The 9 basic Needs, according to Michael

In addition to our Role and Overleaves in the Michael Teachings, as humans we all have 9 basic Needs that have to be fulfilled in at least a minimal way for us to feel like we're having a stable and balanced life.

These Needs are as follows:

Security, Adventure, Freedom, Expansion, Power, Expression, Acceptance, Community, and Exchange.

Like most elements of the Physical Plane, each of the Needs has positive and negative aspects. And just like with the Overleaves, we choose which Needs we’re going to focus on each liferime. In the case of Needs, we choose 3. We can focus on one or more of these Needs to such a degree that we feel like we have fulfilled that examination and set it aside before the end of the lifetime. In such a case, some people pull forward a fourth Need to work on, others simply feel complete. We do feel the Needs in our chakras, and of course, our soul age can be a factor in how we choose to pursue these Needs. A newer soul will have a more primal basic way of pursuing a Need. The older you get, the more sophisticated your work will be in terms of Need fulfillment.

Let's look at each of the 9 Needs separately for better understanding.

Security is the most primal and basic Need we have. Without a certain level of security, a person will emotionally, physically, and intellectually devolve into a gibbering mess and ultimately suffer from mental health issues. The Security Need pushes us to take control of our lives and our destiny and to strive for that which makes us feel the most stable. For most of us, that would entail a home, a job, or consistent income, enough food to eat, water to drink, access to utilities, education, and medicine. And a group of reliable friends or family. Leaving out any one of these can cause great stress to the system. Having a Security Need in place creates an atmosphere of peace, inner strength and the ability to trust.

When the Security Need is not being fulfilled properly a person feels rudderless, out of control, afraid, and even desperate. Without security we do not function well.

The next most important Need is Adventure. On the face of it this sounds less important, but our Adventure Need is actually our drive toward any growth experience, creativity, or new endeavor.

Without adventure we would never venture out of our parents home, make friends, get a job, explore the world, or fulfill challenges. We need adventure to have any growth each lifetime (which is why we're here). Adventure allows us to create and complete karmas in order to increase our wisdom. On the negative side, adventure can be reckless and heedless of harm that we could do to ourself or others.

Freedom, our third Need, allows us to grow up and be independent of our parents. To leave home and explore the world. To leave school to explore a career. And even to try a variety of jobs and lifestyles to discover our best path. Obviously, our freedom is curtailed if we are locked away, put in jail, trafficked, or mired in an abusive relationship.

But there can be other forms of negativity attached to the Freedom Need; the Freedom Need can be negatively expressed through a fear of committing to a job, a prospect, a community, or a relationship, leaving the person lacking accountability.

Expansion is an inspirational Need to uplevel ourselves to higher levels of wisdom, prosperity, agility, health, and skills. Expansion frees our spirit to soar to new heights. Generally, there is not a lot of negativity to Expansion. In younger souls it can show up as a greediness for wealth or status, and the drive to expand at any soul age can be so acute that it leads to thoughtlessness and a lack of noticing whatever falls outside our vision of our goals.

Power is a deeply important Need as well. Without a sense of personal power, there is no self-esteem, and it is very difficult to develop capability and skill. The negatives attached to Power Need are obvious. While you want the authority that power lends you to apply to the greater good, powerful authority and control can also be abused and used to create harm towards those less powerful than oneself.

Expression is the drive to create something of your own in the world, that expresses your contribution in whatever way suits your nature this lifetime. This might be in the form of art, dance, the written word, song. But it may also be a legacy you leave behind of kindness, children, or wisdom, and developed skills that are passed on once you become adept. Expression fulfills our need to create and to believe that we have something to contribute.

When we don't feel our Expression Need is being fulfilled, it is easy to feel overcome with thoughts of worthlessness and a lack of self-esteem. And this can lead to negative or self-destructive behaviors.

Acceptance is two-fold in this case. The Need of Acceptance is the need to be accepting, loving, and kind to others, and to environments and situations around you. But it is also important to be focused on acceptance of oneself and one's own growth path. A lack in self-acceptance and acceptance of others can lead to prejudice, unkindness, racism, sexism, and suicidal ideation.

Community, there is a reason why there are so many humans on earth. We were not designed to be alone on the planet as the only representation of our species.We have a deep need to commune with others, to share thoughts, feelings, empathy, connection, and intimacy, with a tribal group of family and friends. No matter how introverted or extroverted you are, there is still a need to make community with at least a few significant others. Community teaches us to share, to care about others to be a member of the world, and a contributive citizen.

To not fulfill a Community Need, leads to loneliness and despair.

The Exchange Need fullfills our desire for open communication, verbal connection, intellectual and emotional socialization, and a sharing of ideas and ideals. Great inspiration and a great deal of comfort can come from fulfilling the Exchange Need.

In its negative aspect, Exchange can be used to slander or gossip about others. It can be a vehicle for expressing cynicism and skepticism to bring down the energy level of any discussion and to sabotage any hopefulness or progressive movement forward.

These are the 9 Needs. By reading about them, most of you will see quite clearly which of them are the ones you are working on in this particular lifetime, and by embracing that work, you can find yourself promoting a more fulfilling life experience for yourself and others.