As you know the Maslow Pyramid starts with your need for food, shelter, and clothing, and next comes safety needs; security, psychological safety. Need for respect from your fellow man, and then self-esteem needs. Lastly, the need for knowledge, understanding, justice, and goodness; and, after that you’ve been self-actualized. As our nation becomes more of a socialist left-leaning society, there will be fewer people who will have achieved the lower levels in the Maslow Pyramid. Okay so let’s talk about this shall we?
If everyone is living in fear for such basic things as; food, shelter, and clothing, then they cannot get to the next step. It seems as if many of these folks are busy online at social networks trying to achieve some level of self-esteem through self-validation, and pretend electronic friends who they’ve never met. Therefore in hindsight and observation perhaps it is true that we are getting into this space in our country, and while it is unfortunate, maybe it’s not necessary either.
Maybe individuals can bypass some of the lower levels and steps of that pyramid, and still achieve somewhere near the concept of self-actualization. How might they go about this you wonder? Well, maybe if they get a job, and buy their own food they would have self-esteem, along with the food, therefore they would get the bottom two foundational steps together. If we make people weak by giving them free stuff, we may have helped them on the first step, but they won’t have achieved any reasonable amount of self-esteem.
If we keep telling people that there is no upward mobility in America anymore and blame all the rich people we will end up taking away their sense of justice, because we tell them things are unfair, and it is someone else’s fault. When you stop blaming other people for your own problems, you can advance to the next step. If you stop worrying what type of house you live in, what other people think of you, or that the world is unfair you get to bypass those lower levels.
In doing this and reasoning this, you will have gained wisdom and you are one step closer to self-actualization. A homeless person can be self-actualized if they stop complaining, and blaming others, and start loving the life they are living in. There are many homeless people who are self-actualized and live a homeless lifestyle by choice. They are not nearly the mentally downtrodden that some people perceive. That’s not to say that most homeless people are below the pyramid, it’s just that they aren’t all there.
If a homeless person can become self-actualized, so can you. That’s why I suggest bypassing the psychological barriers of Maslow. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.