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The Goal of Flow
The
Goal of Flow (relaxation/stagnation)
+ Suspension
Inertia |
7% of the
population |
Assimilative |
 The original name of this Goal is "stagnation", but
to me this word has a negative connotation, whereas the Goal is in fact neither
positive nor negative. The word "equilibrium" conveys this sense of
neutrality more accurately, I think, but recently the term "Flow" has
been widely used with this goal. Whatever the name, a person with this Goal
prefers for things to run smoothly: neither starting nor stopping, increasing or
decreasing, amalgamating or proliferating. He wants to avoid causing disruptions
in the normal order of things: it is uncomfortable for him to create a stir. His
basic purpose in life is to relieve stress, or avoid it.
People who do not have this Goal perceive a person with this
Goal as purposeless a life going nowhere. Indeed, it often seems to others
that he has no ambition except ease and contentment. He is quite comfortable
with maintaining the status quo, going along with the existing system,
preserving the present state of affairs, just as it is. The advantage of this is
that the person is rather stable and dependable not much changes in his
life. The disadvantage is that, even though he doesn't let things go down hill,
neither is the person likely to make things go up hill making progress or
improvement.
Balance is another big issue for people in this Goal. If
things drift or get pushed out of balance, that is when they spring into action,
to restore the natural order. They also tend to live in the moment, rather than
in the past or the future. This is a typical Goal for people in bureaucracy,
since one main goal of government is to maintain or restore order, and so many
laws are intended to define fairness and justice. In other endeavors, Flow shows up in a person as a drive for standardization and neatness.
There is no complement to the Goal of Flow, but there is a
counterpart, the
Observation Mode. Flow seeks what Observation has, to be
uninvolved or disconnected from the events, feelings, and thoughts going on all
around.
The Positive Pole of this Goal was originally called
"suspension". I think this referred to the balance place between two
opposing forces. Any object held in suspension is not at either extreme of
"positive" or "negative". A person held in
"suspense" does not know what the outcome will be or which way things
will go. A person in this Pole is constantly searching for this balance point
rather than leaning one way or the other. Polarizing forces are avoided rather
than sought.
I favor calling the positive pole +Neutrality, since
this word seems to me to be more easily understandable to most people. The
Positive Pole is the active Pole, so a person in this Pole actively seeks
justice. It is when he perceives that things are not fair that he works to make
them so. If a "debt" of any kind exists, it should be paid. He is very
concerned with equality all exchanges must be just and equitable. He doesn't
want to owe anything, nor have others owing him. You might say he goes through
life with a ledger book, keeping track of all the transactions and making sure
he breaks even, neither in the red nor in the black. He seeks the so-called
"happy medium", the "middle of the road", so that he
experiences neither excess nor deprivation. He shies away from all extremes, and
pursues moderation in everything. Whatever the situation, he tries to do the
appropriate thing, which will cause no disruption of the existing order. He does
not "rock the boat", and if the boat is rocking, he wants it to stop
rocking. "Don't make waves" is a good motto for this Pole.
The Negative Pole of this Goal is called
"inertia". In physics terminology, this is the tendency of matter to
resist a change in the nature of its motion an object at rest takes work to
get moving. When applied to people, it usually refers to someone who is
sluggish, slow, lethargic, and phlegmatic it is difficult to get them moving
also.
The Negative Pole has also been called -Stagnation. Either
way, in the negative the person is difficult to motivate. He will refuse to get
off dead center. Decisions are made on the basis of least effort finding the
path of least resistance. The tendency is to take the easy way out of a
difficult situation. He really cherishes his noninvolvement. He will
procrastinate as long as he can, and then he does no more than required to
restore ease and comfort. Unless he is really pushed hard by circumstance, he
will coast through life in a leisurely fashion. To others who have ambition, it
seems he dilly-dallies, deliberately wasting time, accomplishing as little as
possible. This is an accurate perception. In the extreme cases, he is a
"slowpoke", a "goof-off", or a drifter. In any case, he does
not like "work", even to work for things he likes. The way to overcome
this Pole is to contemplate and apply the Positive Poles of all the other Goals,
since Flow is the Neutral Goal. Choose one that feels right or fits the
situation, and go with it. Do something with the purpose of +Dedication,
+Leadership, +Efficiency, +Unfoldment, +Discrimination, or +Unification
whichever it be, just do something.
- Phil Wittmeyer
Examine the other goals and you will see that they are about doing something: they
seek to inspire, express, or act. With the goal of flow, however, it is all about assimilation. Similar to the sponge-like
qualities of the scholar, the goal of flow seeks to absorb experience
without resistance. It doesn't try to grow from it, reject it, accept
it, or dominate it. On the contrary, not fighting against the current, or "going
with the flow," is the overall objective. This
tendency to seek the path of least resistance surely
leads to a life that's less stressful, but when taken to the extreme the result is inertia,
the negative pole of this goal.
In the positive pole of suspension, the goal of
flow could be considered a life on hold, and it is usually chosen after a series
of exceptionally busy or stressful previous lifetimes. On a soul level it is a
state of suspended animation where all growth inducing activities are set aside
in favor of resting comfortably. This doesn't mean that life won't keep you
busy, but even an active life can feel surprisingly peaceful if you don't try to
control where it leads you.
Individual
talents often bubble to the surface with this goal and may flow effortlessly.
Fame is not normally associated with Flow, but without the challenges typically
associated with the other goals, Flow allows an unfettered exploration of
various talents that can lead to fame. Career paths often fall into place, and
although an actor or Broadway singer's life may look extremely busy, allowing a
particular talent to flow can be restorative and restful -- even if the life
seems full.
The end result with this goal is if you don't go against the grain or try to
fight it, you may get some rest . Remember that the other goals are trying to
make something happen, whereas the goal of flow is about being nonresistant to
the things that happen.
It is a state of surrender. You are learning to trust that life will work out for you in the long
run if you don't get in the way. In other words, you relinquish your control
over the rudder in the water and surrender to whatever course the current
chooses to lead you. The flow of life, in short, is now your rudder. Learning to
let go is not easy, however, and many people resist the goal of Flow and fail to accomplish its
objectives.
- David Gregg
The goal of flow tends to make for a life shape that
meanders; it's a life that has a little bit of this and a little bit of
that, since it's the goal of not having a goal. It's not moving
inexorably to a particular point in time.
The purpose of the goal of flow is to learn how to let things happen
rather than making them happen, as opposed to a goal of growth, for
instance, which is more about making things happen. In growth, you are
called to take the bull by the horns and master it, rising to your
challenges by working hard. It has the number six (cardinal inspiration
axis) quality of being busy. In contrast, the neutral, number four
(assimilation axis) goal is like driving a car and learning to balance
braking with acceleration to get the best results: working, but not too
hard. It's the middle way, the neutral way of being. It also can be used
to slide to any of the other goals, so sometimes it's chosen for that
purpose. You might temporarily slide to dominance, temporarily to
submission, and so forth. The goal of flow might be chosen in order to
have a rest life, but not necessarily, and few people actually have easy
lives on this challenging planet. However, it is rare for someone with
this goal to struggle for long for the basics such as food and shelter
if she is willing to let go to the flow of life, even if there are
plenty of internal struggles (which might reflect soul age, life plan,
karma, etc.)In general, our goal is more about our relationship with our life
situations than about our relationship with ourselves. For example,
people in the positive pole of flow seem to have an easier time making a
living and otherwise getting along in the world than those with other
goals. I sometimes joke that flow is the goal that the rest of us wish
we had chosen. I know one scholar in flow, for example, who receives
disability income for a relatively minor injury, and has flowed from one
house-sitting or other rent-free situation to another for a few years.
This has given her more opportunity to study and do deep inner work.
However, I dont think that her inner process has been easier than
anyone elses. We all have parts of ourselves that need healing.
- Shepherd Hoodwin
 Previous
page | Goal of Dominance
.....................................................................................................................................
Phil Wittmeyer is a longtime Michael student and scholar of the teachings.
He can be reached at:
wittmeyer@hotmail.com
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