Demystifying Values
TOP Note: For a full account, see Working with Values
(1995) Ch. 4 & 5, also available as a free download here.
Distinctive Features of Values
often seem mysterious. There is no reason for this at all. 
Common errors
A is the importance of something to someone in a social context based on inner feelings. have certain invariable and easily recognizable properties.
:
- create a psychosocial relation between something and someone
- polarize into and and so become a source of conflict
- are purposive and used to direct and shape endeavours
- become sufficiently fixed to define personal identity
- generate and confirm commonality, so implying/enabling social groups
- orient and regulate life by creating preferences and order
- release energies that drive people and groups.
In the , the upper five Levels are as shown in the Table via an orange border. The relation of (which are about importance) with the production of goodness and goods is also shown.
| L | Purpose | Characteristic Quality | Orientation to Good(ness) | Orientation to Bad(ness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Ultimate value | is an inner experience. | Generator of goodness |
Generator of badness |
| 6 | Value System | is a deep belief. | Rationale for goodness |
Rationale for badness |
| 5 | Social Value | is a personal need. | Potential for good |
Potential for bad |
| 4 | Principal Object | is the core activity. | Achievable good |
Achievable bad |
| 3 | Internal Priority | is a brute assertion. | Preferred good |
Preferred bad |
| 2 | Strategic Objective | is a desired outcome. | Actual goods |
Actual bads |
| 1 | Tactical Objective | is a pure means. | Means to make goods |
Means to make bads |
Note that all forms of are about and , but the quality of that (or ) varies. The highest two are abstract: and . When people and organizations focus on the concrete, they take these categories for granted. Specifications typically focus on i.e. what all agree is needed in their community, and this becomes the basis for producing .
The energy of the is concentrated in and differentiated in accord with the form of value. carry energy, best described as (and referred to here as ). There is no reason to suppose that -energy possesses a valence independently of the that are in play.
Table of the relationship between values, energies and groups ►
are the essential tool of humanity, and clarity is immensely beneficial. That is why it was the first focus of major inquiry around 1985—before I knew about THEE.
Demystifying Ultimate Values
The primary demystification is provided in the earlier account of spiritual energy and in the specification of properties associated with .
However, there is one other matter that is peripheral but important for balance. As already noted in relation to holding ideals, although are aspects of goodness and carry , their effect is not necessarily good in human terms within a particular .
How can this be?
Impurities via Combination & Influence
The reason is that choices within the (shown here) determine which specific receive most social support.
Within the social order of any society, are mostly found combined with lower level values. Such binding results in impurities in the . (You can compare this to the way that a molecule can have properties very different from those of its constituent chemical elements.)
The actual imperfect results we see all about us can also be perceived emerging dynamically within the , shown at right. There is enlightenment in the channel, and illumination in the the channel. However, there is also illusion in the channel.
Note that the and , that govern activities (i.e. ) in a society, have no direct input from , and are therefore at the mercy of and via channels of exhortation and instruction. also generate activities of all sorts to demonstrate and propagate their worth. Nevertheless they are partial, focusing more on some and downplaying or neglecting others: e.g.
Consequences & Conclusions
These impurities, intrinsic to social orders, are not to be viewed as a criticism, but rather reveal how our humanness is constructed.
The energies in play here are intense. Enemies can be created almost by default. A good person can get hurt. A country can get devastated. No society is yet mature enough to confront the ultimate horror of war: so we have war on drugs, war on poverty, war on terror, war on crime—all happening alongside wars on neighbours near and far.
The point is that no social institution can itself sustain . is and must be a personal matter. So the only remedy is for every person to become aware of the distorting power of necessary and the redemptive power of always available . Then use this in general. You will benefit—that's a given.
Read on to see exactly what you can do. It is not easy!
- So the first requirement is to find the strength.
Originally posted: 29-Mar-2013