A 21st Century Sustainability Manifesto
Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need; the expanded version, including Cognitive, Aesthetic, and Transcendent Needs, I’ve expounded on the potential for Humanity as a Global Model rather than an individual needs model.
Creative Note: the higher levels of need in the old model suddenly take on the lower levels of needs, suggesting a shift in the hunger of the Level 3 wanting for something bigger than ourselves.
Don't let the enormity of this document stop you from reading it. It took a long time to create. It takes even longer to read and absorb its content. Your feedback on what's powerful or missing is always welcome at the bottom of the page.
The NEEDS:
Biological and Physiological Needs:
(Air) – The premise that all life requires air/oxygen is amplified by the need for Clean Healthy Air; that which all beings take into their lungs and bodies must not only be safe; it must be life affirming. Other living things, such as plants require the wisdom of balance that our atmosphere has always provided.
This balance must be protected and sustained for all living things to survive. This essential biological and physiological need calls forth governments and big industry to clean up and create new operating systems that support sustainable Earth and Humanity; It calls forth people to minimize their individual carbon footprints, and more …
(Water) - The premise that all life is made up of water is amplified by the need for a fresh, clean water supply that benefits all life; assuring that what we take into our bodies is not only safe; it’s life affirming.
This simple biological and physiological need also calls forth government and industry to clean up its environmental damage; to create new operating systems for sustainable continuation of industry; it requires all of us to be prepared for global warming consequences; the example of contamination of Ohio's water supply by algae, for one; Fukishima as another example.
It calls forth people to be cognizant of water waste- leaky pipes and hoses both personal and industrial and what gets put in the water by Humans, i.e., flushing unused medicine into the water system, hair dyes, plastic pellets in hand sanitizer, etc. The need for water that supports other life on the Planet is also amplified by an increased action to protect the Planet’s poles, and stay the onset of Global Warming that we are currently experiencing. Water must continue to be a free resource and those who seek to capitalize on Humanity’s greatest requirement for life must surrender control or face legal consequences.
(Food) – The premise that all life requires nutrients is amplified by the need for organically derived, non-genetically altered food. What we currently eat: empty calories and sugar, sugar substitutes, genetically altered, hormone and antibiotic injected foods will not sustain life on this planet; what our food consumes (livestock, fish, plants - i.e., feeding chicken waste products to livestock; honeybees ingesting huge quantities of pesticides and entire colonies destroyed) will not create the quality of the circle of life that our future requires.
The need for healthy, sustainable food requires Humanity to look at its farmlands and ranches: are these operating in alignment with sustainable values and needs? Are small farms able to survive in the presence of larger food suppliers? Are we eating locally and seasonally? How are we harvesting our meat sources? Are we kind, compassionate, grateful? How can farmers and cattle ranchers live in harmony with the wild? In the wild, wolves, who sometimes feed on livestock in the Rockies, would be re-classified to endangered species; we would create better protection for livestock, or find an innovative way via nature to keep wolves at bay. The genocide of species would be stopped at all levels. Building a military base in Japan that would threaten the (single-digit) remaining Okinawa Dugongs - a marine animal considered sacred to the Japanese - wouldn't even be considered. No farm-raised food would be wasted, with outlets provided to distribute food wherever needed. The appearance of "ugly fruits and vegetables" is one step in this process to utilize all food, not just the aesthetically pleasing. We would cease to be a civilization that only valued the perfect; the beautiful. Food waste will disappear; feeding the homeless and the hungry.
(Sleep) – The premise that all life requires rest and rejuvenation is amplified by the need for more than sleep; the need exists for the replenishment of our bodies, minds and spirits as well. This biological and physiological need requires time to repair and replenish what we spend each day. The importance of the human being to the cycle of Humanity requires each of us to operate with full adrenal capacity, supporting physical, mental and emotional homeostasis.
Work /Life balance plays an important role here, assuring that every human being has time for replenishing physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. There may even be a tie to Health Care qualifications.
(Shelter) – The premise that all human life requires shelter is amplified by the need for housing and community that supports the frailty of the human physical form as well as the physiological, mental and emotional need for shelter. Shelter is cognizant of how it impacts all living things, and therefore, is environmentally sustainable, non-invasive of fragile geographic areas or materials and closely aligned with the natural world.
(Warmth) – The premise that all life requires a climate or temperature that aligns with the sustainability of that life, is amplified by the need to create warmth (or cold for certain living things) in a way that benefits the planet: Making way for energy sources that do not strip, or damage the Earth; Using natural sources, such as solar power, and building to strategically capture warmth in as natural a way as possible.
(Reproduction/Perpetuation of the Species) – The premise that all life is sacred is amplified by the need to balance human life with other life on the planet; The future is cognizant of the need for all living things to coexist and that one form of life does not take precedence over another, i.e., destroying a fragile ecosystem to build tract housing.
This need overlaps with the other biological and physiological needs, as well as needs to be discussed shortly. Life requires all the needs to perpetuate the species successfully and beneficially.
Elephants poached for their tusks must stop; animals for their fur; dogs as a festival food source. Life on this planet is not an accessories or object d’art and while there is currently a food chain with its roots in survival, humans have evolved to know that our survival is not dependant on a specific protein food source and needs to act accordingly.
This tenant does not and is not intended to address women’s choice issues; their reproductive rights. No one has the right to control another’s body. There is a place for this discussion somewhere in this need document and will be addressed when possible.
Physical and Emotional Safety:
(Health) – The premise that all life forms operate in a state of health is amplified by the need to be responsible to each other for our well-being and care. Overlapping needs include all of the biological and physiological needs and well as many of the physical and emotional safety needs, such as sanctuary, vulnerability and order, law, and protection. Our well-being is derived from the chemicals we put into the Earth and atmosphere, the drugs we use and discard, how we care for our food sources, and how we view and care for ourselves. The way in which we view ourselves carries a huge portion of this need for safety: or image, our self-worth, our value in and out of relationship (add to that a list of disorders: depression, anxiety, phobias and fears)
Physical and emotional safety includes the paradox of the right to bear arms and the overwhelming simplification of that right in the face of the human tragedy we have seen in the early 21st Century. Our children need to feel safe at school; their right of trust, independence and safety needs to be protected; all races need to feel safe whether on the streets or in churches, restaurants, grocery stores, colleges and universities, etc.
(Work) - The premise that we find Purpose and Meaning in our work is amplified with the need to be valued and productive, as well as the need to be inventive, and creative; creating from self and others, as well as creating from a need or want. The work of the craftsperson: quality and value, as well as the Need of Aesthetics: beauty, balance and form. A sustainable future seeks out the potential and the proactive need for work. What can be done is done. No longer do we walk by a structure in need of repair; we seize the opportunity and let our time, talent and energy to restore it regardless of remuneration or acclaim. No longer do we walk by some trash on the street, although trash on the street is rare as we evolve into sustainable society. People clean up after their dogs; don’t throw cigarettes – or anything else - out car windows. There is an all-hands on deck feeling to this need that supersedes ownership. We are all stewards of Earth and we all care for her.
(Property) - In the old chapter, ownership and material possessions were more important than the actual Sanctuary; Personal Space they create. In the new evolution, the premise that we require property to be physically and emotionally safe evolves into the need for sanctuary and personal space. In the old Maslow’s Hierarchy, Stanley Bronstein, author of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need for the 21stCentury states that much of our ascension up Maslow’s triangle was due to considering materials possessions, wealth and appointment as our safely, belonging and self-esteem. As that paradigm fades, more people will travel back down the triangle, looking for the new safely, belonging and self-esteem. Sanctuary and personal space replaces the need for property in the material sense.
(Financial) – The premise of money itself is amplified. Money as an invention has taken on an importance all its own. There are the have’s and the have not’s. The premise that money buys happiness through the circuitous route of material possessions and ability to access that which someone without the same resources cannot access is amplified by the need to supply the world’s population with the basic necessities of life. Everyone has biological and physiological needs met; everyone has physical and emotional safety needs met. The act of excess creates an embarrassment, e.g., shame, until all the biological and physiological needs and physical and emotional safety needs of all of Humanity are met. Even after these are met, the balance is carefully defined as abundance, meaning plenty for everyone, otherwise there will be a new have’s and have not’s created with the same results as the old chapter. In this new world, if anyone needs a home, then there will be work to assure that everyone has a home. Once that is done, if someone desires two homes, then they are free to pursue the purchase of a second home, and so forth, so the work and craftsmanship, plus jobs and economy continues.
(Family) – The premise of the family, as physical and emotional safety, takes on new meaning. We value the “family unit” and that definition broadens in scope to include a diverse family of love/belonging. The premise of the family is that belonging no longer overrides safety in the hierarchy (i.e., children in abusive relationship with a parent); belonging is safety. Vulnerability; Transparency are valued. It is here that the gender-based violence is eradicated from Humanity and there is a deepening of partnership that travels up to the “Love and Belonging” need.
(Social Stability) - The premise of Order; Law; Protection; Limits is amplified in Chapter 3 as the order of Humanity through connection and caring. Each law requires a unique perspective that includes vulnerability and transparency. There is no penal system; punishment is judgment and human life is about lessons learned. The Social Stability need is critically dependent on all other needs being met. Only then can we look at someone who has not honored someone’s need to health or life or personal space and see it as instability; a breach of safety. The need for an enforced social stability will decrease as other needs are stabilized and met.
Love and Belonging
(Family, Community, Home) - The premise of the family, as love and belonging, requires a deeper connection to each other. The broader family unit (as described in physical and emotional safety) exists and is accepted, and a return to the community is amplified. The need to create tribes is also amplified; a broader scope of support. More and more people turn to community or communal living to support all ages, genders and lifestyles at different stages of life. This is not an amplification of the gated communities we see today; where you must get permission to paint your home a certain color, or are required to have the same mail box or receptacle as all your neighbors. This is a deeply shared community beyond the materialistic; a witnessing of life and its passages.
(Love/Non-Sexual/Partnership and Companionship) – The premise of love, non-sexual, partnership and/or companionship is amplified with the need to create intimacy with others. This non-sexually based intimacy allows us to experience vulnerability and full transparency with others without any expectation; it is permission to openly express love across genders.
Self-Esteem
(Confidence) The premise of self-esteem is amplified as a pointing to Self-awareness; curiosity and the perception of who we are, using our strengths and weaknesses, drives and personalities, habits and values. Our self-esteem and confidence grow through our own selves rather than at the expense of another. Our own self esteem must grow before we create it interpersonally, socially or globally. Consciousness that includes the ability to forgive and accept our very same strengths and weaknesses, drives and personalities, habits and values without putting anyone else at risk, is the legacy of conscious evolutionaries. This is not“better than” self-esteem. It is self-esteem, or knowing of self that directly feeds the need for self-fulfillment and uniqueness/individuality.
Achievement/ Self-fulfillment
(Reputation) – The premise of achievement/self-fulfillment is amplified as a need correlated to reputation, respect for others, uniqueness and individuality and mastery.
The need for reputation in the old hierarchy is centered on the need to feel important. Here is when this paradigm shifts, and the need for reputation is more about being important to a family, community, or on a global scale, than feeling important. Feeling important creates a separateness, in which the person stands back to assess importance. Being important is a receiving of respect from others while the person is interconnected with them. Reputation assimilates into belonging, and rather than being a higher needs on the triangle, it becomes a basic need: to be important for the sake of something bigger than ourselves. This correlates directly to understanding one’s soul purpose and expression and when our reputation is acknowledged, it is amplified as respect for others, or connection.
(Respect for Others) – The premise of self-fulfillment as it relates to respect for others, is amplified as Connection. The quality of our connections will matter far more, simply because in order to earn respect from others, we must be taking care of all our other needs: physiological, safety, social, etc. Self-awareness will negate the neediness of today’s world, in which people exploit others for their own gain. There is a transcendence of the petty problems that currently fill Humanity (at certain levels of the triangle). There is a looking outward at greater social issues, such as injustice, bias, pain, and violence. There is a moving away from interpersonal problems to global problems and issues. In a 1968 interview, Maslow made this visionary statement: "...The Good Society now has to be one world - it has to be one world or it won't work - nationalism is dead - it just doesn't know it yet..." Social interest, human kinship, compassion.
(Uniqueness/Individuality) – The premise of uniqueness and individuality is amplified as understanding one’s soul purpose and expression. The uniqueness of the individual is valued at birth, and nurtured throughout one’s lifetime. The fact that each individual is designed to be unique, and not a cookie-cutter image of its parents or the rest of society, supports this self-fulfillment need.
(Mastery) – The premise of self-fulfillment is amplified through mastery derived from practice and craftsmanship. This differs from unique and individual self-fulfillment. This is a desire to create something of beauty and function; to pay attention to detail. As Humanity moves closer to Chapter 3, we will see the sacred in the secular more readily and more easily, and the need to create quality will supersede the need to mass produce. Humanity is likely to tip in favor of innovation and discovery.
Cognitive
(Knowledge) – The premise of Cognitive need is amplified as it relates to knowledge. Humanity, having advanced technology as never before, will become knowledge chasers, seeking truth, exploring and discovering truths that lead to a better understanding of who we are, how we age, what is illness and how we heal. The discovery of other solar systems is an opportunity for Cognitive need, because our need for knowledge may push beyond our own world as a way to get to the Cognitive need of meaning.
(Meaning) – The premise of Cognitive need is amplified as it relates to meaning. What is our place in the Universe? What is our purpose? A deeper need for the meaning of life and death is essential for Humanity to be self-actualized and transcendent.
Aesthetic
(Beauty, balance, form) – The premise of Aesthetic is amplified by a return to the presence of beauty in nature and in the human-made world. A heightened intimacy with the natural world and the balance and form of the human-made world is inevitable. The wabi sabi of derelict objects and buildings will hold a reverential place, as the need for preservation and restoration of history is renewed.
The aesthetics of human form will also undergo a renaissance, as Humanity finally understands and advocates that beauty cannot be marketed for retail value. That idolizing a shape, color or size goes against all the other basic and higher needs of Humanity.
Self-Actualization – our master motive
(Morality) - The premise of Self-Actualization as morality is amplified in as an ability to detect the fake, and the dishonest in personality; to see people for who they are. Humanity is utilizing all its empathic potential. **
(Creativity) – The premise of self-actualization through creativity is amplified, changing need to responsibility; a responsibility to use our gifts to best of our abilities; to become our potential. This is closely related to the Self-Actualization of morality, guiding how we use our gifts – risking no one else’s needs in the process.
(Experience/Purpose) – The premise of Self-Actualization through experience and purpose is amplified as fulfilling a mission beyond ourselves, instead of outside ourselves. Humanity becomes Humanitarian.
Transcendence
Living at the level of Being/Helping others to self-actualize – The premise of Transcendence is created. A unitized consciousness, in which the mystic or sacral changes our view of the world; peak and plateau experiences are the purpose of life. Humanity speaks more effortlessly, using the language of imagery, almost poetic in nature. There is sacredness in all things, even those at a common place level. There is a natural urge to co-actively create: interpersonally, culturally and internationally. We transcend competition and ego.
Creative Note: the higher levels of need in the old model suddenly take on the lower levels of needs, suggesting a shift in the hunger of the Level 3 wanting for something bigger than ourselves.
Don't let the enormity of this document stop you from reading it. It took a long time to create. It takes even longer to read and absorb its content. Your feedback on what's powerful or missing is always welcome at the bottom of the page.
The NEEDS:
Biological and Physiological Needs:
(Air) – The premise that all life requires air/oxygen is amplified by the need for Clean Healthy Air; that which all beings take into their lungs and bodies must not only be safe; it must be life affirming. Other living things, such as plants require the wisdom of balance that our atmosphere has always provided.
This balance must be protected and sustained for all living things to survive. This essential biological and physiological need calls forth governments and big industry to clean up and create new operating systems that support sustainable Earth and Humanity; It calls forth people to minimize their individual carbon footprints, and more …
(Water) - The premise that all life is made up of water is amplified by the need for a fresh, clean water supply that benefits all life; assuring that what we take into our bodies is not only safe; it’s life affirming.
This simple biological and physiological need also calls forth government and industry to clean up its environmental damage; to create new operating systems for sustainable continuation of industry; it requires all of us to be prepared for global warming consequences; the example of contamination of Ohio's water supply by algae, for one; Fukishima as another example.
It calls forth people to be cognizant of water waste- leaky pipes and hoses both personal and industrial and what gets put in the water by Humans, i.e., flushing unused medicine into the water system, hair dyes, plastic pellets in hand sanitizer, etc. The need for water that supports other life on the Planet is also amplified by an increased action to protect the Planet’s poles, and stay the onset of Global Warming that we are currently experiencing. Water must continue to be a free resource and those who seek to capitalize on Humanity’s greatest requirement for life must surrender control or face legal consequences.
(Food) – The premise that all life requires nutrients is amplified by the need for organically derived, non-genetically altered food. What we currently eat: empty calories and sugar, sugar substitutes, genetically altered, hormone and antibiotic injected foods will not sustain life on this planet; what our food consumes (livestock, fish, plants - i.e., feeding chicken waste products to livestock; honeybees ingesting huge quantities of pesticides and entire colonies destroyed) will not create the quality of the circle of life that our future requires.
The need for healthy, sustainable food requires Humanity to look at its farmlands and ranches: are these operating in alignment with sustainable values and needs? Are small farms able to survive in the presence of larger food suppliers? Are we eating locally and seasonally? How are we harvesting our meat sources? Are we kind, compassionate, grateful? How can farmers and cattle ranchers live in harmony with the wild? In the wild, wolves, who sometimes feed on livestock in the Rockies, would be re-classified to endangered species; we would create better protection for livestock, or find an innovative way via nature to keep wolves at bay. The genocide of species would be stopped at all levels. Building a military base in Japan that would threaten the (single-digit) remaining Okinawa Dugongs - a marine animal considered sacred to the Japanese - wouldn't even be considered. No farm-raised food would be wasted, with outlets provided to distribute food wherever needed. The appearance of "ugly fruits and vegetables" is one step in this process to utilize all food, not just the aesthetically pleasing. We would cease to be a civilization that only valued the perfect; the beautiful. Food waste will disappear; feeding the homeless and the hungry.
(Sleep) – The premise that all life requires rest and rejuvenation is amplified by the need for more than sleep; the need exists for the replenishment of our bodies, minds and spirits as well. This biological and physiological need requires time to repair and replenish what we spend each day. The importance of the human being to the cycle of Humanity requires each of us to operate with full adrenal capacity, supporting physical, mental and emotional homeostasis.
Work /Life balance plays an important role here, assuring that every human being has time for replenishing physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. There may even be a tie to Health Care qualifications.
(Shelter) – The premise that all human life requires shelter is amplified by the need for housing and community that supports the frailty of the human physical form as well as the physiological, mental and emotional need for shelter. Shelter is cognizant of how it impacts all living things, and therefore, is environmentally sustainable, non-invasive of fragile geographic areas or materials and closely aligned with the natural world.
(Warmth) – The premise that all life requires a climate or temperature that aligns with the sustainability of that life, is amplified by the need to create warmth (or cold for certain living things) in a way that benefits the planet: Making way for energy sources that do not strip, or damage the Earth; Using natural sources, such as solar power, and building to strategically capture warmth in as natural a way as possible.
(Reproduction/Perpetuation of the Species) – The premise that all life is sacred is amplified by the need to balance human life with other life on the planet; The future is cognizant of the need for all living things to coexist and that one form of life does not take precedence over another, i.e., destroying a fragile ecosystem to build tract housing.
This need overlaps with the other biological and physiological needs, as well as needs to be discussed shortly. Life requires all the needs to perpetuate the species successfully and beneficially.
Elephants poached for their tusks must stop; animals for their fur; dogs as a festival food source. Life on this planet is not an accessories or object d’art and while there is currently a food chain with its roots in survival, humans have evolved to know that our survival is not dependant on a specific protein food source and needs to act accordingly.
This tenant does not and is not intended to address women’s choice issues; their reproductive rights. No one has the right to control another’s body. There is a place for this discussion somewhere in this need document and will be addressed when possible.
Physical and Emotional Safety:
(Health) – The premise that all life forms operate in a state of health is amplified by the need to be responsible to each other for our well-being and care. Overlapping needs include all of the biological and physiological needs and well as many of the physical and emotional safety needs, such as sanctuary, vulnerability and order, law, and protection. Our well-being is derived from the chemicals we put into the Earth and atmosphere, the drugs we use and discard, how we care for our food sources, and how we view and care for ourselves. The way in which we view ourselves carries a huge portion of this need for safety: or image, our self-worth, our value in and out of relationship (add to that a list of disorders: depression, anxiety, phobias and fears)
Physical and emotional safety includes the paradox of the right to bear arms and the overwhelming simplification of that right in the face of the human tragedy we have seen in the early 21st Century. Our children need to feel safe at school; their right of trust, independence and safety needs to be protected; all races need to feel safe whether on the streets or in churches, restaurants, grocery stores, colleges and universities, etc.
(Work) - The premise that we find Purpose and Meaning in our work is amplified with the need to be valued and productive, as well as the need to be inventive, and creative; creating from self and others, as well as creating from a need or want. The work of the craftsperson: quality and value, as well as the Need of Aesthetics: beauty, balance and form. A sustainable future seeks out the potential and the proactive need for work. What can be done is done. No longer do we walk by a structure in need of repair; we seize the opportunity and let our time, talent and energy to restore it regardless of remuneration or acclaim. No longer do we walk by some trash on the street, although trash on the street is rare as we evolve into sustainable society. People clean up after their dogs; don’t throw cigarettes – or anything else - out car windows. There is an all-hands on deck feeling to this need that supersedes ownership. We are all stewards of Earth and we all care for her.
(Property) - In the old chapter, ownership and material possessions were more important than the actual Sanctuary; Personal Space they create. In the new evolution, the premise that we require property to be physically and emotionally safe evolves into the need for sanctuary and personal space. In the old Maslow’s Hierarchy, Stanley Bronstein, author of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need for the 21stCentury states that much of our ascension up Maslow’s triangle was due to considering materials possessions, wealth and appointment as our safely, belonging and self-esteem. As that paradigm fades, more people will travel back down the triangle, looking for the new safely, belonging and self-esteem. Sanctuary and personal space replaces the need for property in the material sense.
(Financial) – The premise of money itself is amplified. Money as an invention has taken on an importance all its own. There are the have’s and the have not’s. The premise that money buys happiness through the circuitous route of material possessions and ability to access that which someone without the same resources cannot access is amplified by the need to supply the world’s population with the basic necessities of life. Everyone has biological and physiological needs met; everyone has physical and emotional safety needs met. The act of excess creates an embarrassment, e.g., shame, until all the biological and physiological needs and physical and emotional safety needs of all of Humanity are met. Even after these are met, the balance is carefully defined as abundance, meaning plenty for everyone, otherwise there will be a new have’s and have not’s created with the same results as the old chapter. In this new world, if anyone needs a home, then there will be work to assure that everyone has a home. Once that is done, if someone desires two homes, then they are free to pursue the purchase of a second home, and so forth, so the work and craftsmanship, plus jobs and economy continues.
(Family) – The premise of the family, as physical and emotional safety, takes on new meaning. We value the “family unit” and that definition broadens in scope to include a diverse family of love/belonging. The premise of the family is that belonging no longer overrides safety in the hierarchy (i.e., children in abusive relationship with a parent); belonging is safety. Vulnerability; Transparency are valued. It is here that the gender-based violence is eradicated from Humanity and there is a deepening of partnership that travels up to the “Love and Belonging” need.
(Social Stability) - The premise of Order; Law; Protection; Limits is amplified in Chapter 3 as the order of Humanity through connection and caring. Each law requires a unique perspective that includes vulnerability and transparency. There is no penal system; punishment is judgment and human life is about lessons learned. The Social Stability need is critically dependent on all other needs being met. Only then can we look at someone who has not honored someone’s need to health or life or personal space and see it as instability; a breach of safety. The need for an enforced social stability will decrease as other needs are stabilized and met.
Love and Belonging
(Family, Community, Home) - The premise of the family, as love and belonging, requires a deeper connection to each other. The broader family unit (as described in physical and emotional safety) exists and is accepted, and a return to the community is amplified. The need to create tribes is also amplified; a broader scope of support. More and more people turn to community or communal living to support all ages, genders and lifestyles at different stages of life. This is not an amplification of the gated communities we see today; where you must get permission to paint your home a certain color, or are required to have the same mail box or receptacle as all your neighbors. This is a deeply shared community beyond the materialistic; a witnessing of life and its passages.
(Love/Non-Sexual/Partnership and Companionship) – The premise of love, non-sexual, partnership and/or companionship is amplified with the need to create intimacy with others. This non-sexually based intimacy allows us to experience vulnerability and full transparency with others without any expectation; it is permission to openly express love across genders.
Self-Esteem
(Confidence) The premise of self-esteem is amplified as a pointing to Self-awareness; curiosity and the perception of who we are, using our strengths and weaknesses, drives and personalities, habits and values. Our self-esteem and confidence grow through our own selves rather than at the expense of another. Our own self esteem must grow before we create it interpersonally, socially or globally. Consciousness that includes the ability to forgive and accept our very same strengths and weaknesses, drives and personalities, habits and values without putting anyone else at risk, is the legacy of conscious evolutionaries. This is not“better than” self-esteem. It is self-esteem, or knowing of self that directly feeds the need for self-fulfillment and uniqueness/individuality.
Achievement/ Self-fulfillment
(Reputation) – The premise of achievement/self-fulfillment is amplified as a need correlated to reputation, respect for others, uniqueness and individuality and mastery.
The need for reputation in the old hierarchy is centered on the need to feel important. Here is when this paradigm shifts, and the need for reputation is more about being important to a family, community, or on a global scale, than feeling important. Feeling important creates a separateness, in which the person stands back to assess importance. Being important is a receiving of respect from others while the person is interconnected with them. Reputation assimilates into belonging, and rather than being a higher needs on the triangle, it becomes a basic need: to be important for the sake of something bigger than ourselves. This correlates directly to understanding one’s soul purpose and expression and when our reputation is acknowledged, it is amplified as respect for others, or connection.
(Respect for Others) – The premise of self-fulfillment as it relates to respect for others, is amplified as Connection. The quality of our connections will matter far more, simply because in order to earn respect from others, we must be taking care of all our other needs: physiological, safety, social, etc. Self-awareness will negate the neediness of today’s world, in which people exploit others for their own gain. There is a transcendence of the petty problems that currently fill Humanity (at certain levels of the triangle). There is a looking outward at greater social issues, such as injustice, bias, pain, and violence. There is a moving away from interpersonal problems to global problems and issues. In a 1968 interview, Maslow made this visionary statement: "...The Good Society now has to be one world - it has to be one world or it won't work - nationalism is dead - it just doesn't know it yet..." Social interest, human kinship, compassion.
(Uniqueness/Individuality) – The premise of uniqueness and individuality is amplified as understanding one’s soul purpose and expression. The uniqueness of the individual is valued at birth, and nurtured throughout one’s lifetime. The fact that each individual is designed to be unique, and not a cookie-cutter image of its parents or the rest of society, supports this self-fulfillment need.
(Mastery) – The premise of self-fulfillment is amplified through mastery derived from practice and craftsmanship. This differs from unique and individual self-fulfillment. This is a desire to create something of beauty and function; to pay attention to detail. As Humanity moves closer to Chapter 3, we will see the sacred in the secular more readily and more easily, and the need to create quality will supersede the need to mass produce. Humanity is likely to tip in favor of innovation and discovery.
Cognitive
(Knowledge) – The premise of Cognitive need is amplified as it relates to knowledge. Humanity, having advanced technology as never before, will become knowledge chasers, seeking truth, exploring and discovering truths that lead to a better understanding of who we are, how we age, what is illness and how we heal. The discovery of other solar systems is an opportunity for Cognitive need, because our need for knowledge may push beyond our own world as a way to get to the Cognitive need of meaning.
(Meaning) – The premise of Cognitive need is amplified as it relates to meaning. What is our place in the Universe? What is our purpose? A deeper need for the meaning of life and death is essential for Humanity to be self-actualized and transcendent.
Aesthetic
(Beauty, balance, form) – The premise of Aesthetic is amplified by a return to the presence of beauty in nature and in the human-made world. A heightened intimacy with the natural world and the balance and form of the human-made world is inevitable. The wabi sabi of derelict objects and buildings will hold a reverential place, as the need for preservation and restoration of history is renewed.
The aesthetics of human form will also undergo a renaissance, as Humanity finally understands and advocates that beauty cannot be marketed for retail value. That idolizing a shape, color or size goes against all the other basic and higher needs of Humanity.
Self-Actualization – our master motive
(Morality) - The premise of Self-Actualization as morality is amplified in as an ability to detect the fake, and the dishonest in personality; to see people for who they are. Humanity is utilizing all its empathic potential. **
(Creativity) – The premise of self-actualization through creativity is amplified, changing need to responsibility; a responsibility to use our gifts to best of our abilities; to become our potential. This is closely related to the Self-Actualization of morality, guiding how we use our gifts – risking no one else’s needs in the process.
- (Spontaneity) – The premise of Self-Actualization as spontaneity is amplified as bringing creativity into everyday actions. Humanity is alive and engaged no matter what the task or situation.
- (Acceptance) The premise of Self-Actualization as acceptance is amplified in as Humanity accepts its nature, complete with all its flaws. The shortfalls of others and the human condition are embraced with humor and compassion and a connected knowing. This allows for profound interpersonal relationships that are deep and loving across individuals, communities, and countries and eliminates the bias and bigotry that permeated earlier evolutions.
(Experience/Purpose) – The premise of Self-Actualization through experience and purpose is amplified as fulfilling a mission beyond ourselves, instead of outside ourselves. Humanity becomes Humanitarian.
Transcendence
Living at the level of Being/Helping others to self-actualize – The premise of Transcendence is created. A unitized consciousness, in which the mystic or sacral changes our view of the world; peak and plateau experiences are the purpose of life. Humanity speaks more effortlessly, using the language of imagery, almost poetic in nature. There is sacredness in all things, even those at a common place level. There is a natural urge to co-actively create: interpersonally, culturally and internationally. We transcend competition and ego.
