Oscillating Duality

Approach

Willingness is relevant to every endeavour and is the same in every case. However, the various levels of willingness, that is to say the fundamental ways that willingness manifests, feel and look so different in everyday life. It is no wonder that conventional researchers have never lumped them together.

However, having lumped them, we now need to dichotomize them in a distinctive way. There should be a sharp polarizing distinction between odd-numbered and even-numbered elements, called an oscillating duality.

Sometimes this duality is obvious, but not so here. When we look closely at the forms, it should be possible to get a grip on the oscillation by focusing on the following: 

a) how activation of the element is determined
and
b) what impact the element has on oneself and others.

With that guidance, the elements can now be analysed with what seem like key terms highlighted.

Analyses

L1: Trying is subjectively and imaginatively determined because whether an activity is straightforward and within your abilities or too difficult, too complicated or too outside your experience cannot be formally assessed.

Trying is individualistic and about self-starting and often self-development. However, it typically occurs with a sense of others who have tried in the past, are currently trying or plan to try in the future. Each can easily feel for others, even if they are competitors. As soon as one person tries, that encourages and attracts others to try, whether or not there is success.

Example: Running a mile in under 4 minutes was thought to be impossible. However, since Roger Bannister achieved that in 1954, thousands have accomplished this feat.

L2: Believing is objectively and rationally determined because there are usually alternative perspectives with differing implications for personal, social or work life. The development of erroneous beliefs can be damaging to oneself and harmful for others. (Note: Beliefs that are indoctrinated are not a form of willingness.)

Believing is social and about finding one's place amongst others and usually belonging to a group. This reveals it to be divisive. There will be many who disagree, believe something quite different and belong to another group. While each accepts that others have their own beliefs, the tendency is to associate only with one's own.

Example: If a person becomes dissatisfied with the religion of their upbringing and still wants to belong to a spiritual tradition, then a range of options are open, each of which has its own tenets and its own followers.

L3: Facing a relevant reality is subjectively and imaginatively determined, because outsiders typically regard the reality being resisted or denied as obvious, even if disturbing.

Seeing a previously denied reality is an individual matter and often leads to important development. Articulating the reality can act like a universal solvent and social magnet. When a person shares how he faced up to his own reality, that encourages and attracts others. In groups, when an avoided truth is finally acknowledged, everyone is relieved and people associate around this honest shareable perception.

Example: Alcoholics Anonymous, AA, was developed to to enable rehabilitation; and the first step is honesty: facing up to the fact of alcoholism and the harm that it caused to each.

L4: Participating must be handled objectively and rationally because it needs to follow determination of personal interests and resources, as well as an assessment of the significance and quality of the group involved. Joining the wrong group can lead to personal harm.

While a group calls for association, the necessary choice of one particular group rather than another makes participating intrinsically divisive. However, anyone who participates in a group accepts the presence of other groups. Participation is about cooperation within the group's framework in order to securely belong.

L5: Risking is subjectively and imaginatively determined because it is about daring to embark on a hazardous adventure for gain despite an undoubted chance of a tangible loss. Usually the greater the potential gain, the greater the potential loss.

Risking is a universal integrating requirement for all to thrive and grow. It is part of self-development, with each winning or losing in their own way via different challenges, and learning along the way. Any daring inspires a following, and others then may embark on the same risky venture with you or alongside. While they associate, they can also pull out independently.

L6: Learning must be determined objectively and rationally because it involves dependency and vulnerability. Suitable methods and teachers to remedy a capability deficit must be found, while being aware that poor choices can lead to expense and effort for little gain or even result in harmful guidance.

Learning is associative in that people commonly learn together and often form close friendships. In learning, everyone has to fit in to the frameworks provided. Learning is also divisive in that while all work towards passing the same assessments to gain the same qualifications, they do so as individuals and end up being stratified.

L7: Trusting must be subjectively and imaginatively determined because it is an existential leap into the unknown. The correctness of any engagement cannot be proven.

A person is alone, hoping, at the moment of commitment. Opening up and trusting in new situations provide the potential for personal growth and development. The result of trusting is to foster a positive relation and an ongoing association with the other. One person's trust can encourage and inspire others, so the process is associative.

Conclusion 

The odd levels appear to be challenging, need to function subjectively, and draw people together. The even levels appear to require dispassionate assessment, and enable belonging while being divisive.

Unlike the lower Primary Hierarchies where the oscillating duality is rather simply labeled, it is currently difficult to pull all the strands together to create a suitable duality label. The original provisional suggestion was association v dissociation, but the accounts above find this to be imprecise.

The current provisional suggestion seems rather clumsy:
Personal Development v Framework Appreciation
Suggestions for a better label are welcome.

Personal Development: The odd-numbered levels see the individual as unique and developing in an imaginative way. Whether it is initiating trying-L1, facing the reality-L3, taking a risk-L5, or extending trust-L7, a person is essentially alone in the moment of commitment, and about to expand their self on the basis of internal work that uses the imagination. This is a state of becoming that attracts others and can unify, even if the outcome is never predictable. Here boundaries are transcended to create a shared spirit and personal growth.

Framework Appreciation: The even-numbered levels reveal the individual as necessarily choosing in a cool-headed way to be part of a multitude engaging with a given system or framework. Whether it is affirming a belief (L2), participating by contributing (L4), or commencing learning (L6), the result is a consolidation of the self within a specific valued framework. This is a state of belonging via associations that divide people and which always pose the danger of being swallowed up trapped or misled. Here boundaries are accepted to provide order and progress.

Summary Table:

L#	Level of Willingness	Oscillation Label	Effect on Self	Commitment	Social Vector	Boundaries
7	Trust	Personal development	Self-expansion Becoming	Imaginative Subjective	Unifying Attractive	Transcended
6	Learn	Framework appreciation	Self-consolidation Belonging	Rational Objective	Divisive Accepting	Accepted
5	Risk	Personal development	Self-expansion Becoming	Imaginative Subjective	Unifying Attractive	Transcended
4	Participate	Framework appreciation	Self-consolidation Belonging	Rational Objective	Divisive Accepting	Accepted
3	Face	Personal development	Self-expansion Becoming	Imaginative Subjective	Unifying Attractive	Transcended
2	Believe	Framework appreciation	Self-consolidation Belonging	Rational Objective	Divisive Accepting	Accepted
1	Try	Personal development	Self-expansion Becoming	Imaginative Subjective	Unifying Attractive	Transcended

This analysis further confirms the L7 position of Willingness. It exists above L6-Intention and a long way from L1-Doing. It is about expanding one's potential for achievement (becoming) while consolidating and stabilizing that potential within a social framework (belonging).

The analysis of unwillingness can be interpreted as failures of these two poles. Failure in an odd level leads to a hollowing out of the Self—an inability to become. Failure of an even level leads to a hollowing out of the Social—an inability to belong.

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Combined with the development of properties earlier, this finding of a powerful oscillating pattern is confirmatory of the postulate that we have identified the Primary Hierarchy of Willingness (PH7) within THEE.

Originally posted: 20-Feb-2026