Serve Self-interest: G1
Means & Ends
The ends are to maintain and, if possible, to and to to increase your wealth and social standing to whatever level you deem to be appropriate and desirable.
No one else will do this for you. More seriously, others are also trying to increase their own wealth and standing, and will often be in competition with you.
The means must derive from explicitly and deliberately striving to benefit yourself. That directs us immediately to the 7 approaches to , all of which can and should contribute your goals.
The research requirement here is to identify a key principle or injunction derived from each approach to characterize each monad that:
- provides a personal benefit and is not just a personality feature;
- potentially applies to everyone regardless of their preferred approach;
- provides a foundation for combination with adjacent principles
This foundational focus on is about , and its function appears to be to take every opportunity to reduce your vulnerability in a social milieu characterized by competition.
The monadic qualifier is therefore competitively, which fits because it is associated with .
The 7 Monadic Groups
G11: Secure your Finances
Function: To provide for your necessities.
Money serves your self-interest and the is the only approach that provides this focus. There is no doubt that having enough money is essential for looking after yourself, and that people compete whenever money is made available: be it a job, a prize, or a handout.
The phrase leaves open how the money is obtained, how much is "enough", and what to do when you have obtained funds.
More G12: Use your Strengths
Function: To overcome resistances and setbacks.
Many of the principles seem ethically problematic. However, there is always a power system and you have to handle it one way or another. Competition is intrinsic to this paradigm because people jockey for a place in the pecking order.
In order to survive and limit your suffering at the hands of others, you must knowing full well that others are likely to be using theirs. You potentially possess a diverse variety of strengths, with everyone's pattern being different.
G13: Promote your Expertise
Function: To get socially valued for your services.
Focused energy and passion can be harnessed to specialised work in which you have become expert. To maximize benefits, you need to look for opportunities to , which need not be limited to your proper work, and or just one area.
There will always be others with whom you will be in competition, which means the high standards and passion for excellence characteristic of this approach become particularly important.
G14: Represent your Group
Function: To get social attention.
Forming a group or joining existing groups is essential given that sole individuals are vulnerable and, from a political perspective, barely exist in society. All groups confer power and must be viewed as a potential resource. It takes attention, time and energy, but you can access a group's power if you represent it or one of its competing factions.
Speaking up as an informal representative can serve your ends. However, the most effective representation is achieved by having a formal position, paid or unpaid, for which there will be competition.
G15: Develop your Relationships
Function: To access willing emotional and practical support.
emphasizes the value of relationships on which you can depend and where the other will treat you like the person you are and want to be. Bonding deliver benefits, especially in bad times, but this requires mutuality and emotional effort. Relating closely is mandatory for intimacy and family life, helpful for work and business, and deepens supportive friendships.
Everyone experiences competing pulls for their attention and care, and competes with others in securing relational time and energy.
G16: Perform Analyses
Function: To clarify choices and their likely consequences.
promotes dispassionate analyses from multiple perspectives. In looking out for yourself, you have to know what is going on and that means you will benefit from from your own perspective.
Your analysis will inevitably be competing with analyses by others who apply different emphases or even have a completely different perspective. Diverse analyses generate diverse and often conflicting conclusions and recommendations as to what constitutes your self-interest.
G17: Be Realistic
Function: To focus on what counts.
While identifying with is unnatural and undesirable for most, the intrinsic value of in looking out for yourself is easily accepted by all.
The issue here is that people invariably differ as to what the reality is and press intensely and urgently for their perception to count. As a result, in a critical social situation is a competitive process.
Transition
In practice, is about being opportunistic. It involves taking advantage of situations where you see it makes sense and others, if involved, will regarded your activities as appropriate and acceptable.
But you need to look beyond the present moment to establish yourself. The environment is dynamic and the future is uncertain. You need to find ways to get a footing in social life so that the ebb and flow of events are not disruptive.
Because life does not offer guarantees, it is necessary to .
is made possible by forming dyads using two adjacent .
- Continue with risk-taking-G2 Dyads.
- Go to the review to see the full picture.
Originally posted: 30-Jun-2025.