chapotraphouse

Yeah, I've struggled with my own conditions although not as much as your situation, and I hate Maslow's Hierarchy because I've been able to engage in some of the higher-order parts of it while lacking some of the lower-order parts; right now you are engaging in the social connection and belonging aspects but (without presuming to speak on your behalf authoritatively) I'm gonna guess that you are lacking in some of the lower-order parts of the hierarchy as we speak.

People will either forego the lower-order needs in order to achieve the higher-order things or their need to achieve the higher-order stuff will supercede their need for the lower-order stuff. If you respect people's autonomy then you should reject Maslow's Hierarchy because it imposes a set of priorities that are completely external to the individual.

I mean, it's fine if you're dealing with a first-year social work student or whatever - someone who needs to be shaken out of their comfortably "middle" class existence to recognise that people who lack food or shelter are generally going to be unwilling or incapable of the higher-order stuff on the hierarchy and so they need to focus on the lower-order stuff first but the whole thing is just meh.