Apply Ultimate Values: RsH"-G1

Colour Convention Ultimate values are universally-sought experiential states. Examples of ultimate values will be in green e.g. peace. Goodness (in blue) refers either to spiritual energy or to a conception of what humans most desire in spiritual terms. Goodness (in green) refers to a specific ultimate value. Terms in purple refer to Channels in the Framework-Tree of Intentionality.

Orientation

This framework inevitably touches on spiritual issues. This is because it deals with ultimate values which are viewed as forms of goodness as well as being equivalent to each other cf. Keats: Beauty is truth, truth beauty. Goodness as a value-quality is an essential attribute of God. The energies attached to the divine, spiritual energies, are associated with and often referred to as goodness (as they will be here).

Spiritual energy gives ultimate values their power. To access this power, it is irrelevant whether you believe in God or have any interest in spirituality as such. The primary issue is whether you have an interest in goodness and good values.

In the R"G1 topics, these propositions will be unpacked and the foundation of the framework will be set. The key taxonomic observations in this initial topic are:

• Goodness emerges through our evocation of ultimate values.
• We make this happen by using vehicles derived from the Primal Injunctions.

I outline below what to expect in the next few topics, because it is not easy to get your mind around these issues.

Energies in Values

Table modified from Working with Values, 1995.

	L	Form of Value	Energy Source	Related Group
	7	Ultimate values	Spirituality	Humanity
	6	Value Systems	Loyalty	Tribes
	5	Social Values	Belonging	Communities
	4	Principal Objects	Enthusiasm	Associations
	3	Internal Priorities	Passion	Factions

There are various will-energies associated with values as shown above. Enthusiasm and passion are the main forms used in everyday life as we pursue endeavours large and small. When endeavours are long-term or involve many people, then loyalty and belonging become relevant.

The focus in this section, however, is not on endeavours themselves, but on the contribution of spiritual energy to endeavours so that they function in an enlightened fashion: see below.

THEE Note: The observations organized here give support to the idea of a Pleroma. The Pleroma was postulated as a reservoir of spiritual energy, containing, creating and being created by goodness in a self-reinforcing cycle. It is associated with the 7 Planes, part divine and part human, that are thought to sustain the existence of humanity.

Requirement

We are here to do: that is the basic position of THEE.

If one of the things we want to «do» is «produce goodness», then that must occur during specific doing i.e. in the activities required by our endeavours. But creating goodness is not its own identifiable endeavour-RH. Instead, it is a self-imposed desire for goodness to be applied to any and all endeavours.

Goodness is self-evidently a value, and in this context it is an ultimate value. It sits alongside and unites more differentiated ultimate values like love, peace, strength, justice, freedom &c. Like anything spiritual, this sort of value is not social, tangible and concrete. So evocation and application of ultimate values to a choice (or activity or project) must occur alongside other more directly relevant values and purposes that will be actualized in that choice.

As a result, any and every endeavour, large or small, can be pursued in an enlightened fashion, if we so choose; and any and every situation can be handled in an enlightened fashion, if we so choose.

Taxonomic Reminder

As explained: All endeavours involve all 7 Levels of Will and are driven by purpose and value-RL6. Examining purpose in more detail reveals 7 levels: the Primary Hierarchy-PH6. Practical activities are directed in the lower part with projects being defined by Principal Objects-PH6L4. Group values serve as contexts for projects, and these are specified in the upper levels. Goodness is the most general and all embracing ultimate value-PH6L7. It can infuse projects of any sort because there is a Channel of influence in the Being Intentional Tree joining Ultimate Value to Principal Object. When discovered, it was named Enlightenment.

See more about values with diagrams.

Neglect of Goodness

Goodness can be applied at any time in relation to any matter, and it is often a spontaneous choice. However, many ignore the spiritual dimension of living, and lack an appreciation of the importance of goodness. So it is often neglected. What is done may be good, but it is less good than it might have been. Remember that choice of the lesser good = evil. So the pleroma is depleted. Rejecting goodness entirely by using will-energy detrimentally to harm others or oneself is a separate issue.

The 7 Vehicles

Primal Injunctions emerged from willing obedience in the service of goodness. They are the origin of codes that help us battle with our own egocentricity, which is the source of our tendency to evil. Here the Injunctions have a different and more dynamic role: to become special vehicles that can carry the energies of goodness that you are willing to activate.

Activation is straightforward. You evoke and create values all the time, consciously and unconsciously. Values shape what you do—subtly or bluntly, directly and indirectly. Ultimate values, carriers of goodness, operate like any other value and piggyback on everyday living. If you activate and apply an ultimate value, then you can release its spiritual energy by using the Vehicles of Goodness. Naturally, this must be done in ways that accord with and integrate sensibly with your various projects as well as the activities of daily living.

The function of the Vehicles of Goodness is therefore to provide the means for consciously creating goodness.

The 7 Vehicles of Goodness are:

■ Unification: R"G1⁷
■ Submission: R"G1⁶
■ Exertion: R"G1⁵
■ Helpfulness: R"G1⁴
■ Knowing: R"G1³
■ Aspiration: R"G1²
■ Enjoyment: R"G1¹

Each of these vehicles is necessary for goodness to come into play. Like every other element of THEE, they all presumably exist in readiness in some unconscious fashion.

Explore via these Topics

1: Vehicles of Goodness

First Overview: This topic goes through each of the vehicles: •describing their origin from the corresponding Primal Injunction, •identifying their effect, and •noting the result of their neglect. There are numerous simple examples of applying ultimate values.

2: Conditions for Goodness

Second Overview: This topic takes a perspective found useful in clarifying the levels of purpose, and applies it to the 7 vehicles. The result is to identify characteristic qualities of each vehicle.

Table: Levels of Purpose and Vehicles of Goodness showing characteristic qualities.

3: Our Primal Values

This topic elaborates ultimate values further. It then uses the perspective from (2:) to suggest specific associations with particular vehicles. That reveals the 7 «Primal Values» of humanity. Most religious scriptures, wisdom literature and modern philosophers select one or a few from this set for primary emphasis.

Table: Vehicles of Goodness and associated «Primal Values».

4: Demystifying Values

This topic indicates what values are, and how to recognize them. Its main focus is on explaining why the use of ultimate values does not necessarily seem good in practice.

Table: Levels of Purpose showing polarization into good and bad.
Diagram: Tree of Intentionality.

More on Values:Values frameworks are too extensive and complex to be summarized. You can purchase an encyclopaedic text, or get its contents via free downloads. Eventually, the material will be posted in full detail on this website.

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• Start with 1: the overview of the vehicles.

While studying these Monads, be aware of the next step: If enlightened self-interest were easy, everybody would increasingly follow that path. Perhaps the biggest challenge lies in finding the strength that it takes to resist egotism and take this path. Methods to do this emerge from combining two adjacent vehicles in all possible ways to form 6 Dyads.

Originally posted: 29-Mar-2013