What's essential

The only thing that really matters, is that you, and anyone you’re responsible for, are alive, not in any immediate danger, and are in fair physical and mental health.

You don’t have to be a millionaire to achieve this.
You don’t have to have a nice car, or even a car.
You don’t have to have a nice home, or even a home.
You don’t have to eat fine food, or wear fine clothes.

You don’t need to travel the world.
You don’t need academic philosophy or psychology.
You don’t need much, if any entertainment.
You don’t need politics or religion.

You don’t need to be in a relationship, or have many, if any friendships.

All you really need is to know what’s essential (ie food, clothing, shelter, etcetera), how to obtain it, and how to, unlearn, to be discontent with what’s essential.

Setting the bar kind of low there aren’t ya?

I think it’s good to set the bar low, and not have much more than you need.
I don’t see a point in burning the candle at both ends, or risking what’s essential for what’s inessential.

I don’t care much about material things.
It’s fine if I don’t have a house.
I don’t mind living in an apartment.
Houses are high maintenance.
They cost a lot of money to purchase, and even after purchasing them, paying taxes on them can be as expensive as renting an apartment.
You’ll spend decades paying double, triple or quadruple what you would renting a flat, trying to pay a mortgage, and in the end you could lose it.
You have more space to clean, and if you’re like me, much of it will be empty, and so superfluous, because I’m a minimalist, I don’t need, or want a lot of stuff.
You also have to repair them, cut the grass and so on.
Ultimately, the only benefit is a little more privacy.
And the more space we take up, and resources we extract, the less there is for nature.

Humans has evolved to progress within a hierarchy of needs.
Note Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,

Thus what is pertinent is one need to flow and progress with the above hierarchy of needs without going into extremes and heavy stress that could enable evil.

Taking care of the basic needs is critically important but one must progress optimally within one’s mean and abilities.

One of the most essential quality is for one to cultivate a state of equanimity where one will not be heavily stressed if thrown into the worst conditions.

The other critical thing we cannot compromise is the need for philosophy-proper [not academic] to facilitate the path of progress.

Note if humanity [in general] has not flowed and bothered with progress especially in Science and medicine, the human species could have been wiped out by various epidemics, e.g. flu, ebola, plague, smallpox, various fatal diseases and at present we are battling various aggressive pathogens.

Humanity has to continue to progress in various relevant fields to ensure the preservation of the species. Humanity has done quite well to the extent and possibility of dealing with a rogue meteorite that could appear out of no where and threatens that destruction of Earth.

Thanks for posting this.

I think Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is flawed, or at least very limited.
Take the physiological needs, particularly food, clothing and shelter.
We need these things, but we can have too much of them (quantity), or they can be of poor quality, on the one hand, or they can be too rich, too decadent on the other, to the point where they start to seriously jeopardize our health and safety individually, or collectively take a heavy toll on the environment, ultimately jeopardizing the health and safety of future generations.
We just need a moderate amount of natural food, clothing, and a small shelter to sleep in.
It’s nice to have a few extras sometimes, and virtually impossible for many or most to forgo them all the time, I mean everything in moderation I think, including moderation, but we shouldn’t become too dependent on them, and extras can quickly lead to excess.

Or to put it succinctly, not all food, clothing and shelter are needs, some are of inferior quality, or excesses.

Also, to me, physical and mental health, and safety, which is included in the safety and security section of Maslow’s hierarchy, is how we measure what our needs are in the first place.
While we don’t have to be in perfect health, or perfectly safe, it’s impossible to be anyway, we do have to be in fair health, and away from of immediate danger.
If you’re in poor health and/or immediate danger, than you’re in desperate need, definitionally.
So health and safety don’t come after food, clothing and shelter, health and safety are prior to them, and determine how much food, clothing and shelter we need, and what kind.

Having a moderate amount of all the other items listed, from the physiological like food, clothing and shelter, and physical abilities, to the sociological like family, friendship, community and a job, and socio-emotional abilities, like a sense of justice, or the ability to empathize, to the mental like having some common sense, street smarts, some arithmetic, reading and writing skills, is what keeps us safe and in fair physical and mental health (in)directly, or in other words, in a state of relative needlessness.

And you can have too much or too little of any of these items, or the wrong sort of these items.
Too much or too little, compromises your health and safety, or the health and safety of your friends, family and community, making you, or the people you care about and need, needy.
You can even have too much information, or the wrong kind of information.
Information may be accurate, but relatively useless to you, taking your attention from more useful things, or preventing you from giving your head a much needed rest.
Or information can be inaccurate, or highly speculative.

That’s all nice and what have you but in no way accounts for the psychological ego of some individuals that want more than all others.

Yea, it’s unfortunate that some families have to be billionaires, and that they’re willing/able to screw everyone else over, including the environment in order to so.