affecting the masses. The only refuge from the debilitating effects of psychological depression will be creativity. Psychological depression is already on the increase in the Western Hemisphere, and by the middle of this century, depression will have become a global epidemic – affecting both the brain and the mind.
There is no doubt that the human mind endeavours and wants to be emancipated (free from restraints) and it certainly will achieve this goal in the new era. The rich will be defined as those who will have achieved this emancipation of the mind. Power and wealth that is now defined by capital will then be defined by the power of the mind – fitness of the mind. It is my prediction that there will be a new elite class of people who will have powerful creative minds, an extraordinary mind in every sense of the word. It will be as if ingenuity and inventiveness have become their mistress.
These changes in the brain, however, are a direct result of thousands of years of human progress. It is a change – and it is our goal – that we have been working so hard for millenniums to achieve, it is our final destiny.
Power and creativity, as well as the power of creativity, will rule and dominate over almost everything. It will not be surprising, then, to see creativity influencing the personalities and behaviours of creative individuals. The effects of creativity on creative individuals are seldom discussed. It is surely an interesting and fascinating topic. I publish below a few paragraphs from the book ‘Maslow on Management’ (JOHN WILEY AND SONS, INC. 1998, UK) where Abraham Maslow, a creative genius himself, describes the creative individual.