Last Friday’s article explored four tiers of the lower needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This week’s article explores the upper needs, also known as growth needs, developed by the most influential psychologist of the 20th century, Abraham Maslow.
Born a Russian Jew, Maslow’s family escaped prosecution by taking refuge in the United States of America. The tiers are not intended to be set rigidly as they are fluid, yet the pyramid provides a visual of ascension.
The upper needs result as a desire to grow and evolve during the human experience once all lower needs are met. The tiers composing the growth needs dimension strengthen with an inner desire to experience a high-quality life filled with aspirations and the expansion of different forms of enrichment on various levels of the human existence.
Tier 5: Cognitive Needs
Cognitive Needs involve a person’s drive to accumulate knowledge, to understand and to explore. They derive from curiosity and involve a process of discovery where a person collects, organizes and analyzes information about various connections and their meanings. It is the search for answers to eliminate confusion. Confusion often evaporates when a person understands motives and the reasons for them, which answer their questions. In this way, cognitive needs fulfill a person’s development of understanding and develop true wisdom.
For instance, there is often a cognitive need to discover the reason for a health diagnosis through attaining education on the health issue, why the health issue occurred and how it progresses. Through the exploration, a remedy for — or prevention of — a disease may be discovered.
As such, cognitive needs seek to solve problems through the acquisition of facts, greater knowledge and invoking critical thinking to seek creative solutions that benefit the person and society as a whole.
Tier 6: Aesthetic Needs
Aesthetic Needs are the genuine appreciation for the beauty in life in all its forms. As a result, beauty is a word that embodies the esthetic settings and experiences in life, which activate the reward centers in the brain. For Indigenous cultures, it embodies the saying Walk In Beauty.
On Tier 6, an individual develops a heightened sensitivity, which is in proportion to a harmonious, healthy and positive frame of mind. During the experiences, enhanced and authentically original creative expressions result. This is accompanied by genuine experiences of awe and wonder at the beauty in nature, in other people and in situations. The desire to experience pleasant environments, both human and constructed, increase. When a person encounters beautiful settings by rivers, lakes and landscapes it please the senses and elevates their spirit.
As well, the appreciation of all forms of art, such as attending the Oprah or listening to Ozzy Osbourne music, reading the latest best seller and simply enjoying the view of a person’s surroundings, result. A greater desire emerges to enhance environments through beautifying them, which is an Ancient practice with primitive spiritual power to create an energy that is felt upon entering the area.
Within the Aesthetic Needs, there is also a need for order, symmetry and completion. Tier 7: Self-Actualization
Self-Actualization is a highly individual experience to reach the realization of an individual’s fullest potential and highest purpose, which is unique to each person. There is a full acceptance of Self and others with a goal to become the best a person can be, whether as a parent, a spouse, or a professional, but most importantly, as a compassionate human being.
Individuals who attain Self-Actualization share common characteristics. They include simplicity, naturalness, autonomy and independence from culture and environmental influences to follow their inner calling. Such individuals clearly see what other people truly are, including their motives. When it comes to close relationships, this rare person is highly selective with who they let in their inner circle to avoid being taken advantage of. They display an efficient perception about reality and are not easily fooled.
As a result, Self-Actualization includes mystical experiences with a high level of creativity resulting. These individuals have an authentic appreciation in life that is fresh, including with perspectives, and always with authentic expressions of gratitude as a natural daily routine.
In addition, individuals operating on the seventh tier are adventurous. They demonstrate an open mind and an ability to see from the perspectives of others. New experiences are welcomed, but with a high sense of moral integrity, self-protection and self-preservation due to a lifetime of inner work.
According to Maslow, other genuine traits of an individual who has reached Self-Actualization are a passionate desire for self-reliance, an ability to tolerate uncertainty and an odd sense of humour at times.
Maslow also noted that complete Self-Actualization is extremely rare. He identified Einstein as one such person, along with others throughout history and stated there are those who walk amongst us unknown. This rare person composes only 1 per cent of the human population, but people can experience moments or short experiences of the profound.
Tier 8: Transcendence
Transcendence is demonstrated through the individual assisting others to achieve Self-Actualization, many times privately. It involves spirituality with a generosity that willingly gives back to areas in the community where they see a need, and without expecting anything back, nor do they do so for personal gain. They are humanitarians.
However, Transcendence poses a risk of others demanding and depleting the energy of a Transcended one, which may put the individual at risk in areas of need. This particularly includes their Biological and Physiological Needs and Safety Needs due to the demands of people, which can borderline hysteria, and from which who have not worked on their own human and spiritual advancement. Such masses witness the Transcended one’s power and seek to use and abuse it with selfish motives.
The individual who reaches this rare state views life from a high perspective, such as sages and saints. They exude joy, peace and self-awareness, which attracts both well-meaning people and others with malicious agendas due to their ability to perceive reality efficiently while tolerating uncertainty.
Maslow identified other common traits shared by the ultra-rare people who reach the 8th tier. Transcended ones demonstrate spontaneous thoughts and actions while seeking solutions for issues. They use an abundance of humour. They also continue to have a resistance to enculturation and are viewed as unconventional. Transcended ones are genuinely concerned about the welfare of humanity, regardless of the population’s cultural beliefs, race, ethnicity or spiritual and religious preferences. Regularly, they are of service to others when it involves the enhancement and advancement of the greater good.
Yet, they need privacy also, including while demonstrating the ability to view life objectively and with a deep appreciation of basic life-experiences. The strength of their moral and ethical standards is impeccable while reaching a spiritual or cosmic connection beyond their personal identity.
The upper needs are a desire to continue to evolve as a person. Bruce Lee advised, “If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
Every Friday, Sheila Wanite Bautz addresses various Sociological issues in laymen’s terms. Sheila has dual Honour BAs with Majors in Sociology and English through the University of Saskatchewan. In Sociology, she specialized in Indigenous history, law, addictions and criminology.
