Discerning Your Primal Quest

What We Know so Far

Your chosen Primal Quest shapes or affects and probably controls, indirectly or at crucial moments, the selection of specific personal endeavours-RH. See its location within THEE in the diagram.
Technical Position

The name Primal Quest has been provisionally proposed for the 7 Types to be found within the Root Typology that is nested in the 6th Level of the Root Hierarchy. However, they could also be called: Purposes of Life.

7 Primal Quests have been identified and ordered hierarchically in accord with their affinity/emphasis/dependence on a Level in the Root Hierarchy.

The 7 Primal Quests are not yet fully articulated by any means.
Still to come:
► Differences in practical aspects.
► Insights from comparisons using the Typology Essences Table (TET).
► Forms of ethics and creativity based on Model Beings.

Nevertheless, it is time to review and consolidate because, although these Primal Quests begin rather simply, they get stranger and more generally useful as we learn more about them.

Still unsure what Primal Quests are about? Then start first by
being fully certain about what they are not:►

• NOT the Hero's Journey, or the Hero's quest as an episode within that Journey.
• NOT Archetypes, as in Jungian psychology or modern myth-making.
• NOT «Ideal types»: constructs created in social sciences that draw on empirical reality but do not purport to represent it.
• NOT «Ultimate values» like Love, Justice, Freedom, Peace—unless the value happens to be closely identified with the Quest for that person. For example:Love might underpin Salvation-RHL'4, and Truth typically underpins Enlightenment-RHL'3. However, it is not possible to be sure for any particular person e.g. Responsibility might underpin Creation or Meaning or Obedience or none of these. Freedom might turn out to be evidence for either Creation or Obedience—which seem to be opposites—and seems common in association with Pleasure.
• NOT a project that can be defined, planned and achieved once and for all.
• NOT specific choices, values, actions, feelings or enjoyments that you pick up or put down at will according to their usefulness, intrinsic obligations or temporary preference in the situation.
  

Primal Quests are THEE-Types and take 7 very different forms that should be easy to recognize. They probably organize our existence insofar as it is personal and about endeavour. The existential quality means Primal Quests are part of our common humanity. Even though manifestations will be socially and culturally shaped, as a means to happiness/meaning, they exist beyond society, time and culture.

Are Primal Quests "Chosen" or "Given"? 

The location of Primal Quests—in the THEE Root Typology nested within Purpose-RL6—means that they are a special sort of purposive system. You can accept or reject most purposes, albeit with effort in the case of value systems where your identification and loyalty are strong. But can you treat your Quest in that way? 

This question comes up in every THEE Typology. The answer is not known. I am particularly uncertain how much choice we actually have in regard to these Quests. Early childhood experiences may imprint us, or perhaps its primarily genetic.

Perhaps it is a matter of authenticity. Each of us either goes with the flow and follows our path, or we choose to resist it. Social compulsion does not seem to play a role, but social support almost certainly does. If we do not go with the authentic flow for any reason, I sense that we will probably feel deeply dissatisfied somewhere inside: even unhappy. To avoid the pain of self-betrayal, we might then diffusely blame others, or the times, for our existential state.

This is a tentative view: because there is evidence and reason to think that choice plays a role in some cases, at least unconsciously.

Your Background Awareness

Primal Quests are endeavours that primarily, or at least initially, seem to exist as a diffuse awareness context for other endeavours that are socially demanded &/or maintain personal identity.

Discerning the Primal Quest of another may be rather easy—or difficult. You need a confiding and reflective relationship so that you can observe choices over time, hear their justifications, and witness their pursuit. The present inquiry (2010-2011) is an initial foray and the following notes on each Quest are offered as tentative propositions.

Why are Primal Quests in the Background?

Probably because of our other personal and social endeavours—to find love, to make a living, to raise children, to rise in status, to build a business, to master golf, to travel extensively &c. These are so much in the foreground. These conventional but genuinely important matters are often linked to happiness. They have a strong appeal based on immediacy, necessity, enjoyment, sense of achievement, peer approval, social recognition and natural feel. So the Primal Quest may recede from our consciousness—even while it subtly shapes or subliminally protests our mainstream endeavours.

Becoming Aware of Your Quest

Unless you are trapped by sheer survival in dire circumstances, your natural Primal Quest will definitely manifest over time. The Quest for Pleasure is not too hard to recognize. But the rest, even the longing for a purpose, may be more tricky. When something has not been named, it can be difficult to recognize, much less discuss. For many people, awareness develops through looking back over choices in a life trajectory and noticing a Quest theme.

Knowing your Primal Quest may help you become more comfortable with yourself and the way others treat you. So access to this THEE Framework, or to someone with the wisdom to help you see yourself, may be useful.

Recognizing a Person's Quest

Pleasure Quest-RH'L1, seems to be the most common, and (perhaps) the easiest Quest to recognize.
More.

Gratification depends on, and has to be obtained around and despite, intrinsically stressful or dutiful endeavours that consume most of the time available to a person: e.g. working for a living, looking after a family, getting more education, managing investments, developing friendships, contributing to your membership association or local community.

Mechanical and routine work does not usually provide pleasure, and more complex work or managerial work is commonly too stressful to serve this Quest. So time off work and holiday breaks are sought and prized.

Meaning Quest-RH'L2 is built on realizing values. So it can easily be combined with employment or enterprise, and with recreational or charitable activities outside work. Look for an emphasis on feelings and empathy.
More.

This Quest results in people who are committed to what they do. They talk about their values and social ideals and enjoy understanding others and relating to new people. Holidays may be used as an opportunity to delve into special aspects of the ideal: perhaps in another country, or via some research or writing, or in relation to a membership association.

Enlightenment Quest-RH'L3 is not easily recognized and is certainly not synonymous with a scientific career. It may show up more in activities outside work.
More.

The Quest's inquiry scope tends to ramify widely: in contrast to work of any sort, which is naturally specialized and requires a focus on efficiently producing targeted results. The Quest is consistent with a drive for success but inhibits the drive for status, insofar as that requires too many small hypocrisies and compromises with integrity. It may manifest as a readiness to reflect and to learn in the absence of financial or social gain. Or there may be private inquiries and writings about the nature of work, life or surrounding society.

Salvation Quest-RH'L4 is socio-centric, and lends itself to full-time caring, healing, welfare or rescue work. Identification is rather easy because of the intense interest in those who are suffering and possibly by a flow of selfless humanitarian acts.
More.

The essence of charity and compassion is that they reside in the will—not the emotions. Salvation is not primarily about loving God: it is about caring for our fellow-man. This may lead to work in aid or welfare organizations, typically supported by charitable donations or by the government, or by a religious institution. Not everyone who works in such bodies should be assumed to have this Quest e.g. many might be pursuing Meaning-RH'L2.

Creation Quest-RH'L5 can show up as a positive enjoyment of work: whether commercial or not-for-profit, artistic or scientific.
More.

The potential to creatively work «in flow» is present in most occupations. However, this creativity may be inhibited by the work-place culture or other pressures. For some highly talented and powerfully driven persons, Creation may become all-consuming and highly visible from childhood or early adulthood. For others, burdens of everyday life and absence of support inhibit creative expression. Sometimes the freedom, time and resources available in the third stage of life release a hitherto pent-up Creation Quest.

Obedience Quest-RH'L6 lends itself to a range of occupations that self-evidently value the emphasis on duties, protocols and procedures e.g. in the military, legal profession, and religious institutions.
But …

… once again, participation in such institutions does not prove or require an Obedience Quest. Several other Types of Quest could also be accommodated. As a result, many participants are less diligent and observant than one might reasonably expect.

Spirituality-RH'L7 is a deeply private Quest whose significance may take time to emerge or may always have been felt.
More.

Once recognized, Spirituality may become part of everyday life. Or, quite the opposite: a person may abandon conventional activities and seek opportunities which are personally congenial to engaging with the divine. Some Asian cultures still provide supportive social roles e.g. as a wandering monk: fed, clothed and housed by others.

Originally Posted: 15-Jun-2012