TOP Note: For a full account, see Working with Values (1995) Ch. 4 & 5, also available as a free download here.
A
is the importance of something to someone in a social context based on inner feelings. have certain invariable and easily recognizable properties.:
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.
Note that all forms of good and , but the quality of that good (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 .
are aboutThe energy of the goodness). There is no reason to suppose that -energy possesses a valence independently of the that are in play.
is concentrated in and differentiated in accord with the form of value. carry energy, best described as (and referred to here asTable of the relationship between values, energies and groups ►
THEE.
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 aboutThe 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 goodness, their effect is not necessarily good in human terms within a particular .
How can this be?
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 enlightenment in the channel, and illumination in the the channel. However, there is also illusion in the channel.
, shown at right. There isNote that the 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:
and , that govern activities (i.e. ) in a society, have no direct input from , and are therefore at the mercy of and via channels ofThese 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 goodness. Goodness 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 framework to produce and sustain goodness in general. You will benefit—that's a given.
Read on to see exactly what you can do.
Originally posted: 29-Mar-2013