Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation, which he subsequently extended to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity.

Maslow studied what he termed "exemplary people", such as Albert Einstein, Jane Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Douglass, rather than mentally ill or neurotic people, writing that "the study of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy." Maslow also studied the healthiest one percent of the college student population, which he comments about in his book, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature...

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs is predetermined in order of importance from survive to thriving... The traditional pyramid does NOT reflect Maslow's later observations and experiences, which adds Aesthetic needs as a level in between Esteem and Self-actualization, and at least 2 higher levels beyond Self-actualization...

• 1. Physiological needs
  
• 2. Safety and Security needs
  
• 3. Social Belongingness and Love needs
  
• 4. Esteem needs
  
• 5. Aesthetic needs
  
• 6. Self-actualization
  
• 7. Self-transcendence
  
• 8. Success of offspring

Because a CUBE functions more easily in comprehending balance within our life-expressions -- that all areas (sides of cube) must stay equal in size to remain as a "cube", as one are expands or contracts, so too must they all; unbalance life-expressions cause a person to easily become dyfucntional. Thus Darlene Sartore, Dean of An Ever Better World Academies, places these survive and thrive factors into 6 categories; combining 4 and 5 Esteem and Aesthetic needs, combining 7 and 8 in Self-transcendence and Success of offspring. Thus:

• 1. Biological and Physiological needs
  
• 2. Safety and Security needs
  
• 3. Social Belongingness and Love needs
  
• 4. Esteem and Aesthetic needs
  
• 5. Self-actualization
  
• 6. Self-transcendence and Success of offspring

Let's review some of Maslow's observations...

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is predetermined in order of importance. It is often depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels: the first lower level is being associated with Physiological needs, while the top levels are termed growth needs associated with psychological needs. Deficiency needs must be met first. Once these are met, seeking to satisfy growth needs drives personal growth. The higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus when the lower needs in the pyramid are met. Once an individual has moved upwards to the next level, needs in the lower level will no longer be prioritized and will no longer have intense motivator influences... What has been acquired is no longer thought about to any great extent.... If a lower set of needs is no longer being met, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs by focusing attention on the unfulfilled needs, but will not permanently regress to the lower level. For instance, a businessman at the esteem level who is diagnosed with cancer will spend a great deal of time concentrating on his health (physiological needs), but will continue to value his work performance and (esteem needs) and will likely return to work during periods of remission.

Chilean economist and philosopher Manfred Max Neef has also argued that "poverty is the result of any one of these needs being frustrated, denied or unfulfilled".

Deficiency needs
The lower four layers of the pyramid are what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "D-needs". With the exception of the lowest needs, physiological ones, if the deficiency needs are not met, the body gives no indication of it physically, but the individual feels anxious and tense. These deficiency needs are: physiological, safety and security, love and belonging, and esteem.

Safety needs
With their physical needs relatively satisfied, the individual's safety needs take over and dominate their behavior. These needs have to do with people's yearning for a predictable, orderly world in which injustice and inconsistency are under control, the familiar frequent and the unfamiliar rare. In the world of work, these safety needs manifest themselves in such things as a preference for job security, grievance procedures for protecting the individual from unilateral authority, savings accounts, insurance policies, and the like.

For the most part, physiological and safety needs are reasonably well satisfied in the "First World" countries. The obvious exceptions, of course, are people outside the mainstream — the poor and the disadvantaged. If frustration has not led to apathy and weakness, such people still struggle to satisfy the basic physiological and safety needs. They are primarily concerned with survival: obtaining adequate food, clothing, shelter, and seeking justice from the dominant societal groups.

Safety and Security needs include:

• Personal security from crime
  
• Financial security
  
• Health and well-being
  
• Safety net against accidents/illness and the adverse impacts

Social Belongingness and Love needs
After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of human needs is social. This psychological aspect of Maslow's hierarchy involves emotionally-based relationships in general, such as:

• friendship
  
• intimacy
  
• having a supportive and communicative family

Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large social group, such as clubs, office culture, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs ("Safety in numbers"), or small social connections (family members, intimate partners, mentors, close colleagues, confidants). They need to love and be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others. In the absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and Clinical depression. This need for belonging can often overcome the physiological and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure; an anorexic, for example, ignores the need to eat and the security of health for a feeling of control and belonging.

Esteem needs
All humans have a need to be respected, to have self-esteem, self-respect, and to respect others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued, be it in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem or an inferiority complex. People with low self-esteem need respect from others. They may seek fame or glory, which again depends on others. It may be noted, however, that many people with low self-esteem will not be able to improve their view of themselves simply by receiving fame, respect, and glory externally, but must first accept themselves internally. Psychological imbalances such as depression can also prevent one from obtaining self-esteem on both levels.

Aesthetic needs
The motivation to realize one's own maximum potential and possibilities is considered to be the master motive or the only real motive, all other motives being its various forms. In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the need for self-actualization is the final need that manifests when lower level needs have been satisfied.

Self-transcendence
Near the end of his life Maslow revealed that there was a level on the hierarchy that was above self-actualization: self-transcendence. "[Transcenders] may be said to be much more often aware of the realm of Being (B-realm and B-cognition), to be living at the level of Being… to have unitive consciousness and “plateau experience” (Asrani [serene and contemplative B-cognitions rather than climactic ones]) … and to have or to have had peak experience (mystic, sacral, ecstatic) with illuminations or insights or cognitions which changed their view of the world and of themselves, perhaps occasionally, perhaps as a usual thing."

Success of offspring
Maslow stated that the achievements and success of his offspring were more satisfying than the personal fulfillment and growth characterized in self-actualization.

Resources:

Hierarchy Of Needs -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

Abraham Maslow Biography -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow

Abraham H. Maslow: Books, Articles, Audio/Visual, & His Personal Papers -- http://www.maslow.com/

Maslow. org from which the following is shared http://www.maslow.org

"People are not evil; they are schlemiels."

A schlemiel is a dummy, bumbler, dolt. A stupid individual.

Schlemiels are those we consider evil are really just dumb. They are retarded to some degree and not fully human -- not healthy specimens of the species. This form of reduction is deadly when mixed with authoritarianism and dominance, as we have learned from Saddam, Hitler, Cheney and others.

"The good society is one in which virtue pays."

"What shall we think of a well-adjusted slave?"

* * * * * *

Some trivia about the term "schlemiel" ... In the beginning of a television show, Laverne and Shirley are seen skipping down the street, arm in arm, reciting a popular Yiddish-American hopscotch chant: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Schlemiel! Schlemazl! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!" The theme song is entitled "Making Our Dreams Come True" and is performed by Cyndi Grecco. The opening sequence is very popular and has been parodied in many pop culture outlets, including the movie Wayne's World, where Garth and Wayne perform the theme song while visiting Milwaukee.

Schlemiel and schlimazel are Yiddish words, defined by the online Free Dictionary as follows.

Schlemiel.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/schlemiel

"A habitual bungler; a dolt"

Schlimazel. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/schlimazel

"An extremely unlucky or inept person; a habitual failure."

This "Word for the Weak" archive entry points out that the two are usually linked together. http://jonzer.com/blog/archives/2005_08.html

"A schlimazel can be concisely described as a born loser. No discussion of schlimazel could be complete without mentioning his counterpart: schlemiel, a habitual bungler. They go together:

A schlemiel is one who always spills his soup, schlimazel is the one on whom it always lands.

A schlimazel's toast always falls butter-side down. A schlemiel always butters his toast on both sides."

As for hasenpfeffer, that is a German word.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hasenpfeffer

"A highly seasoned stew of marinated rabbit meat"

The phrase was just the introduction to the theme song "Making our Dreams Come True" as written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox. The rest of the lyrics can be found on the Blackcatter's "World of TV Theme Song Lyrics" website. http://www.cfhf.net/lyrics/laverne.htm

"In 1976 the theme song was popular on the radio and charted as high as #25 in the Top 40. This was [Cyndi] Grecco's [the woman who sang the song] only hit."

Even though the openng phrase is a typical nonsensical hopscotch or jump rope chant, the description of a schlemiel and a schlimazel does capture a certain aspect of the characters of "Laverne & Shirley."

* * * * * *

Nidus is latin meaning a "nest" and used figuratively for a place or source of origin or development.

But the biggest human tragedy is that most people simply do and think what they are told.

Hitler said: "What good fortune for those in power that people do not think."

We must engineer better leadership.

How?

Every action feeds the Zeitgeist

The Zeitgeist is the "spirit of the times." It's like waves of energy that pass through societies and spawn new realities, a la the cloud chamber. Huxley said it well: "We are all individual molecules of a great social gas."

With a little knowledge of good marketing techniques (i.e. social physics, social stoichiometry, etc.), one can accomplish a great deal. All you have to do is to understand the B-man.

The B-man is described fully in the work of Abe Maslow.

Pura Vida!

You get one point for curiosity, and I get one point for attention capture.

If you have what it takes, you will begin assimilating the concept.