The Philosophy Behind the Black Belt

[_Simon_]

I quoted both of you because I agree with both of you. Clearly y'all are looking at 'it' from different perspectives.
Jobo, I sincerely hope you do not have to worry so much about the bottom of those pyramids to place them at the top of your list. That said, I am a realist and a realist would put them higher on the list.
Simon, I get it, and would say I am stuck in the green for life and am okay with that. Or that I don't feel compelled to search any further. Or I got to the top and didn't see any difference from the lower section.
Assuming the essentials that Jobo is lamenting about are covered the pyramid has merit. Sadly there are many folks whose life is far from that model.
Am I being a Pollyanna?

Nah that's awesome, makes perfect sense. And to me the hierarchy isn't a 'should' for everyone's life, but there is a lot more overlap and grey areas. Like @gpseymour says it can refer to different aspects being more selfactualisation, and other aspects of your life under others. I like it in that it almost correlates with levels of consciousness and where we each are working at or potentially stuck at. BUT it's not like you should be working towards anything, it's not a model or guide, but to me it's about having certain needs taken care of, and then you can look at other areas of your life you can focus on. To me it represents certain needs we move through. Obviously when we have no money or food, we're not really going to be looking to express what our heart is singing out to us to do and be. Although that being said, that doesn't mean that everyone who has trouble with shelter/living conditions doesn't have any focus on growth etc.

And yeah everyone is different and is happy within certain areas. There are no shoulds within it.

I wouldn't say it's fullproof, but it's thought-provoking. I certainly have a focus in certain areas, some that are stubborn. And I guess I see selfactualisation as moving above just human/biological needs to evolving beyond that (for lack of a better word), freeing yourself from those limitations you put on yourself, and being able to live in a more free and joyous way. But there is overlap.