Objective: Meeting Basic & Evolving Human Needs

MiracleMind curriculum focuses on empowering consumers to address a wide range of needs. Meeting our immediate and longer term needs is the primary motivation behind the desire to learn. 65 years ago Abraham Maslow organized the entire range of human needs into a comprehensive psychological theory. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is even more relevant today.

Take a look at the image on this page. Most will agree that the entire spectrum of human experiences and motivations can be summed up in this simple chart. Everything we do, think, feel and experience can be linked in some way to at least one of these categories.

Ponder the myriad issues at stake in today’s culture. For example, read the base of the pyramid (physiological), and consider the billions spent on advertising by the pharmaceutical industry. A host of drugs for asthma, insomnia, ADD, heart disease, sexual dysfunction and digestive problems are just the tip of the iceberg. Today’s top 20 drug companies generate over $500 billion in annual revenues.

Physiological needs surely include warmth and shelter. With the cost of fossil fuels steadily climbing, and an unprecedented mortgage loan crisis in full swing, people every-where are searching for ways to save energy, capture solar heat, earn more income and create long-term sustainable solutions for living.

Food is another basic need. With a head of organic lettuce heading toward $4, and apples approaching $1 each, produce transported by intercontinental jets and heavy diesel trucks will have a hard time competing with the current renaissance in backyard gardening and root cellars. Community Supported Agriculture Centers (CSA) are sprouting up in cities and towns from Maine to San Diego. Manhattan now has 15 CSAs purchasing produce from local farms within a short radius of the city. People everywhere - urban, suburban and rural - are paying more attention to their food: how and where it is grown, and also how to grow it themselves.

The next level on the pyramid deals with safety, and this would surely include financial security, consumer protection, ID theft and a number of issues involving family safety and security. Drug awareness education, preventive healthcare and driver education are just a few of many examples.

A little higher up on the pyramid we come to self-esteem, community, love, family and relationships. Higher education, career training, marriage, divorce, child rearing, emotional health, communication skills, dating and sexual health would all fall into these categories. In recent years the Internet has catapulted online dating to new heights. The largest service of this kind, eHarmony.com with hundreds of thousands of members, has secured venture capital in excess of NINE figures! They also offer an online "Marriage Program" costing as much as $240.

Climbing up the pyramid (the need to understand), the overwhelming popularity of The DaVinci Code comes to mind. The current cultural shift toward spiritual values is obvious, while the effort to align science with religion grows ever more intense. Yes, ’intelligent design’ vs. ‘evolution’ is just a part of this movement.

Self-transformation would be close to the apex - the very tip of the pyramid. Here we might place the life-changing work of Eckhart Tolle, who has made the New York Times Bestseller List twice in a row - first with The Power of Now, and also now with his latest work, A New Earth. On March 3rd Oprah Winfrey held her first live online seminar, featuring Eckhart Tolle discussing the core issues addressed in A New Earth - Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. (See our book review.) Over 500,000 people registered for the first live session, a one-hour seminar.

To be sure, there is a huge demand for knowledge in our culture, to meet an ever-growing spectrum of human needs and desires.