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Canadasceptic's avatar

Great post today! As an ABD in psychology I'm also well familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs so thanks for re-framing it in 2024 terms. You're dead on about Level 2 being increasingly "supplied" by governments and other institutions, much to our detriment.

In 2020 and beyond I ignored lockdowns and found fellow travellers with whom I was able to forge friendships and a sense of community. The powers-that-shouldn't-be were unable to stop me from fulfilling Level 3 requirements even while many of my Level 2 requirements were in jeopardy. Being denied healthcare, employment (thankfully not in my case), and security of property (frozen bank accounts) were egregious assaults and demonstrate, as you so aptly point out, how the overlords can keep us somewhere between Levels 1 and 2.

I'm in Mexico for the winter and the family and community connections are much stronger even though the people don't necessarily have a lot in material terms. My kids were here visiting and after one day, as we were walking through the park, my daughter said, "People seem happier here, especially the kids." I had been thinking this and it was interesting to note that it was obvious to someone who had only been here for one day. People have fun here -- festivals, fireworks, multi-generational families in the main square all the time -- and nobody is knocking down statues, desecrating churches, or talking down the people or the culture.

All of which is to say that we can focus on that which is in our locus of control and circumvent the agenda whilst meeting our Level 3 and beyond needs.

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Eleanor's avatar

Greetings - perhaps it's because I am super independent, but I always thought the sense of "security" came from within. I certainly would not trust my security to an outside source. Maybe in this upside world we are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Uncertainty is an essential part of LIVING. Francis Mallman (Argentinian chef) says it well "My life has been a path at the edge of uncertainty. Today, I think we educate kids to be settled in the comfortable chair. You have your job, you have your little car, you have a place to sleep and the dreams are dead. You don’t grow on a secure path. All of us should conquer something in life and it needs a lot of work and it needs a lot of risk; in order to grow and to improve you have to be there at the edge of uncertainty”. Grasp the nettle and LIVE. As Seneca says: it is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.

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