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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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Todd Hayen, PhD, RP's avatar

Wow...what a great post. I envy you!! I think you pretty much did exactly what I would have wanted to do if I was a bit more ahead of the curve than I was, had a bit more chutzpah, and had a wife who was on the same page as me.

Oh well. If this all gets worse, I will more than likely be one of the first terminal casualties...I am definitely in the line of fire.

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Richard Aston's avatar

Thanks Todd a really interesting angle to view the current global madness. Will dwell on it, I have always had a concern that Maslows Triangle was just a bit too tidy

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Todd Hayen, PhD, RP's avatar

OMG...it definitely is a bit too tidy!!! But it is still an interesting perspective that is interesting to ponder. I am a depth/archetypal/imaginal psychologist...tidy we are not!!

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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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Todd Hayen, PhD, RP's avatar

I think you are right, a "sense" of security does come within, and it certainly doesn't come from a totalitarian "father figure" government. However, that said, there are definitely things out there that can wreak havoc on the "sense"...sleeping on the street in winter, having nothing to eat, living in a prison where you are beaten and sexually assaulted continuously...the external world still have an impact on our ability to feel safe and secure...

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Debra's avatar

I’d like to learn more about your comment that transsexualism is not about sexual intimacy. I was assuming that sexual intimacy would naturally follow someone being able to finally become the sex that they wanted to be.

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Todd Hayen, PhD, RP's avatar

I thought that as well, because certainly sexual intimacy is a driving factor behind homosexuality. I just assumed it was a driving factor behind transexualism. My view was changed after reading Miriam Grossman's book "Lost in Trans Nation" and a few other things that corroborates her views.

I do not mean to say that trans-people do not have any sexual desires, I do not believe that is true at all (although I have never read anything about that, so it is a common sense assumption on my part as well). But, again, from what I've read, it doesn't look like the drive behind "becoming the gender you identify with" is driven by sexual intimacy with a partner.

If you know anyone who is transexual and would disagree with that, I would love to hear. I had a transexual client a few years back, and he (born a female) has an intimate partner (romantic, but I have no idea about sexual interest) who is a biological female. It seems like their match confirms my assumption. If you were a female, and identified as a male, and had a sex change to match your identity, why would you be attracted (sexually) to a woman? Of course they very well could be in love, that is not what I am saying, it just seems if your desire to change your sex was an issue of wanting to be the opposite sex to what you are attracted to sexually, you would choose a partner who had the matching physical parts.

I could be very ignorant regarding the workings of all of this, so you should do your own research if interest. As I said, I am going pretty much entirely on what Dr. Grossman says in her book...here is the link if interested...

https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Trans-Nation-Psychiatrists-Madness/dp/1510777741

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Eleanor's avatar

I cannot make sense of the conundrum either, but here's a thought... maybe the biological female who became a 'he' didn't want to be seen as a lesbian; or perhaps it's 'his' female partner, who doesn't want to appear as a lesbian??? And wow Dr Grossman's book is a breath of fresh air - no messing, she just calls a spade a spade

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Todd Hayen, PhD, RP's avatar

Interesting thought…but not sure, again, if it has anything to do with sexual attraction, or lesbianism, etc. But who knows…it is complicated at best…

Yes, the book is quite enlightening…

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Debra's avatar

Thank you. I don’t know any trans people but it seemed odd that anyone would go through all the troubles associated with changing their sex and not then seek to fulfill themselves sexually

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Todd Hayen, PhD, RP's avatar

In my humble, yet still professional and clinical, opinion. The trans situation is a psychological body dysmorphic phenomenon that is being treated seriously, and treated as if it is objectively real…i.e., if you imagined yourself being a cat, then everyone else, including surgeons and doctors, should take that seriously and do what they can to make the physical manifestation match the imaginal fantasy.

The psychological angst accompanying the dysmorphia is real, and should be treated seriously, but the psychology causing the angst is not founded on objective reality, i.e., “they were literally born in the wrong body, lets then change the body.”

Although the dysmorphia is related to “sex” or “gender” it is not about “sexual attraction” as homosexuality typically is. I.e., if you “identify as a cat” that has nothing to do with sexual orientation, and there isn’t much difference psychological between identifying as a cat, or identifying as a different sex. I believe it is an archetypal snafu, but it would take a book to explain that!!

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ShieldMaiden's avatar

Thank you, T.H.

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janet's avatar

Oh this is excellent Todd! Another angle to clarify the why's and the how's of the plan. I've given up sharing much with the sheep in my life, but I just might try again with this .... it makes an extraordinary amount of sense, is very easy to follow and understand, and some of them were talking about Maslow's Pyramid years ago, so the concept wouldn't be something new they would have to think too much about, might be worth a shot! But then again.... sigh.....

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Todd Hayen, PhD, RP's avatar

If you do, change the emphasis from "the agenda" pushing us into level two, to something like "consumerism"...the fastest way to turn off a sheep's attention and consideration is to imply that "the powers that be" are trying to kill us, or even control us.

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janet's avatar

Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that!

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FortheLoveofFreedom's avatar

I would say a large number of people are even quite content at Level 1 and Level 2 is the cherry on top. As I have previously expressed elsewhere, addiction cuts us off from ever reaching beyond Level 2 (and maybe only Level 1). Whatever the addiction is, it cuts us off from engaging and truly living, thinking, and planning. And just look at Canada these days.

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Todd Hayen, PhD, RP's avatar

And I am assuming you mean addiction to anything we could be addicted to...material objects, phones, video games, pornography, fast food, being safe, medicine, etc. Addiction is a strange word to define...maybe we should define it as anything we occupy our time with that we know is a waste, and we occupy our time with it in an excessive manner.

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FortheLoveofFreedom's avatar

Yes, addiction covers a wide range beyond alcohol and drugs. Any of the above that you mention can take us into aimlessly living life rather than being an active thinking person. These things can cause us to be unconscious rather than conscious living humans.

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Gwaihir's avatar

Just yesterday I saw six teenagers at the community centre where I play Pickleball. All of them together, and every one of them staring at their phone. No connection to each other. No ability to converse. The smart phone is the perfect tool for keeping us down in the sub-human realm where the elites want us.

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Todd Hayen, PhD, RP's avatar

Yeah, they really pulled that one over us, didn't they? If it were legal, and easily accessible, I believe everyone would be shooting up heroin in the same way. Considering what they are doing with fentanyl these days, it may come to that.

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