all levels: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. While
these needs are not requirements for her survival, like eating,
drinking, breathing, and shelter, they are required to help her
feel a higher degree of emotional fulfillment.
When the lower needs for survival are met, then the higher
needs for love and intimacy become more important. For ex-
ample, if you’re really hungry, then getting fed is all you’re
concerned about. Once you have plenty of food, your other
needs become important as well. When a woman can provide
for herself she begins to strongly feel her higher needs to find
fulfillment.
When the lower needs for survival are met,
then the higher needs for love and intimacy
become more important.To experience increasing fulfillment, a woman does not have
to have all of her needs met at once. The whole process of
dating is a gradual process of satisfying her needs a little more
at a time. To be satisfied, she just needs to feel hope that one
day her emotional needs will be met. In a similar manner, a
man doesn’t have to have all his sexual needs met right away;
he just needs the hope that they are moving in that direction.
When a man moves into a woman’s world and expresses
his support, she appreciates his willingness to help as much
as the help itself. On an emotional level, she suddenly feels
she is not as alone in the world. When a man does something
concrete and tangible for a woman, not only does the woman
feel supported, but the man gets to feel successful.
THE WISDOM OF DATING RITUALS
The wisdom of dating rituals is to define the roles of man as
giver and woman as receiver. Dating rituals are designed to
310 / JOHN GRAY, PH.D.