Private v Public : Internal v External

Oscillating Duality

Because each Level of Endeavour is (in some sense) endeavour, the discrimination of the levels might be expected to be difficult. However, that is not the case at all: the differentiation of the levels appears crisp and unambiguous. This is at least partly due to a duality that seems to be present in all THEE hierarchies, called an oscillating duality.

THEE Note:

THEE Hierarchies are strange because each Level seems so different, and yet they are all constituents of the same thing. Even more than a constituent, each Level often seems, if not to be the whole, then to be substitutable for it or equivalent to it. Endeavour, for example, is often identified with Purpose, or Change or Action. We may find it easy to treat one Level as so important that all other Levels are taken for granted, even trivialized. Doctrines and consequent methods are then built on focused Level-specific assumptions—and there is rejoicing in the streets because of the resultant «purity of understanding».

This oscillating duality is noticeable in the polar opposite characteristics of even-numbered Levels and odd-numbered Levels. In the Hierarchy of Endeavour, it is evident that there is an oscillation between:

• endeavour that is external and public—the odd-numbered levels
• endeavour that is internal and private—the even-numbered levels

Level by Level

RL1: Action is an external and public phenomenon. Why?

Anything you do can be witnessed by others, and usually is. Even if you try to keep a deed private and hidden, as criminals and secret agents do, its consequences will be evident. The trail commonly leads back. Even when it doesn't, the deed is public and circumstantial evidence can point to the doer.

RL2: Inquiry is an internal and private phenomenon. Why?

Inquiry need not be witnessed or noticed or deduced by others. Your «mind» inquires and the knowledge then resides in your «mind» or memory. You may observe someone measuring something, but you cannot know whether they are going through the motions or actually inquiring. You certainly do not know what someone else is observing, or what they are deducing, or how they are making comparisons and so on.

RL3: Change is an external and public phenomenon. Why?

The way you and your endeavour operate in your environment is necessarily apparent to others who form that environment. The stable states intrinsic to Change determine and disrupt situations. They are a force, the magnitude of which varies with the size and scope of the endeavour. In change, some people are likely to support you and others will oppose you, even if most who notice will be uninterested.

RL4: Experience is an internal and private phenomenon. Why?

We know much about our own experiences. We use these so as to attune to others and empathetically grasp what they may or must be thinking and feeling. But it is never possible to know in any detail or with certainty what precise thoughts, intuitions, and feelings another person is having. If the other person is from an alien culture, our guesses as to their inner experience are liable to be wildly off-key.

RL5: Communication is an external and public phenomenon. Why?

Intrinsic to communication is the involvement of others, sometimes many, sometimes few or even just one (e.g. if it is a secret). We may engage in internal and private dialogues, but endeavour is social and it has to be created through communicating openly and directly to others as is judged necessary.

RL6: Purpose is an internal and private phenomenon. Why?

Purposes (including beliefs, values, goals) are often stated which makes them look superficially like communication. You will surely make some purposes public, but no-one need know or can know what your real beliefs or personal objectives are in any situation.

RL7: Willingness is an external and public phenomenon. Why?

Willingness, being imaginative and experiential, might seem at first glance to be internal. However, unless willingness is overtly manifested, it might as well not exist. So willingness in endeavours functions as an obvious and shareable state. Its experiential quality means that it can be contagious.

Some Confirmation

The external and public odd-numbered Levels can function in a negative fashion—and be complained about by others using a variety of terms.

External-Public Odd Level	Negative Counterpart
Willingness -RL7	Unwillingness (or reluctance or qualms or equivocation)
Communication -RL5	Uncommunicativeness (or suppression or withholding or secrecy)
Change -RL3	Chaos (or mess or confusion)
Action -RL1	Inaction (or stoppage or idleness)

By contrast, the even-numbered internal private Levels:

Inquiry-RL2, Experience-RL4, Purpose-RL6

cannot be negative in the same way. You cannot exist without purposes of some sort or have an anti-purpose; experiences (even with the mind stilled) are unstoppable, and inquiry (in a simple form at least) is constantly used in the form of feedback essential to maintaining equilibrium and/or direction.

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• We have identified the superstructure of levels above Action-RL1, and have now accumulated evidence for that hierarchy.
• We can make a further thought experiment based on moving down the Levels—as directly applied to a personal endeavour.

Originally posted : 06-Jul-2011. Updated 5-Jul-2013.