I never want to come off smug or ‘elitist’ (it’s my favourite buzz word of the moment) when I write about Cultural Creativity. It is sincerely not my intention. The understanding our subculture shares is only possible because of the circumstances we were born under. Each of us has been fortunate enough to be born into a supportive enough environment that we are able to satisfy our most basic needs.
Because we have satisfied our lower layer needs, such as safety, we are able to focus on self-actualization thus helping us to cultivate a more conscious and aware mind. This mindset change invariably shaped our values into that of a Cultural Creative.
The Five Layers of Human Needs
The Hierarchy of Needs Model by Abraham Maslow
designed by J. Finkelstein
We are in no way better than any one else. We couldn’t possibly think that and truly be self-actualized. Each of us has simply been afforded the opportunity, through God or our own actions, to lead the most conscious life we can. For this reason alone, we need to work together so that every human, at the very least, can satisfy their most basic needs.
Keep this in mind about Maslow’s Hierarchy:
- people do not actually work through each stage one by one – we are much less structured in the way we satisfy our needs
- Maslow’s hierarchy can be arranged differently depending on the culture – for example, in Tibetan Buddhism, self-actualization would be a primary, and thus bottom of the pyramid, need