We knew about the 5 steps in the “Hierarchy of Needs” until now. But, on top of all the others, there’s a 6th secret layer and that has never published. That layer helps to makes things so much clearer about the role of our life.
The first level is “Physical Needs”. It includes air, water, food, warmth. Everything else falls off if we don’t meet those needs.
The second level is “Safety”. When we acquire our basic needs, we seek security of our body, of resources, property, morality, family, health.
The third level is “Belonging”. We seek to belong; we crave for friendship, love, intimacy, sense of connection with others. The center point of our motivational drive climbs one level higher when we establish the belongings.
The fourth level is “Self Esteem”. We want to have many achievements in our life and crave for confidence and respect. People are driven by their egoic nature, forever trying to satisfy their need for respect like filling up a black hole. The people who manage to establish a solid structure of self esteem inside them, ascend to the next level.
The fifth level is “Self Actualization”. It is the highest layer. We try to find ‘Who we really are’, after establishing a solid structure of basic needs, safety, belonging and self-esteem. We try to find our truth inside ourselves. We seek creativity, spontaneity, and we accept the facts of the world as they are as we have lack of prejudices. We also try to know ourselves, to master ourselves, to elevate ourselves.
Many people believe that there are only five facts.
Abraham Maslow had another piece of this hierarchy. But he never made it public. Before publishing the complete “Hierarchy Of Needs” which had 6 levels, he passed away.
The sixth step is “Self Transcendence”
It is not an elevation of the self; it is a subverting of it.
This includes different perspectives on human psychology. Resting comfortably inside the boundaries of human psychology, accomplishing what is knowable and testable, while self-transcendence means pushing beyond them is achieving self-actualization.
The ultimate stage of human development is whether through spiritual meditation, self-denial, or more recently through technological means, challenging the definition of consciousness to expand into new areas of knowledge, beyond self-knowledge.
The things advanced mediators tend to describe are similar to transcending oneself. They report being ‘everything and nothing at the same time’ when they reach that ascended state.
Singularity, an event in which human biology and computers become one is a more technological path toward self-transcendence. With this, we can literally overcome our present physical limitations.
It’s simple as giving yourself over to others: their dreams, their goals, their passions by overcoming the narrow confines of the self. When you do this, you become one with them.
It seems that our journey doesn’t end with ‘knowing thyself’ and there is a lot more to embark toward.
We should transcend our truth after we discover it. We have become a source of this unique essence. We need to find ways to transcend without neglecting it as we pour our purpose into The Universe.
The mysterious as The Universe and its vastness awaits us then and now.
source used :bigthink.com