Beyond Our Drives
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Luke 9:22-25
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021926.cfm
The Four-Drive theory is a concept developed by Paul Lawarence and Nitin Nohria. The theory is that we as human beings are evolutionarily driven by four things: the drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to create, the drive to defend. The drive to acquire is the ability to gather the resources that you need. It’s the ability to possess material things. The drive to bond is the ability to live in community; the ability to connect with others. The drive to create is the ability to have autonomy; it’s the ability to make things and to choose for one’s self. The drive to create extends so far to your own personal freedoms, your likes, and dislikes. It’s your ability to choose for yourself. The last of the drive is the drive to defend. As these other drives are threatened, the drive to defend takes over and you are left defending and protecting what you have.
When we feel like we have limited resources, the acquire drive is dominant and we’ll see the world through the lens on how we can acquire. If we are feeling disconnected from others or lonely, we can view the world through the lens of seeking out community or relationship with others. If we feel like we are controlled and are unable to make decisions for ourselves, we can seek more autonomy and find ways to have more control. If we feel like these things are threatened, we can defensively posture ourselves to those threats.
Reading this gospel with the four-drive theory in mind, Jesus is calling us to a deeper freedom beyond these drives. Yes, we all need things, but an abuse of the drive to acquire can lead to us taking in excess. Yes, we need to bond with others, but we can take poor actions in the need to belong. Yes, having autonomy is a good thing until it drives us to take away the autonomy of others. Yes, there are threats we need to protect ourselves against, but there are also threats that we create that cause us to live in fear or attack others we merely perceive as threats. While on the surface, we may think the differences are easy to distinguish, in reality, they can be very challenging.
These drives serve a purpose, but when taken to extremes, they can be very detrimental. When one gains more in these drives, they can often feel like they have more to lose. Or as they grow in one, they may think it will satisfy another. They can fall trap to what seems to be an insatiable need to acquire, bond, create, and defend. Even if the needs are already met, the drive may still remain. When one acquires more power and privilege, the abuses of these can be taken to more extremes. The underlying need behind these drives for one’s self and for others can be lost for the sake of fulfilling these drives themselves.
In today’s gospel, Jesus is warning us against skewing these drives in such a way. That may partially be what he means when he speaks about saving one’s life. These drives are self-focused. If they become an obsession or are abused, they can lead to very bad things for ourselves and for others. Our drives should not take away from another person’s ability to do the same.
We must see the needs of others in addition to these drives for ourselves. We must recognize that deep down we all need the same things. We can fall victim to the abuses of these drives in others as we can also let these drives get the best of us. May God help us heal from the abuses of these drives. May we all learn to find the genuine need behind these drives for all of us so that we can live in harmony with one another. Amen.
