This is the experience of most people on the planet. They find it difficult to meet their survival, safety and security needs. Consequently, like my father, they never get the opportunity to explore the fourth stage of their psychological development; they never get to individuate.
Let’s assume that you are a young adult, in your mid-twenties or early thirties, and you are fortunate enough to live in a nation where you can get your survival, safety and security needs met. You will now want to find freedom and autonomy to become independent and accountable for your life; to adopt the values and beliefs that are meaningful to you, rather than the values and beliefs of your parents or the community in which you were raised. You will want to individuate.
If you are successful, and you can also meet your survival, safety and security needs, then you will feel a sense of well-being. If you are successful at individuating, but for whatever reason you are no longer able to meet your survival, safety or security needs, then you will not feel a sense of well-being.
The contrary is also true; if you can meet your survival, safety and security needs but cannot meet your individuating needs, you will not feel a sense of well-being. This was the situation that precipitated the Arab Spring.
Young adults from the Arab nations of North Africa and the Middle East had studied abroad and come home to relatively high-paying private sector jobs that allowed them to meet their survival, safety and security needs. They now wanted the freedom to explore their own values and beliefs; they wanted to individuate. Unfortunately, they came up against authoritarian regimes that were operating from a lower stage of development. Although they demonstrated over several weeks, their needs were not recognized. Many of these people left their respective countries because they were being prevented from growing and developing. They could only find well-being by settling in a country that was operating from a higher stage of development that allowed them to individuate.
Richard Barrett, Worldview Dynamics and the Well Being of Nations
I wanted to highlight this important quote because it touches upon what I experienced myself. Not in terms of wanting to move to another country but wanting to move to another company.
Simply put, I couldn’t find a conducive organizational setting that would align with where I wanted to grow and development.
So even though my survival, safety, and security needs where being met by having a job within a company, my growth needs were not being met because many of the leaders within these companies I worked for often operated from at a lower stage of development than me.
What this created was a continual catch-22 situation whereby I would need to fulfil my survival, safety, and security needs, so I would get a job. But then after being in the job for six months to a year, I found I couldn’t really express myself and grow within it because management operated from a lower of stage of development than me. This caused me to eventually quit in frustration and start back at square one, needing to get a job again to meet my survival, safety, and security needs.
For many people in the United States right now, who are operating from a higher stage of development, they are probably feeling the same way about living within the United States and having a president who is operating from a lower stage of development. They probably are feeling like they want to leave the country and go to another country where the leader is operating at a higher stage of development.