Orientation to Clarification
Change is in the Head
Change depends on a person's mental
. This emerges as a communicable account revealing the way they think about change, and the values and beliefs that they bring to bear.Given one account, no change seems necessary.
Given another account, change of some sort may be required.
The particular account shapes, but does not determine, the type and extent of change that is judged to be required. Our natural preference to avoid change sometimes shapes our views to that end.
As presented in the previous section, the situation calling for change must be so that the likely future can be imagined and explained to oneself and others in a way that is credible in principle. Note that whether the communication is persuasive and motivating is a separate issue.
It was disturbing to discover the way that depiction methods create tunnel vision: depictions might be clear while not being persuasive. In pursuing persuasive , it would be helpful if each of the could contribute its strengths to the account.
Such a contribution is possible if we explain the situation by drawing on useful values and principles intrinsic to each method—i.e. without requiring the method's procedures to dominate.
Developing a spiral trajectory on the TET has been repeatedly shown to be the taxonomic way to enable this necessary integration of methods. It creates the Primal Means for the Domain. See more in the Hub.
Limits in Controlling Action and Inquiry
Distinguish from Action Control
Distinguish from Inquiry Control
Depiction as Clarification as Penetration and/or
as Realization

The evolving world that we must deal with is complex beyond belief. There is no way it can be wrapped into a single satisfactory account. However, much we want to see order, it is not there. Essential reality is impenetrable.
Order only appears by being created and imposed. Appropriate creation leads to clarification of the inherently confusing situation in a way that is acceptable to those involved. The result is a more or less workable illusion. The illusion is powerful because, typically, the account seems to be neither created nor imposed but rather actually there in the situation's reality: it is discovered or uncovered.
That is why we say that following an accepted clarification, a person now realizes something to be the case, or discovers that it is the case.
This matter was briefly discussed in the investigation of working, which is about being accountable for changing reality.
Applying such a creative effort to any situation demands firstly awareness of relevant everyday events, claims and activities, and then penetration beneath that surface. Penetration involves generating abstractions, applying principles, sensing motivations, positing relations and more. Done successfully, probabilistic predictions can be produced—and then seemingly confirmed by events, or not.
The bottom line is that while the future is inherently unpredictable—and we recoil from such a conclusion—clarification of the present to realize what is going on is possible. The validity and usefulness of that clarification and realization is another matter entirely.
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Start by reviewing the Spiral Control Complex,
then
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Preview how a situation is progressively clarified,
then
- Start at Stage-1 of the Spiral framework.
Originally posted: 30-Oct-2024. Last amended: 30-Aug-2025.