Q: If everyone is wise or can be wise, does that mean that knowledge, experience &/or innate capability—all of which vary greatly amongst people—count for nothing?
A: The same situation can often be handled in a number of ways that are perfectly satisfactory. However, if there is a requirement for specific knowledge, experience, or unusual perceptiveness, then the wise person who lacks these will bow out. They will have no hesitation in saying: "I simply cannot judge about this." or "I do not know enough to be able to offer any ideas." or "You need to find someone good who can advise you."
Q: Why are you using nouns for the vehicles of goodness rather than verbs, as used for all other components of the framework?
Q: Surely judgement is needed in regard to something like submission?
A: If judgement is required, then you are dealing with application of the Primal Injunctions: Do What's Right. Submission is purely a vehicle for producing goodness and the way that vehicle is used is defined by the structural hierarchy framework. So it is important in regard to: ...... ... Judgements are required here of course, but different.
There are 7 Approaches to Making an Ethical Choice-PH'6, each based on a distinctive core obligation. More details here.
The even-numbered approaches focus on duty and are deontological.
Goodness is a feature because it is implicit in teleological approaches (the odd-numbered levels). Of these, the L'1-Rationalist and L'3-Pluralist Approaches are not relevant here, because they do not deal directly with personal needs and human relationships. The L'5-Communalist Approach is utilitarian and more relevant, but it is locked into society as it is. Only the L'7-Transcendentalist Approach would link naturally to the concerns of the present framework.
The Cardinal Virtues appear to correspond directly to the Approaches to Making an Ethical Choice (PH'6) as shown in this Table.
Given the origins of evil in egocentricity, it is noticeable that helpfulness must be thoughtful or conscientious in all 6 entities, except for being compassionate-R"G53 when it should be spontaneous.
A slightly disturbing feature of the higher level entities is that they appear to have been abandoned to religious and spiritual authors. If you Google «receptivity» or «being receptive», you are not linked to psychology or philosophy articles, or to blogs and general discussions. Instead you are sent to pages and pages of yoga centres and religious websites, which are about receptivity to God. This is perfectly reasonable, but it suggests that the atheists and humanists out there are missing a trick. Perhaps they are too active.
Political leaders generate divide and rule policies. This is not confined to recognized ruthless villains like Stalin or Pol Pot. The British Government regularly created mayhem in this way when giving former colonies their independence. The Middle East was carved up following World War 1 so as to deliberately embed ethnic conflict leading to disputes, bitterness, hatred and violence that still persists.
Virtue derives from L. virtus = moral strength, manliness, valor, excellence, worth.
Maxims are the constituents of codes of ethics (or codes of conduct). Society uses these to regulate the handling of relationships so as to produce an overall beneficial result. The goal is to ensure that all know and meet the requirements of virtuous functioning. The great ethical teachings,natural moral institution dealing with goodness, have much in common, but societies differ in what aspects are customarily valued. What is a virtue in one society (e.g. valour, thrift, humility, silence) may look like an eccentricity in another.
Many virtues are primarily social e.g. honesty, justice; while others are more personal e.g. courage, prudence, patience; and others are distinctly spiritual e.g. faith, hope, charity. Various other academic categorizations of virtue exist. Many THEE dynamics, typically the Channels in Trees, can be viewed as virtues. Components in the Root Complex often function in that way as well.
Some Lists of Virtues
These lists show how different orientations to social life produce strikingly different emphases.
You are about to leave on a Friday afternoon and a message appears in your inbox. You notice that if you don't deal with it, the work of several people will be disrupted next week, and a customer will be affected. If you do deal with it, then you are kept back a couple of hours, missing that drink with friends and getting home late as well.
The egocentric choice is to tell yourself you are fully entitled to leave on time, enjoy your drinks and then get home as usual. So you pretend that you did not notice the email. If need be, you tell your boss the computer had crashed, or you had left slightly early.
The virtuous path is to handle the issue and stay at work. Why? It is about doing what's right (L"6) as an employee, not watching the clock. It's about unity (L"7) with other colleagues and the firm, not just treating work as a source of income. It's about caring (L"4) for that customer and not disconnecting. And so on.
But there is more to it than just that: the issue of how this event occurred is open. You shouldn't pretend it didn't happen. What if it happens the following Friday, and then the next, and the next? Perhaps there is a flaw in the firm's system. At the other extreme, perhaps you are known to work hard and are being exploited. So correct handling involves knowing what is going on. That may take time. It may also involve a frank talk with other departments and senior managers; or perhaps devising a solution and organizing its implementation.
In short, good character shows in the handling complex social situations, and not in just applying a rule at a single moment. This section and the next explore the components of real-life virtue and how they interact.
This Satellite of the TOP website explores the frameworks that are found within the 6th Level of the Root Hierarchy: RH-L6 Purpose, which is one of the upper three transcendental Root Levels. THEE's Root complex also includes the Root Cell and Root Hierarchy. You can explore these in the Personal Endeavour Satellite.
«Happiness» is often the word given to a sense of «meaning» in life. Happiness/meaning is never finally complete, because it is not based in a project but in the existence of special permanent sets of purposes, called Primal Quests (RH'). The Quests are reasons or purposes for living. Each acts as a transcendental weather vane, guiding selection of endeavours to produce happiness and meaning in your own eyes.
By developing a Typology Essences Table (TET) and plotting the Primal Quests, it becomes possible to perceive more clearly how people differ in what they think is right for them. The two big issues, bearing misfortune and handling immersion in reality define two sets of Quests and generate natural pairings. Analyses also reveal how Quests differ markedly in regard to how your self and your society interact.
The Quests lend themselves to projection and externalization as «Model Beings» that seem to live on different Planes. The lower Planes are human and the upper ones are divine. Unlike the Quests which are incompatible, the Planes/Beings can interact and influence each other. So, this Root Typology turns into a holistic Hierarchy. By using good v evil as the dynamic, a Tree map emerges showing how human(e) existence is sustained (RH'K).
The framework for human existence suggests that humanity's problem of evil can be traced to «intrusive egocentricity». The only viable solution to issues of power and evil, by no means perfect, involves each of us accessing a «better self». This is not a structure but a state of awareness that is prompted by the Primal Injunctions (RH"), a hierarchy nested within the Obedience Quest-RH'L6.
The Primal Injunctions are rules and generate responsibilities. However, they can be made dynamic and interactive so as to guide us in creating a better world (RH"K) given the realities of the social world that we perforce inhabit.
The Primal Injunctions can be enabled to function as vehicles for goodness. These vehicles carry spiritual energies. By combining adjacent vehicles in all possible combinations, a Structural Hierarchy is formed that specifies 7 existential goals and 7 corresponding existential methods to attain those goals. The resulting 28 components exist to enable anyone to produce goodness for humanity.
The structural hierarchy is holistic and therefore its Groupings can form a Tree. This framework is about leading a good life (RsH"K) in the world as it is. The dynamic duallity here is that philosophical and psychological perennial: egotism v altruism. The lower Levels/Groupings deal with universal human responsibilities, while the higher Levels/Groupings deal with universal human motivations.
To make this topic as clear as possible, there are numerous unification-type activities: ●I must unify with this framework and this schema to be sure it is helping me understand. ●I have unified two frameworks by using this unexpected schema. ●I unify myself internally with readers because what will be easy for them to understand will make it easier for me to
My goodness rules here are that all topics should be simple, self-contained and clear to follow. So I have a personal need to submit to that discipline of clarity and simplicity.
I'm exerting myself by in producing this topic. I am setting myself various tasks to make it easier for others (and myself) to understand. I have revised the layout several times. I devised new Tables. I reworked a standard presentation of purpose and corrected errors. I also added a further task prior to finishing: inserting these reflective examples.
The issue at stake is whether (after all my unification, exertions &c.), the topic you are now reading is actually helping you. Via unification, it also helps me at least as much as it helps you. So I do hope the outcome helps you a lot.
I believe that the word-phrase schema for purpose, puzzling as it has always been for me and never used before, could indeed be a useful tool for analyzing and understanding the puzzle of goodness. I cannot prove this at present but it feels OK to me.
My aspiration here is to be comprehensive in presenting and organizing relevant observations: that creates more complexity than might otherwise be desired. However, as the Taxonomy is itself a force for good based on its assumptions and contributions to date, asserting this preference is good.
I enjoy the overall challenge of discovering how goodness is produced, and get particular satisfaction from seeing how these vehicles enable goodness. Experiencingenjoyment with every small improvement keeps me going on this particular topic, however long it takes.
Oscillation of the Monads
The Primal Injunctions showed an oscillating duality between getting a grip on yourself (odd-numbered levels), and paying attention to others (even-numbered levels).
Because the Monads parallel the Injunctions, this shows up again. It seems that the odd-level Primal Activities are more about personal initiative (Enjoy-G"11, Know-G"13, Work-G"15, Unify-G"17) while the even-level Primal Activities are more about responses to the social context (Submit-G"16, Help-G"14, Aspire-G"12).
However, whatever gives pleasure, can do so at a variable standard. Refinement of tastes, needed to enjoy great novels, films, wines or music rather than trashy or mediocre versions, must flow from a strong desire. If the pleasure comes from bird-watching, enlargement may mean getting deeper knowledge, or watching in different climes. If the pleasure is a sport or practical skill or even work, then learning, practice, and new challenges may be relevant to enlarging horizons.
There is a necessary exposure to new experiences, or putting oneself in the hands of a teacher or a group, that raises the possibility of distress or anxiety. In practical pleasures like sport, there may be a risk of injury. At work, the risk may be reputational or financial.
You must be sufficiently tranquil to be aware, allowing your attention to float or focus in a relaxed fashion as the moment requires. So equanimity-R"G5 provides the foundation for awareness about what is going on around us in human terms. When your mind is distracted by efforts to deal with states of distress or disruption, you become unbalanced.
21C Enlightenment
It is not within my ability to make a full and authoritative survey of current trends in thinking about being human. However, I would like to draw your attention to certain features of popular websites and the blogosphere and leave it to you to take your own thinking further.
Scientists against Materialism
The dogma of materialism was roundly rejected by the greatest 20C philosophers (e.g. Whitehead) and scientists (e.g. Planck, Einstein) is nevertheless fully embedded as convention amongst most scientists.
A recent excellent survey and rebuttal was provided by Rupert Sheldrake.
Marcus Aurelius: “Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
Discipline
Pain: Fear There is often a requirement to forego pleasure, or at least convenience and personal preference. Often extra effort is required. There is also a fear of failure: that the discipline applied will not be stringent enough.
Temptations are all around, because it is so inviting to take it easy, allow distractions, and just act expediently and comfortably. People say to themselves: 'mediocrity is much easier and no-one really notices'.
Excess: The fear can easily lead to a perfectionism or an obsession with details that may actually defeat the purpose.
Self-discipline is just one tool: for being disciplined. When you manage a personal impulse e.g. no coffee after 6pm, or follow through on resolutions e.g. visit parents on Sundays, then discipline is in operation. However, being disciplined in relation to, say, your health involves much more. There are a complex set of concerns and activities based on understanding environmental dangers, healthy options and your personal constitution and health needs. This calls for much more than self-discipline.
Yes
