Stop raising the bar of survival — and shift to self-actualization

In 1943, sociologist Abraham Maslow introduced his hierarchy of needs

He classified human needs in 5 categories: physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization

He depicted these needs as a Pyramid with physiological needs at bottom and self-actualization at top — implying basic needs (safety, food, shelter) need to be satisfied before a (wo)man can pursue self-realization

Note that Maslow introduced his Hiearchy of Needs during World War II, when physiological needs (survival) were #1 priority for whole humanity (just ask the Brits whose grandparents rushed to the Underground to take shelter during the Blitz)

But, after WWII, as peace reined worldwide, Maslow revisited his hierarchical view of needs and emphasized a need doesn’t have to be satisfied 100% before the next need emerges.

For him, “a more realistic description of the hierarchy would be in terms of decreasing percentages of satisfaction as we go up the hierarchy of prepotency”

In 1964, Krech, Crutchfield, and Ballachey introduced a dynamic hierarchy in terms of ‘waves’ of different needs overlapping at the same time: see graphic at the top of this article.

In this graphic, the peak of an earlier main set of needs must be passed before the next ‘higher’ need can begin to assume a dominant role

Sadly, what I see in India today is we “keep raising the bar of survival”

In 2025, most Indians focus their vital energy on fulfilling our basic needs, although the majority of Indians have enough food and shelter.

As the Indian mystic Sadhguru poignantly points out:

“(We) keep on raising (the bar of survival). What was your idea of survival 25 years ago? What is your idea of survival today?

It’s raising the bar, isn’t it? 2 meals a day was survival, when you didn’t have anything. If you have known such a state, it’s good to know those things

But now Mercedes is survival

In (our) society, survival has been raised to a place where billionaires are still struggling to survive, among their community. Yes?

I have had this opportunity, at close quarters, to see multi-billionaires — but they are still beggars

Every day their mentality, their mindset, is just that of a beggar who sits on this street and thinking: what is today? How many more pennies can I gather?

The numbers have increased, but the experience of life is still the same — because you raise the bar of survival

Now your whole life, it doesn’t matter what you do, still goes in survival.”

Watch Sadhguru’s talk at MIT. Read his article.

To pull ourselves out of this quandary, Sadhguru suggests: “In your life, you must fix (the bar) somewhere: how much is survival.”

In 2021, I left Silicon Valley — where I kept the raising the bar of survival — to return to France.

In 2024, I left France to return to India.

Today, my annual income is 10x less than what I earned in 1999 when I immigrated in the US.

I failed in my American dream, but I stopped raising the bar of survival — so I can focus my energy on self-actualization.

Ask yourself:

“How I can stop raising the bar on survival — and shift my energy to self-actualizing my potential ?”