No. 2 of a New Hierarchy of needs.

2. knowledge - in order to survive we must study what is true in nature and in our selves.

We need to know the plants that will nourish and the plants that poison. We need to know the actions that bring peace in our lives and the actions that create discomfort, fear, and pain.

Conversations to share knowledge, to teach facts, to share poetry and stories, to report on what is going on in the world are like nourishment. All creatures must have some basic knowledge. All generations need new stories.

Absolutes exist but if we never question or move beyond these absolutes we become afraid of thinking or reading or learning, in case we discover we don't know everything.

The fear that we don't know everything is what will make us willing robots for the political movements that demand we must obey and not think, and we are under threat of their control whenever we stop questioning.