Build Character RsH"-G4

An Instrument for Goodness

Remember: Whatever you do in life is done by you i.e. what you think of as your self. Your «better Self» is an awareness state (based on the Primal Injunctions-RH") that attempts to influence what you do. However, the Primal Injunctions are but rules. You momentarily convert your everyday self into something better if you follow any one of these rules when needed.

However, to produce goodness reliably, requires a permanent alteration of your self. You must become someone who actively contributes to the development of humanity and the creation of a better world for each and all. Your goal must therefore be to alter, improve and strengthen your character while ensuring it is a spontaneous and natural expression of your everyday self. In other words, your "self" is you and your "character" must be you too.

The process of taking your everyday self and turning it into an instrument for goodness—without losing or disparaging its natural and healthy egocentricity—is called building character.

The character that you embed within yourself enables you to handle social life well, especially under conditions when goodness is difficult or threatened. So, building your character-R"G4 is a daily issue sitting at the heart of producing goodness in both ordinary and unusual situations.

How It's Done

The function of building character-R"G4 is to incorporate goodness into your everyday life.

Building character is made possible by the addition of a 4^th adjacent Vehicle of Goodness, which creates the 4 Tetrads. The additional quality that must be provided here is thoughtfulness. By acting thoughtfully, it becomes possible to ensure that any habit or activity is an expression of your improved ego/self. It is essential that you display your good qualities via your individuality, not artificially or compliantly.

When the character that you demonstrate is part of the self that you own and can sustain and actively want to sustain, then you are authentic. Each Tetrad is therefore a distinct revelation of authenticity that has its own theatre of operations.

The 4 Theatres and Revelations of Authenticity essential to building your character are:

• Integrity: maintain your integrity-R"G4⁴
• Presence: always be present-R"G4³
• Talent: value your natural talents-R"G4²
• Heroism: be a hero-R"G3¹

One of the features of Tetrads, is that they all share the 4^th vehicle, Helpfulness-R"G1⁴, shown shaded in the diagram. So everything in building character revolves around helpfulness for others, a requirement directly opposite to instinctive egocentric reactions to help oneself.

Note that helpfulness has a markedly different quality in each case
as follows:

• In maintaining integrity-R"G4⁴, helpfulness is the necessary foundation of the humanitarian standards that you have incorporated into your self.
• In being present-R"G4³, helpfulness must be conscientiously enabled to widen the focus beyond your own self-interest to other persons or your group .
• In valuing talents-R"G4², helpfulness must be spontaneous if the use of inborn talents are to be socially shaped and recognized.
• In being a hero-R"G3¹, helpfulness must be thoughtful or you will waste your energies, make a fool of yourself, or end up seeking attention or glory for its own sake.

Explore via these Topics

1: How Character is Revealed

Character needs to be discovered. The function and focus of the four capacities for goodness are proposed, together with a brief explanation.

2: Good Forms of Authenticity

The character components are explained further, mainly in terms of their internal structures; but also with more on the courage required, temptations to be fought, and benefits for society.

3: The Creation of Time

Historically, there is a developmental trajectory in the growth of character. However, in each theatre where building character occurs, a distinctive form of time is experienced.

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• Start with an overview.

Originally posted: 10-May-2013