Status:: #🌱 Tags:: Links:: [[Maslow's Hierarchy]] # Maslow's adapted Sailboat Hierarchy of needs Maslow's Hierarchy of needs is typically depicted to be a pyramid like structure. It looks like this: The problem is that this makes self actualization seem like a video game. We complete one level, say safety, and then unlock the next level never having to go back and work on safety again. In reality, self actualization is a constantly fluctuating process in which we often take two steps forward and one step back, working on growth needs and deficiency needs *at the same time* (Kaufman, S.B. 2020). This video game pyramid metaphor makes it seem as if those who haven't fulfilled their deficiency needs yet are screwed if they want to pursue self-actualization. **Clearly, we need a new metaphor for self-actualization.** Instead of envisioning a pyramid we can create a boat to serve as a metaphor for the new hierarchy of needs.  The foundation of the boat represents deficiency needs, security, connection, and self-esteem and the sail is made up of the growth needs of exploration, love, and purpose. This boat metaphor works much better than the hierarchical pyramid metaphor attributed to Maslow. The foundation of a boat determines it's strength amidst hard waves, which showcases how fulfilling deficiency needs helps prepare people for storms that will inevitably come in life. The growth needs on the sail, symbolize how the more we work toward our growth needs the more effectively we can sail through life. But it also symbolizes the danger and vulnerability in opening our sails and working on growth needs as doing so puts us at the will of unpredictable wind. Showcasing this as a sailboat rather than a pyramid shows how we can work on these needs simultaneously rather than in a linear video game like fashion. It also emphasizes how healthy integration of our whole self is the path to self-actualization and then transcendence because a whole sailboat needs to work in tandem to sail well. **Finally transcendence is at the top.** Transcendence above everything else symbolizes how once we are self-actualized the natural next step is to look towards other boats and help them become self-actualized themselves.