The Goal of Flow - Michael Teachings

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The Goal of Flow (relaxation/stagnation)

+ Suspension
– Inertia

7% of the
population

Assimilative

BY PHILLIP WITTMEYER

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 thought 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, Equilibrium 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 was originally 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.

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Phil Wittmeyer is a longtime Michael student and scholar of the teachings. He can be reached at: wittmeyer@hotmail.com