Studying in my psych class today about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model and it made me think about they way that focusing on physiological needs, which are at the bottom of the pyramid deprives us from focusing on the higher level needs. The model is shaped like a pyramid with the following in the order of the base to the top 1. Physiological Needs – air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep. 2. Safety Needs – protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, freedom from fear. 3. Belongingness Needs - friendship, intimacy, affection and love, - from work group, family, friends, romantic relationships. 4. Esteem Needs - achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, respect from others. 5. Self-actualization Needs – realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. It seems to me that sexual addiction keeps us at the lowest level, which must be fulfilled before we move up the pyramid. Not that we never reach a measure of the higher level, but can't reach them fully bc we never get to feel that we are fulfilled in the physiological level: air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep. Stuck on sex… we must find a point of feeling satisfied with a level of sex, content, fulfilled. That is not possible if we hang on to our addiction. That is a MUST if we want to experience the higher levels fully… Looking at this can provide a strong incentive to push on towards the point where sex is not a constant perceived need. We do not need sex. It is a normal desire and is needed for human society to continue, but not one we need individually. For many of us, we are at a stage where reproduction is not a key focus, so we can move sex out of the NEED and simply into a want, if under the right circumstances… That opens many doors for us to move up the pyramid to reach the level of Self Actualization…
