It ' s important to note that Mythology fits nowhere on Maslow ' s Pyramid . It would be higher than anything on it . In other words , real Compassion and authentic Love . What we consider the highest things don ' t fit at all on Maslow ' s Pyramid . And that ' s the realm of science fiction stories . reference Now I was reading shortly before coming here a work by Abraham Maslow , a wonderful psychologist , a very important psychologist , one whom I most delight in reading . And he was speaking of what he called a hierarchy of values for which people live , and the hierarchy was as follows survival , security , personal relationships , and selfdevelopment . Fortunately I was reading those only a day or so ago , and then I began thinking of this lecture today , and I went back to those and I thought , Well those are exactly the values that have nothing to do with mythology . Mythology is the law of giving yourself , losing yourself . A person who lives by a myth is fascinated by an aspiration for which he will sacrifice security , for which he will sacrifice even his life , for which he will sacrifice friends and everything else . Joseph Campbell , 1974