The Goals | Michael Teachings

The Seven Goals

BY PHILLIP WITTMEYER

A person may have many specific goals — things he wants to accomplish — in his life, but the personality has its Goal as well. Your Goal is what you seek, want, desire, and aim for in life — it gives your life an overall intention and direction. When your Goal is fulfilled, you find your life to be meaningful, but when your Goal is frustrated, you may find your life to be meaningless. If you did not have a Goal, you would be purposeless.

Goal is the Negative Delineation Aspect. It is "negative" in the sense that it gives you as a sense of lack, or a feeling of insufficiency, or a perception of deficiency — you want to be somewhere other than where you are. It is like there is not enough of something where you are and you want to go somewhere to get it. As explained in Part One, your Goal is like that location in space "at the end of the path" where you want to go to achieve what is lacking or acquire what is missing. Your Goal specifies one of the seven locations where you want to be. You live to arrive at this place or position.

Synonyms for Goal are: aim, end, purpose, direction, vector, motivation, desire, destination, intention, drive, teleology, achievement.

Philosophers have argued for millennia over whether or not the universe has a purpose. In this System, it has seven purposes, but you have just one of them. The seven Goals are: Submission and Dominance, Reevaluation and Growth, Discrimination and Acceptance, and Flow. Which of these does your heart yearn for? These will each be explained in detail in the following sections, and you should be able to discern your Goal among them.

GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE GOALS

The Goals are a Negative Aspect — they operate out of a sense of lack. You never achieve your Goal completely, so you seek your Goal throughout life. Because it is not accomplished completely, you are always reaching for the Goal's fulfillment.

Metaphorically speaking, as explained in Part One, a person's Goal is that location in space at the end of the path where he wants to be. The person with a particular Goal has a need or a desire to reach wherever it is his Goal causes him to perceive as the destination. The person lives to arrive at this place or position. Notice in the description which follows how a person manifests this with each of the Goals.

A person with the Goal of Submission wants to arrive at that location where he can find loyalty, obedience, and lawfulness. He seeks to be in the position of a follower, with the leaders in the positions in front of him — because he regards where he is as too active, too pushy, too disorderly. A person with the Goal of Dominance wants to arrive at that location where he can find respect, direction, and supremacy. He seeks to be in the position of a leader, with the followers in the positions behind him — because he regards where he is as too passive. A person with the Goal of Reduction wants to arrive at that location where he can find simplicity, structure, and order. He seeks a familiar place because he feels that where he is there is too much unfamiliarity — it is too open, too free, too wild. A person with the Goal of Growth wants to arrive at that location where he can find expansion, openness, and progress. He seeks an unfamiliar place because he feels that where he is there is too much familiarity — it is too confining, too limited, too close. A person with the Goal of Rejection wants to arrive at that location where he can find purity, integrity, and contrast. He seeks a place where there are more dissimilarities because he thinks that where he is there is not enough distinctness — it is too homogeneous, too adulterated, too insincere. A person with the Goal of Acceptance wants to find conformity, harmony, and belonging. He seeks a place where there are more similarities because he thinks that where is has too much contrast — it is too different, too judgmental, too uncooperative. A person with the Goal of Equilibrium wants to arrive at that location where he can find balance, justice, and fairness. He seeks to go where there is relaxation because he senses that the present location as too unjust, too lopsided, too stirred up.

Each Goal is a facet of a particular Process as mentioned above, and as such it partakes of the nature of that Process. A person with the Goal of Submission seeks Termination in the sense that he wants to make his life passive. This is the end of personal initiative, as he yields to the will of others or to the laws of society. In the Opposite Process, a person with the Goal of Dominance seeks Origination in the sense that he wants to make life new. He seeks to change the behavior of others and bend them to his will. This is the beginning of action for him. A person who has the Goal of Reduction seeks Involution in the sense that he wants to make life simple. He seeks to trim down and limit life to the bare essentials. He usually feels most comfortable with an orderly structure in his life. His purpose in life is to avoid complexity and confusion. In the Opposite Process, a person with the Goal of Growth seeks Evolution in the sense that he wants to make life free and unstructured. He wants to develop his highest potential to its fullest extent. His fulfillment in life is to evolve to become the best that he can be. A person with the Goal of Rejection seeks Analysis in the sense that he wants to make life distinctive and pure. We wants to pick things apart till he gets to the most unique element or ingredient thereof. In the Opposite Process, a person with the Goal of Acceptance seeks Synthesis in the sense that he wants to make life unified and harmonious till it becomes all one thing. His fulfillment is to accept the world as it is, and to conform himself to it. A person with the Goal of Equilibrium seeks Assimilation in the sense that he wants to be the sum total of all experience, which is in a balanced state of equilibrium. He desires that justice and fairness prevail so that the scales of life will be even.

One way to look at how the Goals work is that each Goal operates by causing the person who has it to regard his life as having too much of the opposite Goal. In other words, part of the motivation or moving force that is inherent in a particular Goal is to avoid or neutralize the Complementary Opposite. People tend to see their situation as having an overabundance of the opposite Goal, and they think it is their job to counteract this. For this reason, they also tend to see themselves as being just the opposite of what they are with respect to Goal, and they are often surprised when they find out what their Goal is. Notice how this works with each Goal. A person with the Goal of Submission regards himself and his life as being too dominant and pushy, so he desires more passivity and yielding. A person with the Goal of Dominance is just the opposite — he regards himself and his life as being too passive and yielding, so he desires more dominance and pushiness. A person with the Goal of Reduction feels that himself and his life is too expansive and progressive, so he desires more contraction and regression. A person with the Goal of Growth is just the opposite — he feels that himself and his life is too contracted and regressive, so he desires more expansion and progress. A person with the Goal of Rejection thinks of himself and his life as being too agreeable and insincere, so he desires more contrast and integrity. A person with the Goal of Acceptance is just the opposite — he thinks of himself and his life as being too inharmonious and unloving, so he desires more conformity and agreeableness. The Goal of Equilibrium has no Complementary Opposite, so it obviously does not share this phenomenon.

The original name for the Positive Pole of the Acceptance Goal was "agape", which is the Greek word for love of the purest, highest, and noblest sort. All of the Goals express some form of "love", in the sense indicated below, but this agape is probably the most common definition in use among the general population, reflecting the universal awareness that agape is the great goal of life. As we experience life, we learn about and absorb more of the universe within ourselves, even if Acceptance is not our Goal. We learn to get along more harmoniously with the universe, because it punishes us automatically if we are not in step with it. We learn to obey nature's laws — laws of physics, of psychology, and of logic. We also learn that it makes sense to treat others as we desire to be treated, since we are all "in this thing together". Whatever Goal a person has, it is the best for him.

In a sense, everyone seeks what he loves, and often this seeking is done in a mating relationship with "that special someone". We all want to love and be loved, but many misunderstandings occur because this means different things to different people. The Goal of a person determines other things besides this, but it can be used as a guideline for understanding a person's definition of the word "love" in regard to relationships. When a person gets involved in this kind of relationship, he usually has certain expectations, and he wants certain things out of it — he has a goal in mind. Often this corresponds, at least to some degree, to his Aspect Goal. The following sentences show how a person manifests this in the case of each of the Goals. A person with the Goal of Submission actively seeks to be lead by the mate. He wants such things as oversight and advice. He likes to have guidelines to follow, if not actual rules of law laid down. If this is not forthcoming, he considers himself unloved. After all, what is a mate for if not someone to look to for guidance when you need it? A person with the Goal of Dominance seeks a mate who will be loyal and faithful, who will do his duty by him and never let him down, to work with dedication and respect. After all, what is a mate for if not to be the primary member of the team? A person with the Goal of Reduction seeks someone that he can look up to with admiration, someone who will inspire him, who has the ambition and optimism that he often lacks. He wants someone he can always come home to and feel like everything is all right there — a sanctuary, a gentle haven of peace and contentment. After all, what is a mate for if not to help him up when he is down? A person with the Goal of Growth wants a mate that he can have an intense intimacy with, someone who is a challenge to get to know, someone who is perpetually interesting and exciting. After all, what is a mate for if not to be happy with and that he can open himself up to? A person with the Goal of Rejection wants to be appreciated for his individuality and accepted for his uniqueness as an individual. He seeks someone who understands his need for integrity, honesty, and purity. He desires another who is not afraid to be different and distinctive. After all, what is a mate if not someone whom you have selected and who has selected you from among many others? A person with the Goal of Acceptance wants rapport, harmony, and compatibility in a mate. He seeks someone that he really likes to be with, and who has similar tastes in life. After all, what is a mate if not a companion, a friend, and a person with whom you have so much in common? A person with the Goal of Equilibrium wants a mating situation which combines all the above into grace. He seeks a companion who does not give him any static, does not push him around, and is easy to get along with. After all, what is a mate if not someone to settle down comfortably with, and just pass the time with?

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

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