The generative logic and spiritual construction of Su Shi's concept of "home" from the perspective of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory

Abstract

Su Shi experienced lifelong official wandering and repeated demotions. His idea of “home” reflects his personal journey and the spiritual essence of ancient Chinese scholar-officials. Current studies mainly interpret this idea via Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist thought, patriotism and personality, lacking dynamic analysis of its evolving formation. Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and literary psychology, this paper examines Su Shi’s poems and essays across different life stages to unpack how his “home” concept developed sequentially into physical, ethical and spiritual forms. In youth, “home” represented material stability, family duties and political ambitions. Exile transformed it into an ethical community bound by kinship, friendship and compassion for ordinary folks. After being banished to Huangzhou, Huizhou and Danzhou, Su Shi surpassed physical dwellings and reached the spiritual state that “Where the mind finds peace, there is my home”. This study puts forward a three-layer framework and the “Su Shi Need-Transcendence Model”. Unlike Maslow’s linear need progression, Su Shi attained spiritual transcendence through writing, cultural beliefs and self-cultivation amid constant threats to his safety needs, revealing the distinctive spiritual transcendence embedded in traditional Chinese culture.