Orientation to Your Better Self

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you.” – Lao Tzu

"If only life were that easy!" – Warren Kinston

1. Recognize that you are a moral being and so is everyone else. You are also a cosmic miracle, but that's an easier role.
2. You are a member of humanity before you are a member of your society. Societies come and go: eventually many destroy themselves. Humanity endures … so far. Its survival depends on goodness.
3. This section, perhaps more than any other, demands that you think ideas through for yourself. There is no complex reasoning, and all topics are oriented to helping you to reflect so as to agree or disagree (and refine formulations).

• See the two senses of being moral.

This section considers states of mind: that you may rarely think about, or that you ponder on constantly. In any case, you will instantly recognize them once you look. Although transcendental and needed by humanity, the frameworks respect your personal uniqueness. They deal with mysteries, but they are not mysterious.

Primal Quests are often called the «Purpose of Life» because they lie within Purpose in the Root Hierarchy. Your Quest is commonly experienced as your source of happiness or meaning in existing. The importance of Primal Quests seems to have led to an imaginative construction of Planes of Human Existence, which then served as a location for «the divine». That in turn generated a focus on good and evil, and our vulnerability in that regard.

The 6th Primal Quest, Obedience, contains the Root Tertiary Hierarchy of Primal Injunctions. These Injunctions appear to promote goodness and restrain evil. As this inquiry develops, more emerges about evil: what it is, how it is perceived, and how it may be kept at bay. The active interaction of these Injunctions provides a map for leading a better communal life.

Because the Primal Injunctions carry spiritual energies, they also serve as vehicles for goodness, and these clarify how we produce goodness for humanity. (The form is a Structural Hierarchy.) On this basis, it is possible to map the dynamics of bringing goodness to life.

► The Root Complex provides us with a perspective on the three Great Codes that humanity needs: the Code for Existence, the Code for Rightness, and the Code for Goodness.

► Does it sound religious? If so, see some comments and comparisons before you proceed.

► Sceptical about goodness? Comment here.

• See how I got involved in this inquiry.

• If there is any part of the TOP Web Cluster which allows everyone to contribute from their own experiences, then surely this is it. (Many other well-developed parts of the Taxonomy are more oriented to management, large organizations, government or specialized activities.)
• The findings presented here may look as if they are «my» ideas, but that is not so. The ideas have emerged from adherence to taxonomic principles and the inquiring method. Insofar as any idea is correct, it is a universal idea located correctly. Insofar as any idea is wrong, or correct but wrongly located, then it is my bias or misunderstanding. I welcome refutations, comments and suggestions.
• Popular philosophical discussions about how to live often run in fashions, where first one aspect is rediscovered and then later another, and so on—until it is time once again for the first aspect to get a re-hashing and re-hearing. The present comprehensive holistic view avoids that danger. In addition, the various taxonomic maps indicate how one human element relates to and influences other human elements.
• You can omit this part of THEE without in any way affecting how you engage with the rest. In the nature of things, this set of frameworks is more speculative and some validation tools are not available. Nevertheless, the development has been difficult and characterized by progressive and continually surprising discoveries. So something must be going right.
• These hierarchies are focused on how we live our lives, how we approach work, how we show that we are truly free creative beings. As a result, they seem to be the source of much that is found in wisdom literature and in writing which is culled for quotes about «living a worthwhile life». There is a particular overlap, for some, with religious teachings—see a discussion of religious confusions.
• Your views are important: make comments and help others think through these vital notions. As you will see, a lot—probably far more than you imagine—depends on your attitude to the issues raised here.