The Shift

[Pharaoh]

Maslow Predicted The Shift
by Owen Waters

Abraham Maslow (1908-70) was a psychologist who became famous
for his hierarchy of human needs. When he developed his theory
in the 1950s, he predicted the transformation of humanity
into a realm of spiritual transcendence, but he had no idea
just how soon this would develop into a major movement.

Maslow's hierarchy of human needs shows that basic human needs
have to be fulfilled before people can attend to higher needs
and values.

First, the basic physiological needs of food and shelter must
be catered for in order to ensure survival.

Second, once food and shelter are obtained, safety and
security must be achieved.

Third, acceptance by others is sought, in both the social and
romantic senses. To fulfill this 'belonging' need, people
become part of a group, a tribe, an extended family or a
community.

When these deficiency, or outer-directed, needs are
satisfied, then the individual works to acquire self-respect.
Recognition by others produces self-esteem.

Once the outer needs are fulfilled, the inner-directed need
for self-actualization comes into play. To self-actualize
means to become the best you personally can be.
Self-actualized people include those who have achieved
material abundance, and also those who, as a decision of
personal power, have chosen simplicity over the pursuit
of further abundance. At some point, when a person says
"That's enough" to the endless pursuit of additional
financial security, then they become free to accomplish
anything that inspires their inner joy the most.

Self-actualization is achieved after the individual ceases to
have deference to hierarchical authority, and instead matures
into the ability to make their own rules of personal
responsibility. Personal responsibility is always more
powerful and effective than any system of imposed rules.
For example, you can threaten to punish someone if they
steal and hope that the threat works. But, a self-responsible
person simply wouldn't steal because they would feel empathy
for the loss that a would-be victim would feel. They simply
wouldn't have the heart to do such a thing to another person.

It's a matter of increased maturity. When a person abandons
the impositions of external authority and becomes their own,
self-directed authority, then they become far more
functional in the world. This is, in fact, a higher state
of consciousness, one which provides a higher vista of
awareness. From this expanded vista, they see clearly how
they as an individual can best serve humanity.

In this state of awareness, the person acquires the ability
to think and analyze situations independently. As a result,
new and creative solutions spring to mind. They have enough
self-esteem to be able to clearly see their own needs,
skills, strengths and weaknesses, and from that they see
where they can best be of service to humanity.

Once basic needs are fulfilled, the next values to require
attention relate to being. The first of these being-values
is self-actualization, which is the instinctual need of a
human to make the most of their unique abilities.

Above that, Maslow placed transcendence, which he considered
a spiritual value. Traditional universities typically presume
that spiritual matters are beyond the understanding of their
students, so they present the Maslow hierarchy of human needs
differently. They present it with self-actualization as the
ultimate human goal, and omit the transcendence stage beyond
that.

The being-values of self-actualization and transcendence are
the higher, more beautiful aspects of human consciousness.
They include unconditional love, altruism, inner joy, a love
of nature, the development of intuition (in males as well as
females), idealism, and a sense of wisdom which springs from
within. These skills develop the right-brain functions of
creativity and intuition.

In the 1950s, Maslow believed that only 2% of the population
had achieved self-actualization. The mid-1960s changed all
that when masses of people began the search for the higher
values, such as unconditional love and spiritual wisdom.
Today, that core group of progressive society has blossomed
from 2% to over 20%, and is climbing every year.

The Shift is not a temporary by-product of the baby boom
generation, or any other generation of modern society.
It is not a passing fad. It is not going away. It is a
cosmic pressure that is unfolding and relentlessly
increasing the frequency of all consciousness upon the
planet.

It is a part of the plan of Infinite Being that we progress
to the next stage of conscious human achievement. The Shift
is, to put it simply, the most wonderful transformation in
recorded history. This is where humanity gets to build,
literally, Heaven on Earth.


*If you enjoyed today's article, forward it to a friend!
They will appreciate your thoughtfulness.


This article was written by Owen Waters, author of
"The Shift: The Revolution in Human Consciousness"

[NMMNG]

1. Intriguing

I recall covering the Hierarchy of Needs in class. Transcendence was indeed left out as you noted.

I do sort of think that some of the self-actualization/transcendence values can sometimes exist in people even if they don't have some/all of their lower level needs met. For example, there are people who are materially very poor or not accepted by others, yet nonetheless may be very altruistic, joyful, idealistic, etc. Any thoughts?

[Pharaoh]

2. Without a doubt

the less satisfied you are with the world the more you are likely to search for meaning elsewhere. It is more likely that a camel will fit through an eye of a needle than a rich man will find the Kingdom of Heaven, because the rich can find many comforts and distractions, suffering isn't absolutely unnecessary but one who's suffers greatly in the world is more likely to find the magic key to the magic door. At least that's the way I see it. ;o)

[MedleyMisty]

3. I disagree with the material abundance bit

There is nothing enlightened or free or even really just plain old moral about gathering up a lot of stuff. Maybe in some other culture or some other time, but I doubt it - the way to the top of the economic heap has always been paved by other people's bodies.

Even if you don't exploit others and use fair and equal business practices, there's still some moral questions that come with just having an abundance - if you gather it and then distribute it, then okay. But if you're just gathering it, then I fail to see how you can be self-actualized at all. It seems to me that you would still be trying to fill the safety and security need in your mind.

Plus, for the great majority of people, you have to be born into a certain amount of wealth to have a chance at accumulating more. So does that disqualify most of humanity from self-actualization because they weren't born to wealthy parents?

And yes, there is distressingly little information about the levels beyond self-actualization. Same thing with Dabrowski's levels - the articles I read hint at a level six but say that there's no use in talking about it. And most of the stuff about Kohlberg says that no one really uses level six much, although at least there it's explained as well as people at earlier levels can explain it.

Yeah, I've studied this stuff a lot. Because I identify with the higher levels. And have since I can remember thinking.

My father taught me how to play chess when I was two, so I didn't remember it later. So at day care one day in early elementary school the other kids wanted to play chess. But they didn't know the rules. And I didn't remember learning, so I could not understand why they didn't know how to play - I thought it was a natural instinct or something. I remember being really really upset and crying and I remember my face burning with emotion.

I am wondering if my current feelings about the species are like that - I can't understand why they aren't in control of themselves because I don't remember a time when I wasn't. So I watch them conform and hate and exploit and destroy, and I sit here and cry and scream "Why don't you people know the rules?!"

I read a book a few months ago about the evolution of human consciousness - sigh, the forum I originally posted this on is closed now and I have been up a really long time, but essentially we started out with a lower sort of generalized intelligence. Then we developed specialized multiple intelligences that couldn't talk to each other. Then came a sort of higher generalized intelligence that could access all the multiple intelligences and synthesize between them. I've also done a lot of research on giftedness, and really it seems that the development of human intelligence is always towards breaking down barriers. One thing that always shows up in lists of characteristics of giftedness - making connections between two widely disparate things that other people wouldn't put together.

I think that our social evolution mirrors that, and that at this point we have to *mentally* make it to the level of a higher generalized unified society without barriers if we're going to survive. Obviously the world is already like that. But our minds are stuck back in the days of small isolated tribes of hunter/gatherers, which is turning out to be a highly destructive frame of mind in a world that is so intimately connected. Adapt or die, and I fear I see us dying.

So I guess my overall point is - where does that over 20% figure come from? Is it world total or US total and how was it determined? Because when I look at the world, I'm thinking that it's still somewhere around 2%. If it was anywhere near 20% over the whole globe - then it must be the most powerless 20%. Which would reinforce the wrongness of the material abundance thing - with material abundance comes power and the ability to affect the world. So if 20% of the species was self-actualized and armed with power, things would be really really different than they are.

I'm going to bed. More later, perhaps with links.

OMG, just realized this thread is a year old!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. I for one am certainly glad you ressurected this thread....enjoying the light

[Pharaoh]

5. An oldie but a goodie

:party:

[Kind of Blue]

6. Thank you, Pharaoh.

As you know, I recently posted a query about The Shift in another forum. Of course, it was from a cosmological point of view but I'm truly happy to see this more down to Earth explanation of The Shift as more of an evolution of human consciousness, that I'm sure is still part of cosmology. Hope that made sense. Anyway, good stuff!