I'm not sure if you have ever heard of Abraham Maslow and his hierarchical theory of human needs but I have been quite interested with it since I first learned of it in college.

In the late 1960's Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchical theory of human needs. Maslow was a psychologist who believed that people are not controlled by mechanical forces (the stimuli and reinforcement forces of behaviorism) or unconscious instinctual impulses of psychoanalysis alone.

Maslow focused on human potential, believing that humans strive to reach the highest levels of their capabilities.

Maslow set up a hierarchical theory of needs in which all the basic needs are at the bottom, and the needs concerned with man's highest potential are at the top. The hierarchic theory is often represented as a pyramid, with the larger, lower levels representing the lower needs, and the upper point representing the need for self-actualization. Each level of the pyramid is dependent on the previous level. For example, a person does not feel the second need until the demands of the first have been satisfied.

Listed below are the various level of needs and their explanation. My real purpose of writing about this theory is to help prove that it is correct. I will use examples from my life since I left my parents home and how I began at the first basic level and progressed to higher levels.

1. Biological / Physiological Needs. These needs are biological and consists of the needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. These needs are the strongest because if deprived, the person would die.

My first day in college my roommate and I had burnt toast for dinner because we didn't really have the know how or ambition to make anything else. For the remainder of the year we survived on 54 ounce mugs of soda, frozen pizza, and swedish fish. Oxygen and water were plentiful that year but desire for a relatively constant body temperature was difficult because one of my roommates broke a window out and it remained unrepaired throughout the winter.

2. Security / Safety Needs. Except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting) adults do not experience their security needs. Children, however often display signs of insecurity and their need to be safe.

After my second year of college I had a desire to live in safer and healthier conditions. I had spent the last year in an apartment that had mold all over the ceiling and when it snowed you didn't have to go outside to have a snowball fight. Not only did I seek a better apartment but I also sought refuge from the filthiness that I had lived in for the past few years. One day during my Junior year of college I decided to clean out the fridge because our whole apartment had an awful stench. I had to throw away two-thirds of the food inside because it was rotten and my roommate had a very difficult time understanding why I had thrown away all of his food.

3. Social (Love, Affection and Belongingness) Needs. People have needs to escape feelings of loneliness and alienation and give (and receive) love, affection and the sense of belonging.

After a few years of learning how to fulfill the more basic needs I finally was able to move on to social needs. I did have a desire to go out on dates but it was usually a terrible experience for me. I fulfilled this need by calling and talking to my parents each week.

4. Ego / Esteem Needs. People need a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from others in order to feel satisfied, self confident and valuable. If these needs are not met, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.

I do not really view myself as someone with a large ego but I do acknowledge the need for the respect of others. I think I sought to realize this need through work. Out of the 20,000 part time jobs I had during college I don't think that I ever found it either. Real briefly let me give you a brief job description of some of my opportunities: box stuffer (filled boxes with golf supplies), hole digger (dug holes for telecommunication cables with a man who called me booger), wood packer (hauled wood and sheet rock up a hill for construction workers). Let me just say I did not feel satisfied or fulfilled.

So that is my life experience of living Maslow's heirarchy of needs. I'm sure that you have gone through a very similar process.