Level Two: Secure Your Own Mask First
...before assisting others. Cover the basics and set up your sustainable life, starting now.
Good simple advice that most of us have heard many times while traveling. The most basic instict for every parent is to immediately respond to the needs of the child first. In a real-life emergency, this can be catastrophic. We must put those instincts on a temporary hold while we stabilize the situation and put on our own oxygen mask first. That ensures that the parent will be alive and able to guide the child through the emergency.
Maslow had the right idea about idividuals having a hierarchy of needs. It follows that basic needs would have to be met before the individual would be able to move on to higher levels of actualization. In the mid-20th century, Maslow expanded on the concept and developed a system of examining these issues within his “hierarchy of needs”.
Interestingly, Maslow’s hierarchy capped with the individual being able to achieve maximal self-actualization and did not include a spiritual dimension. Another limitation of the model was the focus on the individual as a unary entity (rather than a laying of “selves”) and neglecting the interaction of the individual with others and the environment. This original hierachical model has been modified or expanded by various authors, including Maslow himself. It contains a moderate amount of overlap with the CTMU Teleologic Living path, which has 9 levels by comparison. The CTMU Teleologic Living Plan consists of eight primary levels and a metacognitive 9th level that outlines how to best utilize the framework.