Maslow was wrong.
He got the geometry all wrong.
What Maslow did not know is that
life is not a one-way triangle
to be climbed
bottom to top—
first body,
then mind,
then soul.
Life is a web of circles,
as ancestors of my ancestors
knew to be true before
science had a name for itself.
We live in an Indra’s web of interbeing,
each jewel eye of the web,
reflected in each other jewel eye of the web:
Our own body, mind, and soul tied together.
Our nation’s body, mind, and soul tied together.
Our world’s body, mind, and soul tied together.
And much of what is wrong
with our world is in our misplaced geometry,
Maslow’s unilateral triangular ladders competing:
Within
us, Outside
us, all around us.
As life’s circular web
dreams of wholeness
waiting for you and me to step
out of triangles fighting themselves.
—
Neha Misra (she/her) is an award-winning climate justice advocate, immigrant poet, and contemporary eco-folk artist. Her interdisciplinary practice builds bridges between private, collective, planetary healing and justice. Neha is a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis — an initiative of the OpEd Project and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication to change who writes history. She is the Global Ambassador of non-profit Remote Energy, making solar training more accessible. Learn more at nehamisrastudio.com
