By George A. Boyd © 2005
Some seekers begin their quest for enlightenment and
spiritual development before they take care of basics. We ask that you
inspect the following list and see which of these areas you have handled.
You may wish to label these according to the following coding system:
5 - Mastery, competence, full satisfaction, all objectives
met
4 - Major progress in this area, a few objectives
to be met
3 - Some progress in this area, several objectives
to be met
2 - Little progress in this area, many objectives
to be met
1 - No progress in this area, area of major lack
or deficiency
- Spirituality - Enlightenment - Actualization
- Meaningful commitment - Service
- Ethical standards - Integrity - Recovery
- Training in Prayer and Meditation - Study of religion,
philosophy, and psychology *
- Esteem - having dreams come true, honors, recognition
- Mental enhancement - education, career training
*
- Beauty - having beautiful things, beauty and harmony
in your environment
Love and Belongingness Needs |
- Love and Belongingness - spouse, family life and
children
- Friendship, support network
- Financial security - savings, insurance
- Livelihood, regular income *
- Physical safety and security - locks and alarms
- Medical and dental care, health promotion
- Transportation
- Housing, protection from the elements, clothing
appropriate for the weather
- Food, adequate nutrition and water
Items marked with a * are key elements to allow you
to progress towards higher order objectives.
- Livelihood is essential to meet basic survival
and security needs. Stable livelihood is key to raising a family and
being able to share entertainment and meals with friends, and also
may allow you to meet your higher order esteem needs for beauty, recognition
and having your dreams come true.
- Education and career training are important to
meet higher order esteem needs and to increase livelihood.
- Training in meditation and prayer and study of
the literature of wisdom and insight (religion, metaphysics, philosophy,
and psychology) allows you to begin to pursue your higher order actualization
needs.
We encourage seekers to make an honest inventory of
these 16 areas and to evaluate their progress in each area dispassionately.
Progress in each area is possible if you make it a priority to find solutions
to the obstacles that impede you in these areas and make effort at improving
yourself.
Endnotes
The schema of Actualization, Esteem, Love and Belongingness,
Security and Survival Needs are drawn from the works of Abraham Maslow
on the hierarchy of human needs. From Maslow, Abraham (1954) Motivation
and Personality, New York: Harper and Row.
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