I'd like to offer you two models of human development.
The first is what you might call The Surrender Yourself model of development. According to this model, the lowest kind of happiness is having your basic food and health needs met. Then there is achievement-- the pleasure we get from earned and recognized success. Then there is generativity, the pleasure we get from creative expression and having a large positive impact on the world. Finally, the highest and most noble kind of happiness is complete surrender, and the glowing satisfaction we get when put all of our being toward some noble cause.
The second model we might call the Fully Human Model. In this conception, the focus is on helping you find your own unique path to fulfillment. The hierarchy is not arranged from least noble to most noble, but instead is a hierarchy of prepotency. According to this model, our most important needs are food, shelter, and safety. Without these most prepotent needs met, people do not even get an opportunity for further growth as a human. These most prepotent needs include a lack of environmental instability and chaos in the environment, as well as a lack of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse from trusted loved ones. Once those needs are met, it's important to have our love needs met, which include a sense of belonging and connectedness to others. Then, with that foundation, we can pursue authentic and earned forms of mastery, satisfying our need for the esteem from others. Then, with such security as a person and a grounded sense of competence and self-worth, we can try to pursue our most unique purpose, hone our authenticity and core values, and then, with that strong foundation and knowledge of who we are and what makes our own unique life worth living, we can authentically transcend our selves, contributing our full humanness to increase the human condition.
[For more on this story by Scott Barry Kaufman , go to https://blogs.scientificameric...to-live-a-good-life/]
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