Chapter 14
The SAL Hierarchy, Levels 1-3
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| The SAL Hierarchy is conceptually similar to Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. |
These progressive stages conceptually align with Law 10 and its six corollaries.
Law 10 states that: Self-action leaders are capable of unlimited Existential Growth—or atrophy.
Because of the reality of Existential Equality, each of us is born with the theoretical possibility of becoming fully actualized human beings with unlimited potential for Existential Growth—or atrophy.
The first four corollaries of Law 10 will address the GROWTH component. The last two corollaries will address the atrophy component.
Whether or not you reach the fullness of your Existential Potential over the course of your life depends a great deal on the quality of your SAL education in conjunction with your desire and willingness to apply what you learn.
Corollary 10.1 posits that: Existential Growth is measurable and consists of nine (9) different metaphysical levels (or stages) of ontological development and achievement.
Regardless of your educational goals, personal pursuits, or career ambitions, you likely have opportunities for advancement that provide a progressive ladder of potential achievements, promotions, pay-raises, etc.
Existential Standing
Just as there are nine (9) different layers of the Earth's atmosphere, there are nine (9) different levels of Existential Growth. The term, Existential Standing, is employed to describe the level of Existential Growth an individual self-action leader inhabits at any given point in time.
EXISTENTIAL STANDING
The level of Existential Growth YOU inhabit at any given point in your existence.
A self-action leader's Existential Standing is dynamic and ever-evolving. Thus, there is really no such thing as an "existential fence-sitter." You are never really static in your existential development; you are either progressing or regressing. Along the way, everyone experiences a measure of "back-and-forth" betwixt the two. No one travels a perfectly straight line, in either direction.
SAL Hierarchy of Existential Growth
We all enter this world as infants with virtually no conscious knowledge. Thus, we all begin at LEVEL ONE of the SAL Hierarchy—the EDUCATION STAGE—and work our way up from there.
Some people advance to higher levels more easily and quickly than others. There are two reasons for this.
The first reason is rooted in the desire of the individual; some individuals want Existential Growth more than others. As a result, they are more motivated to work hard, sacrifice, persist, and endure than others.
The second reason involves the many and varied disparities that exist in each individual's SAL Variables Quotient (3).
Existential Growth involves more than just learning about the different levels or stages of development. It also involves becoming the kind of self-action leader that personifies the character traits and attributes that each level incorporates.
With that introduction, let's begin to explore the nine (9) different layers of Earth's atmosphere and the nine (9) analogous levels or stages of Existential Growth.
Though technically not a layer of the atmosphere, Earth's surface is the plane upon which the atmosphere begins. That makes it "Ground Zero" of the SAL Hierarchy. At the surface of the Earth—and especially at sea level or below—the air is thickest and Earth's gravitational pull is the strongest. Thus, the surface of the Earth marks the beginning of the atmosphere.
LEVEL 1: Education Stage
The Education Stage corresponds analogously to the Surface of the Earth. This is the place where you begin your journey into outer space and beyond (physically)—or to Self-Transcendence and Creation (metaphysically).
This is also the stage where you experience one of life's greatest and more important epiphanies: that you don't have to be a victim of your circumstances—that you are neither helpless nor hapless in the face of external adversaries or internal inclinations.
Far from being a one-time exercise, the Education Stage continues to play a prominent role throughout all other stages since it's an ongoing process of learning all the lessons required to rise to the highest levels of Existential Growth. However, just as we learn some of our most important life lessons in kindergarten (or earlier), self-action leaders can learn several of the basic fundamentals of personal responsibility and character development in a single sitting.
Thus, the Education Stage represents both a limited series (or semester) of tutorials as contained in this Life Leadership Textbook). But it also represents your ongoing SAL and life education forever into the future.
NASA trains (educates) its astronauts (self-action leaders) before they begin their journey into outer space (Self-Transcendence). Then, after leaving the Earth's surface, the astronauts continue to communicate with Mission Control in a never-ending process of ongoing education about new obstacles and opportunities they will face on their journey through the atmospheric levels and beyond.
As a self-action leader, YOU should use this Life Leadership textbook as your initial education manual.
After finishing this book and completing the SAL Master Challenge, you will naturally be eager to begin a quest to rise to higher levels, but you should never leave your manual (this book) behind. Rather, you should continue to read, re-read, study, ponder, refer back to, and apply it for the rest of your life. You should also, of course, incorporate a variety of ancillary educational materials to supplement your ongoing usage of the SAL textbook.
In the lowest level of Earth's atmosphere, air is thickest and gravity is strongest. It is also where a majority of Earth's weather occurs. This includes rain, snow, wind, hail, fog, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.
The Troposphere rises to a little over six (6) miles (11 kilometers) above the Earth's surface. The higher you travel into the Troposphere, the colder the temperature gets.
LEVEL 2: Beginner's Stage
The Troposphere is analogous to the Beginner's Stage, or Level 2 of the SAL Hierarchy.
This is typically the stage where Existential Gravity exerts its greatest negative influence upon your efforts to grow and progress as a self-action leader. This potent presence of X-Gravity often makes it a very unstable level. Like the tempestuous weather in the Troposphere, this stage is filled with a variety of metaphysical storms.
These metaphorical "Weather Events" manifest themselves as a variety of human adversities that include both internal (personal) and external (situational) challenges and vicissitudes.
Internal Events include, but are not limited to: addiction, bad attitude or pessimistic outlook, bitterness, complacency, deception, insecurity, jealousy, laziness, low emotional intelligence, mental illness, myopia, self-loathing, vindictiveness, etc.
External Events include, but are not limited to: abuse, bad luck, disability, disease, illness, injury, negative peer pressure, poor (or absent) parenting, poverty, toxic relationships and/or environments, etc.
As the old cliché goes: Misery Loves Company!
The Crab Effect explains in part why childhood and adolescence can, in many cases, prove more socially awkward and difficult than adulthood, since most children and teenagers reside at lower levels of Existential Growth and can consequently be very sarcastic with and cruel to each other.
No matter how gifted or talented you might be, failure is common at this stage. You may work very hard and suffer intensely with relatively little to show for you effort, pain, and sacrifice. As a result, you will undoubtedly experience a measure of both frustration and discouragement on this level. Without a vision of, and faith in, the possibilities that lie beyond such ponderous adversities, many choose to quit trying amidst the adversity-laden crucibles of the Beginner's Stage. In extreme cases, some even opt to give up entirely by ending (or trying to end) their own life.
It is easy to become discouraged in the Beginner's Stage because self-doubt is commonplace. Self-esteem and confidence are typically low, even though one might attempt to mask this fact with external braggadocio and bravado. In reality, however, external limitations are usually the greatest at this stage. Internal inhibitions are also at their peak levels due to personal diffidence, insecurity, and a tenuous track record of success.
SAL beginners are apt to blame most—if not all—of their problems on other people, events, and circumstances.
That is the bad news!
The good news is that the Beginner's Stage is also the place where YOU have the opportunity to start exercising faith in SAL principles and practices. It is the location and time of life where you can choose to start taking personal responsibility.
For some, this stage will be the most difficult stage to transcend.
For others, it will be relatively easy.
The differences in each person's experiences on this level will be determined by a combination of each individual's SAL Variables Quotient and one's desire to grow. Thus, those born with natural inclinations toward mental hygiene and/or who possess a supportive family with sufficient resources will likely progress through this stage much more easily and quickly than those who don't. Someone born with a predisposition to neurosis or psychosis, or into a fractured family (or none at all) with insufficient resources and a weak support system will likely have a very difficult time transcending this stage.
It's vital to note, however, that no matter what your own unique challenges and limitations may be, it's almost always possible to progress beyond this stage if you are given an opportunity to learn, are willing to study, and are determined to act upon this education.
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| Stratosphere The Stratosphere exists above most clouds and weather. |
LAYER 3: STRATOSPHERE
Either way, breaking free of the Beginner's Stage to the Practitioner's Stage is a major accomplishment and should be accompanied by a sense of achievement, celebration, and satisfaction. After all, it is often marked by tangible life or career accomplishments such as graduation, getting your first "Real Job," or getting married.
In the midst of such achievement and celebration, beware of growing too comfortable, complacent, or otherwise "Plateauing" in your progress. Remember that transcending the Beginner's Stage into the Practitioner's Stage is not the ultimate pinnacle you are striving to summit; it is merely a significant milestone along that never-ending journey. Use it, therefore, as a springboard to maintain and ultimately accelerate your upward momentum and progress toward higher stages.
A filtering process occurs in the Practitioner's Stage that separates truly proactive and visionary self-action leaders from the lesser serious and undermotivated. Rather than rest of their laurels, the former group will work harder than ever to rise to the next level, while the latter will settle into their new "Comfort Zone" with an eye toward simply defending and maintaining their newfound status quo.
A large percentage of the overall populace spend too much of their time mingling among this ultimately distracted and myopic milieu—aware that they could achieve more and rise higher, but unwilling to invest the courage and effort required to do so. Consequently, more people reside in the Practitioner's Stage than any other level of Existential Growth, except, perhaps, for the Beginner's Stage.
The plateau of existential comfort that exists on this level seduces far too many, causing them to believe that life is good enough, and that whatever freedom or opportunity may exist beyond is simply not worth the extra effort, sacrifice, and endurance required to obtain. It is the place where avoiding pain to maintain comfort trumps personal sacrifice and delaying gratification for greater things to come.
After all the hard work invested just to get to the Practitioner's Stage, the reactive are content to coast indefinitely along the highways and byways of the Practitioner's Plateau, which is defined as:
PRACTITIONER'S PLATEAU
- What reflections on the SAL Hierarchy do you have so far?
- What questions about the SAL Hierarchy do you have so far?
- What life and/or career experiences have you had that align with Levels 1-3 of the SAL Hierarchy?
—Dr. JJ
Author's Note: This is the 405th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 214th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 404 FF Blog Articles
Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES
Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS
Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection
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Chapter 14 Notes
1. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review. Volume 50, Issue 4, p. 370-396. Page 383.
2. The atmospheric science contained in this chapter is drawn from two primary textbooks, as follows:
Lutgens, F. K., and Tarbuck, E. J. (2010). The Atmosphere: An Introduction to Meteorology (Eleventh Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Tarbuck, E. J., and Lutgens, F. K. (2009). Earth Science (Twelfth Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall.
3. See BOOK THE THIRD, Chapter 7 – SAL Variables – for detailed information on the seventeen SAL Variables and the ways in which they produce both benefits and limitations for us as human beings.
4. Wilcox, E.W. (1917). The Collected Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Volume 1. London, UK: Gay and Hancock, Ltd. Pages 247-248. Google Books Version.
5. Covey, S.R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Fireside.
