Problems

March 4, 2024

The second level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is safety and security. After solving the foundational problems of physiological sustenance, the next level is solving the problems of security. We may be well-fed, healthy, sheltered, and clothed, but if these are lost, we cannot exist. Therefore, human beings put immense emphasis on solving the problems preventing our being secure.

In Enneagram studies, the subtypes are an integral piece of information. The subtype is the conduit of our passion. One of the three instinctual subtypes is Self Preservation. (The other two are social affiliation and sexual syntony). Each of us has the propensity for self-preservation to some degree, but for some of us, this propensity dominates. The need for security overrides and pervades everything. But when any of us is threatened, regardless of our primary instinctual subtype, the self-preservation instinct predominates until the security desired has been attained.

The ego thinks it maintains our security. It avoids all that threatens us; it uses our passions to get what it wants, trusts its fixations, and believes its own lies. And some of its strategies work. But as life continues, we see that the ego cannot do what needs to be done. Only the soul can give us the security we need. Having trust in the Divine does not mean we don’t need car and home insurance. It means a spirit of love is always with us, even in our darkest times. The power of love is the most powerful of all energies. Experiencing this power allays the fears that no security system can quell.

Inquiry: How do you know you are safe?

Dear God,

There is no secure place on this earth. But in my heart, I have a place you gave me that comforts me and tells me I am protected by your love even until the end.

Amen

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