Reinforcing Actualization

Why is it so Hard?

The actualization process for my endeavour is hard, difficult, challenging. Not always, but at times or even often. My endeavours seem to generate difficulties: perhaps everyone else has it easy? Unlikely.

Channels that bypass a Level provide an essential boost to my efforts. They bring additional (and perhaps «higher») energies and pressures to bear on a Centre. This by-passing also deals with whole Levels or particular Centres which are (for any reason) distracting or dysfunctional.

However, the very first of these does not exist. Why?

Willingness-RL7, the most spiritual of Centres, cannot influence Communication-RL5 because the nature of being willing is so diffuse and non-specific. Nor is there a converse influence. Willingness-RL7 and Communication-RL5 only affect each other indirectly via My Goals-RL6_A and My Experience-RL4.

RL6 → RL4: Full Identification

My personal goal-RL6_Aenergizes me (RL4_B), and my experience of the endeavour should also energize my goal. (The two Centres work together so naturally that many think of them as one.) Something similar applies to group doctrines and norms-RL6_C. They provide a foundation for thinking and acting that stabilizes me, while my experiences of the doctrines and normsstabilize them. (Again it can be difficult to distinguish a doctrine from yourself.)

The RL6_A ↔ RL4_B Channel force is: Energize.

The RL6_C ↔ RL4_B Channel force is: Stabilize.

Triangle of Identification

We can add to those two Channels the Legitimacy generated by the Channel between my goals-RL6_A and the social paradigms and conventions-RL6_C. The result is a «Triangle of Identification» with the endeavour. My identity is being shaped and it not only feels right for me, it is being is socially supported. That is a powerful set of controls.

RL5 → RL3: External Review

When communication-RL5 and change-RL3 Centres link directly, the effect is to exclude me and my experience-RL4. This is precisely what happens in external reviews. Naturally, I may be a bit touchy, even nervous, about such «interference». How can they see things my way?  But that is precisely the point, it is useful to see events in terms of what has been said and documented about the endeavour, or to revise what is said and documented in terms of conditions on the ground.

There are four possible Channels here between RL5 and RL3. But two of these cannot avoid mediation by my experience-RL4. Which ones and why?

Formal specification-RL5_C cannot directly determine adaptations-RL3_C because such changes are a result of unexpected and often unforeseeable events and forces. My feelings-RL4 about the situation is essential for effective handling. Informal accounts are often created to suit a particular person or situation, and certainly for reasons other than to enable full orderly implementation. They cannot be allowed to affect the planned development-RL3_A without my awareness-RL4 mediating.

Formal specification-RL5_C is precise enough that it can directly appraise and dictate aspects of the desired development-RL3_A.  Conversely, some parts of a desired development may be so well structured, that they can dictate aspects of the formal specification.

The RL5_C ↔ RL3_A Channel force is: Dictate.

Informal accounts look at the adaptations to ensure it is not a case of survival at all costs. They highlight and emphasize the strong points and benefits of the new state. When an adaptation to handle unexpected external forces is required, it is natural to highlight elements of an informal account to suggest courses of action or to justify a different outcome.

The RL5_A ↔ RL3_C Channel force is: Highlight.

There is another feature of these two Channels: they bridge the autonomous v constrained divide. Combine them with the other two bridges: Explanation and Facilitation, and you see the «Square of Advisor Input».

RL4 → RL2: Reality Check

There is so much happening in any endeavour that it is easy to get lost in process. In my bones, that is to say within my experience-RL4_B, I feel an urge to monitor what is going on and what has been achieved. To do that, I must activate testing and inquiry-RL2_B, and use the findings to be properly informed. I can also draw on my experience to inform the checks and inquiries that could usefully be pursued.

The RL4_B ↔ RL2_B Channel force is: Inform.

This Channel provides me with a reality check of the endeavour. While it has a subjective element, it can be sufficiently dispassionate. Can it really?  Yes, it can. However, if the identification with the endeavour is excessive and reflective awareness is poorly developed, then denial of failure, of necessary actions, and of oncoming disaster is all too common.

RL3 → RL1: Direct Intervention

Institution of change-RL3 depends on Action-RL1. Inquiry-RL2 is all well and good, but it can cause delays and difficulties. Above all, it rarely deals well with the human element. So there is an essential need for intervention: i.e. action directly aimed at making progress-RL3.

Any desired development-RL3_A naturally calls for systematization of decisions and actions-RL1_B to ensure that the structures, the plans and the organization of work can be preserved and pursued properly. Making decisions and taking action may also lead to further systematization of the desired development.

Decisions and action-RL1 must respond to necessary adaptations-RL3_C. At all times there is a flow of actions-RL1, defining the endeavour, and adaptations must be made in ways that respond to that flow.

The RL3_A ↔ RL1_B Channel force is: Systematize.

The RL3_C ↔ RL1_B Channel force is: Respond.

Intervention occurs here. As it happens, decision methods are of two sorts: responsive and systematizing.

Is It All Worth It?

Actualization has occurred and is under control. But is it all worth it? My endeavour looks so different and seems far more complex than suggested by the original idea stimulated by a simple wish to «do something».

So there is one thing missing from the model: confirmation that I still want to remain personally engaged with the endeavour. This requires one more Channel.

Originally posted : 13-Aug-2011. Updated 5-Jul-2013.