If the answer is “Yes,” my response is: “You’re happy?! Good luck to you.”
If your answer is “No” or “Not yet,” I say, “Would you like to gain more value in your life?” If you would like that, you can do it. You have to create it. There is a step-by-step process that gains you added value – and this includes more money for you too. Once you make a choice to add value you will need to go in the Intrinsic direction. I will later explain what this means exactly.
Do you know that some values are more valuable than others? The science of values has a proof based on logic that a single thing, even a piece of material, is worth more than all the doctrines, ideologies, theories and systems put together. And furthermore one life is worth more than all the things in the world. The Intrinsic Values …some of which are Life, Love, Community, Family, Goodness, Truth, Beauty, Respect, Dignity, Individuality, Responsibility, Integrity, Authenticity, etc. … are the most-valuable values, They are to be treasured. They are the I-values, the Intrinsic. They are applications of I-Value, one of the three basic dimensions.
The material world, the social-economic world, the everyday world of know-how and practicality, are the Extrinsic Values, the E-Values, for short. A role as a student, a parent, having a career, a profession …all this has value, but way, way less than the I-Values. I-Value trumps E-Value. And, as value, E-Value is far better than S-Value. S-Value stands for the Systemic values.
Systems, the Systemic Values (such as the financial values, the project-management values, the technical analyses, math, the money-system, etc.), although they’re worth the least, they have their place. They have a purpose. What is it?
Systems exist for making the most efficient and effective use of our extrinsic resources. Do you know the distinction between efficiency and effectiveness? “Efficiency” means employing just the right amount of energy and material for a project to gain maximum output. It is doing the most with the least. [For example, it is far more efficient to use tidal power as a source of energy than it is to use coal, because the hidden costs of using coal (or oil, or nuclear) are too high.]
“Effectiveness” though is using that output, of which I spoke, for the greatest-good effect. That effect is ultimately defined as ‘quality-of-life.’ There is no point in producing anything if it doesn’t enhance the quality of life, if it doesn’t somehow make for the well-being of the human species, for the well-being of the individuals who are the members of that family.
What really motivates us is the desire to have a greater quality of life – and that is one of the Intrinsic Values. It’s an I-Value.
So we have introduced what is known as the Logical Hierarchy of Values; it can be expressed in a formula: I is better than E, which in turn is better than S,
This Hierarchy is a discovery of the Founder of Value Science, Dr. Robert S. Hartman, a genius who gave us the definition of “value” as “the fulfillment of purpose.” When the properties of something (even partly) match the ideal you have in mind for things of that sort, you will tend to call it “valuable.” If they completely match, if it’s all there, if it has everything it’s supposed to have in your picture of it, you will likely call it “good.” So now we know what goodness is: it’s the actual (fully) matching the ideal.
THE PROCESS OF CONTINUOUS VALUE-GENERATION
If you ask the average person, say a man who runs a small business, what he wants, he might reply “I want more money” or “I want more customers coming in through my door.” After he gains a certain wisdom he realizes that it is not really more customers that he wants – the money is secondary; it is a means to an end – what he really wants is a greater quality of life. …more leisure, friends to share it with, better relationships, more recognition, more love. He wants a more valuable life, a more-meaningful life. He wants to optimize his well-being, the quality of his life.
How do you do that? Every choice you make either subtracts value or adds value. Do you want to add value, to increase the quality of living? If you do, you need to think in terms of value creation. We need to ask ourselves: What can I do in this situation to create greater value? It helps if we live with that question in mind: how can I add value to each specific situation in which I find myself? For adding value is what it’s all about. To create greater value we go in the direction of Intrinsic Value. How can I - all things considered - make this a gain for all the people concerned? Where is the mutual benefit? How can we all gain? How can we form a Win-Win relationship? How can I pursue what adds to the quality of human life?
When we use the Hierarchy of Value we gain value; when we don’t, we lose value.
{As you know, value is a function of properties: the more properties, potentially the more value. A life, or a love, has an indeterminately-high number of properties, more than you can count. To remove properties is to go in the direction of death; to enhance properties, or value, is to make for more life. We need to compose value, to lift up one another, to boost, to approve, to enhance, to compliment, to support life, to help it flourish. This is how we add value.}A side-benefit of systems, such as norms, rules, the good laws, traffic lights, and the other common goods that we share, is that they create trust; they provide a certain dependability. Human social structures flourish when there is a climate of trust. The opposite would be the worst-society imaginable, one in which nobody trusts anybody else. The more we trust each other the happier we are. A society with a higher level of happiness is also one with a higher quality of life. The best leaders and executives will arrange it so that more citizens or more of the employees are happy persons. There are ways it can be done; and there are examples of businesses and of countries where it already is being done.
Value is the glue that makes things work. It is a force in the universe like gravity, energy, time and space. It is basic. People are value-generating creatures. This fact is to human nature what gravity is to physical nature. Folks need to get clarity about Value; they need to be aware of the Hierarchy of Values, and to go in the intrinsic direction. In this way the inhabitants of this planet – including me and you - will gain value and will have a higher quality of life.
Can we agree on these basics?
I'd like to know what you think about all this? Any comments? Or Questions? Improvements?
