Moving up the Growth Hierarchy

Most of us in the western world have been blessed with not having to worry about our basic needs being met. We have food, shelter and do not have worries over safety or self-protection that half of the earth's inhabitants who live on less than $1 a day often have to face. We have comfortable lives.


However Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs shows that as each lower need is met a higher need tends to emerge. Once our our physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, we will seek a sense of belonging followed by a good sense of self-esteem so that we will feel liked and respected by others. Satisfaction in life then builds on these foundations leading to the self-actualization tier where one seeks to figure out who one is; a search of for meaning, purpose and realizing one's potential. The final tier is that of self-transcendence where needs are not just to fulfill the self but move beyond it altogether into wider circles of care and consciousness for others around us. (Photo source: www.futurehi.net)