Our Primal Values: A Conjecture

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.

The Effect of the Vehicles

In explaining the vehicles, a variety of ultimate values was used as examples. It may have felt to you that I was not focusing on your preferred ultimate value. It is certainly true that the wisdom literature and religious authorities through the ages have singled out certain ultimate values for special emphasis. e.g. love and wisdom get far more column inches than simplicity or adventure. The recurring emphasis and obvious significance for humanity of these recurrently emphasized values has led me to label them: Primal Values.

Emphases are commonly kept to a minimum: and backed up by scriptural or philosophical authority. If just one value is the focus, it is commonly love,justice or wisdom. However, Ken Wilber, a modern spiritual philosopher, settled on truth, beauty and goodness to fit his system. The difficulty in such accounts is that too many self-evidently crucial values seem to be subordinated or neglected without good reason.

I offer here a set of 7 Primal Values emerging from this taxonomic inquiry. My conjecture is that each Vehicle of Goodness has an ultimate value that is naturally and intimately associated with it. Here are the proposed associations (capitalized in bold). I used the identified characteristic quality of each vehicle to derive the most suitable value.

R"G7: Unification. It seems that unification is the core activity in the production of goodness. The application of ultimate values demands a unification with them as your primary activity to achieve anything good. Any situation where ultimate values are to be applied requires activities that ensure opposites are reconciled, divisions are removed, and betterment applies in both directions.

• The Primal Value here is Peace, because that is the prerequisite and the consequence of unifying with others while allowing for differences.

R"G6: Submission. It seems that submission is a personal need in the production of goodness. The application of ultimate values demands a submission to them. Personal needs are met in community settings, and any situation where ultimate values are to be applied will require you to submit to your social milieu in a way that is fair to you and to others.

• The Primal Value here is Justice (or Fairness), because that involves submission to group ethical codes and social arrangements applicable to every member of the group.

R"G5: Exertion. It seems that exertion is about the means for production of goodness. The application of ultimate values invariably demands exertions of some sort, extra tasks that are not intrinsically good but serve an end that is. Any situation where ultimate values are to be applied will require you to do things that take time and effort.

• The Primal Value here is Strength, because that determines handling the flow of tasks in situations, and the amount and quality of physical and mental exertion that is possible.

R"G4: Helpfulness. It seems that helpfulness is the desired outcome in the production of goodness. The application of ultimate values invariably functions in the service of being helpful in some way. Any situation where ultimate values are to be applied is one where there is difficulty, dispute or distress and the end result must be some relief.

• The Primal Value here is Love, because that state guides and strengthens any service to ensure an actual helpfulness.

R"G3: Knowing. It seems that knowing is about belief in the production of goodness. The application of ultimate values invariably demands knowing of some sort to serve as a rationale for your position. Any situation where ultimate values are to be applied will require you to have faith and belief in whatever you are doing.

• The Primal Value here is Truth, because that determines whether or not knowing can develop genuinely, and whether belief can be sustained.

R"G2: Aspiration. It seems that aspiration involves an assertion during the production of goodness. The application of ultimate values invariably demands the exercise of personal aspirations. So any situation where ultimate values are to be applied will require some expression of preferred humane ideals.

• The Primal Value here is Freedom, because that determines whether or not you can genuinely and openly assert what good you prefer.

R"G1: Enjoyment. It seems that enjoyment is the necessary experience in the production of goodness. The application of ultimate values invariably demands enjoyment and evokes associated feelings and emotions. So any situation where ultimate values are to be applied should have the potential to be experienced as enjoyable in some fashion.

• The Primal Value here is Beauty, because it is an inner experience that lies in the eye of the beholder; and it is classically viewed as the purest source of enjoyment.

Summary of Proposed Primal Values

R"G1	Vehicle of Goodness	Quality	Primal Value
7	Unification	is the core activity.	Peace
6	Submission	is the personal need.	Justice
5	Exertion	is time-based means.	Strength
4	Helpfulness	is the desired outcome.	Love
3	Knowing	is a deep belief.	Truth
2	Aspiration	is a brute assertion.	Freedom
1	Enjoyment	is an inner experience.	Beauty

Yet More on Ultimate Values

An ultimate value is a universally accepted and eternally pursued state of being.

When the term «values» is used without elaboration in texts, it may refer to «ultimate values»—but it may not. Sometimes the context makes it clear, but just as often the reference is left vague.

More thoughtful individuals have proposed special labels for ultimate values so as to prevent ambiguity. But none have become established. These names include: 
●transcendental value, ●meta-value, ●being value, ●ultimate goal, ●universal value, ●inspirational value, ●absolute value, ●existential value, ●spiritual value.

As well as possessing the properties common to all forms of value, ultimate values are distinctive in that they:

• provide the ultimate and absolute justification for lower level values;
• enable union and communion because they are integrative and inclusive;
• connect to inspiration, imagination and transpersonal being;
• facilitate selflessness and a responsibility to humanity and God;
• empower convictions, ideals, visions, and social movements.

For a full account, see Ch. 4 & 5 in Working with Values (1995). Download free.

Why is love not «love»?

You know that love is an example of an ultimate value, because I have specified that terms in green are ultimate values. But «love» is just a word. It might be an example of various psychosocial things: an emotion, a relationship, an idea, or a different sort of value like a priority or a social value or a tenet or a duty, or something else.

A New Approach to Choosing Your Ultimate Values

Goodness is the ultimate ultimate value-PH6L7 in the sense that all ultimate values are regarded as versions or aspects of it. So we all unavoidably choose goodness.

However, most of the time we do not focus just on goodness, but on an ultimate value that is more specifically appealing or situationally relevant: e.g. freedom, or community, or understanding, or justice. Our environment, the social order of our society, has a major influence here. However, choice of ultimate value is also affected by personal preferences whose origins may be glaringly obvious or mysteriously obscure.

It is proposed that, irrespective of societal demands and personal preferences, all 7 Primal Values should be kept in mind by us all.

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• Remove common confusions about values and ultimate values.

Originally posted: 29-Mar-2013