The Modes | Michael teachings

The Modes

BY PHILLIP WITTMEYER

The seven modes are Perseverance and Aggression, Reserve and Passion, Caution and Power, and Observation. The Mode is the way in which the Goal is pursued, and also the general manner of conduct or deportment. It is the underlying behavior pattern, or "modus operandi" of the personality — the standard operating procedure. It is the means to the end (Goal). The Mode is one of the easier Overleaves to distinguish by watching how people act or deport themselves.

In contrast to the Negative Goal Aspect which operates as a sense of lack for something, Mode is a Positive Aspect: it exists and operates as a presence. Whereas a person's Goal drives him to seek something he regards as missing in his life or absent in himself or lacking in the world, a person's Mode is just the opposite of this. It inherently fills a person with a particular kind of energy that drives him to behave in a certain way, one of seven basic ways. The seven Counterpart Goals and Modes both work with the same type of behavior (being two Aspects of a particular Process), but in opposite ways: the Goal from deficiency, and the Mode from sufficiency. This is the similarity and the difference between Goal and Mode.

Recall the metaphor presented in Part One that a person's Mode is that "location" where he begins his path of life. Every personality has a starting "place", one among seven possible places, which defines what path it will follow in achieving the Goal. The Mode is the "path" of life. It might be the passive road (Perseverance) or the active road (Aggression), the low road (Reservation) or the high road (Passion), the outer road (Caution) or the inner road (Power), or the combination road (Observation).

Synonyms for Mode are: path, method, manner, way, means, course, how, style, practice, and behavior.

.....................................................................................................................................

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