by Marinus Jan Marijs
The Greek philosopher Plato distinguished between three fundamental transcendentals/ properties of being: The good, the beautiful and the true.
This leaves us with the question: “What are the major domains of reality?”
The good, is the moral domain, the beautiful deals with the aesthetic domain and the true with the cognitive domain.
However these three do not give a full picture, as is shown in the data here below; there are five major domains of reality:
The aesthetic,
The cognitive,
The interpersonal,
The moral,
The spiritual.
These five groups do interact with each other but each of these groups cannot be brought back to one of the four other groups.
They are represented collectively in society, as well as individually within human psychological development.
Each have their own institutes and systems:
The aesthetic: the museums and the art institutes
The cognitive: the knowledge institutes, technological systems
The interpersonal: the hospitals, the social systems, the communicative systems
The moral: the judicial institutes, legal systems, the laws
The spiritual: the churches, the monasteries the religious systems
These five groups are fundamental and irreducible
There are other groups, but these are a combination of two or more groups, such as libraries that include art, technology, literature, and so on. And within individual development there are self-structures which include several groups.
Each have their own validity claim:
The aesthetic: is it beautiful
The cognitive: is it factual, is it true
The interpersonal: is it sociable, is it communicative
The moral: is it righteous
The spiritual: is it meaningful
If one ignores one of these five groups within society, then some major imbalance will be the result.
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(This should not be confused with the Big Five personality traits, also known as the five-factor model (FFM) and the OCEAN model, which is a taxonomy for personality traits, This five factors are:
Openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious).
Conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless).
Extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved).
Agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. challenging/detached).
Neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident).
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Individually, within human psychological development, there are developmental lines that can also be placed within these five groups.
The Individual aesthetic development includes:
Aesthetic: the appreciation of the beautiful
Affective development: The capacity to not only know but also the capacity
to respond emotionally to what on knows
Art: The expression of perceptions and emotions in an aesthetic form that
conveys meaning and similar feelings to others
Art of painting: The synchronistic development of theoretical physics and
the art of painting
Developmental levels of love: the different phases of a social-psychological
process which involves a strong emotional identification with another
or others
Different ontological approaches to emotions
Emotional / affective: Different levels of emotions, affects and forms of
mystical ecstasy
Emotion as a developmental line: A distinct feeling or quality of
consciousness, such as joy or sadness that reflects the personal
significance of an emotion-arousing event
Hierarchy of love: A strong emotional identification with another that is the
basis of a social relationship and which is directed to the welfare of that
other. This hierarchy expresses the different levels of this dynamic
social-psychological process
Intrapersonal Intelligence: The access to one’s own feeling life, one’s range
of affects or emotions
Interpersonal relationships: Different stages of Interpersonal relationships from
physical to the conferring of spiritual “energy” upon one person by another
The Individual cognitive development includes:
Categorizing: The way in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood
on different levels
Cognitive development: The mental activities involved in the acquisition,
processing, organisation, and use of knowledge are collectively termed
cognition. These activities include selective attention, perception,
discrimination, interpretation, classification, recall and recognition
memory, evaluation, inference and deduction.
Development of perspectives on different levels.
Epistemic Mode: The way in which a person acquires, perceives and interprets
knowledge
Insight into errors in logic based upon fake arguments: In logic and rhetoric, a
fallacy is usually an improper argumentation in reasoning often resulting in
a misconception or presumption. Literally, a fallacy is “an error in reasoning
that renders an argument logically invalid”. By accident or design, fallacies
may exploit emotional triggers in the listener or participant, or take
advantage of social relationships between people. Fallacious arguments
are often structured using rhetorical patterns that obscure any logical
argument.
Insight into unrecognised or overlooked patterns/structures of reality, caused
by a restrained ontological outlook. What is not recognized at one level,
becomes visible and available at the next (ontological) level
Levels of competences: A group of related abilities, commitments, knowledge
and skills that enable a person or a group of people to act effectively in a
job or a situation
Level of evidence: Levels of supporting evidence by which the quality of the
evidence increases which each succeeding level
Logico-mathematical thinking: The ability of a person to appreciate the actions
that one can perform upon objects, the relations that obtain among those
actions, the statements (or propositions) that one can make about actual or
potential actions, and the relationships among those statements
Mental framework: Different levels of structuring cognitive concepts and
processes
Orders of information complexity: The level of complexity of the information
itself used in mental processing argumentation
Philosophy Level of point of view relating to the nature of reality, knowledge,
meaning and truth, the ultimate nature of man and a person’s relation to
the universe, the problems of truth, value, ethics, meaning and aesthetics
Self-reflection: A particular attitude towards oneself and thus being aware of
oneself. The purposeful and rational self-observation of one’s mental state
Space perception / structuration: The way in which spatial relations are
perceived or interpreted according to ontological reference points
Spatio-temporal reasoning: The ability to visualize spatial patterns and mentally
manipulate them over a time-ordered sequence of spatial transformations
Time perception / structuration: The way in which the sequence of events are
perceived or interpreted according to ontological reference points
Visual-spatial thinking: The way in which a person distinguishes and uses visual-
spatial representations, capturing visual-spatial properties of the world,
that preserves (at least in part) the spatial relations of that information
The Individual interpersonal development includes:
Artistic talent: The ability to express perceptions and emotions in an aesthetic
form that conveys meaning and similar feelings to others
Balance: refers to a balance between multiple opposing forces on different
levels of development
Care: Perspectives relating to attention and responsiveness to needs and
desires of ‘others’
Communicative competence: The ability to apply and use grammatical rules, to
form correct utterances and knowing how to use these utterances
appropriately
Creativity: The ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something
new, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a
new artistic object or form
Humour: The tendency of particular images, stories or situations to provoke
laughter as well as to provide amusement and insight. Humour frequently
contains an unexpected, often sudden shift in perspective. On higher levels
it reveals deeper sources of meaning
Interpersonal capacity: The Capacity to perceive and make distinctions in the
moods, intentions, motivations, temperaments and feelings of other people
Leadership: the exercise of influence and authority within a social relationship
or group which focus is on coordination and unification of activities,
information and decisions
Linguistic-narrative capacity: The ability of a speaker-hearer to speak and
understand language in a grammatically correct manner
Musical skills: The capacity to perceive, discriminate, transform and express
musical forms
Perspective of Interest: The level of inclusive outreach by which the
boundary
outreach becomes more inclusive which each succeeding stage
Point of view related to hierarchical thinking on different levels
Polarizing on different levels: A mental attitude which affects cognition and
interpersonal relationships.
Relation between self-identity and socio-cultural development
Relational exchange: The flow of communication and the recognition,
attention or responsiveness that one person gives another, between
individuals
Role taking: The taking of the attitudes or point of view of another person by
imagining oneself as the other person, in order to anticipate this persons
actual behaviour
Social role-taking: The tendency to create and modify conceptions of self and
other roles as a key orienting process in social interaction
Sympathy: A compassionate sharing of another’s feelings, emotions and
attitudes by imaginatively putting oneself in the position of the other person
The level of awareness a person has of its consumption patterns and the
conscious engagement to pursue desired changes through its systemic
relationships with companies
Way of life / lifestyle: an individual’s way of life as shaped by his or her
interests, values, attitudes and opinions.
The Individual moral development includes:
Altruism: Conduct that regards the good of others as the end of moral action.
Behaviour in which the individual gives primacy to the welfare or happiness
of another or others above his own welfare or happiness.
Conative and motional drives: The inclinations (as an instinct, a drive, a wish, a
craving) to act purposefully (‘conative’) and the actual act, process, or
instance of changing place (‘motional’)
Moral development: Morality embraces a person’s beliefs about the
appropriateness or goodness of what he does, thinks or feels
Moral hierarchy: The depth of moral reasoning concerning human affairs
Moral views regarding to war: Willingness to inflict an organised, armed
conflict typified by extreme aggression and the killing of a great number of
people
Stages of the good: The development of standards by which one judges the
values and norms on their ethical quality
The Individual spiritual development includes:
Ability to see subtle energies: visual perception of subtle energies on different
ontological levels. This refers to seeing subtle energies and not to seeing
image visions. Energy aspect and not form aspect
Contact with higher worlds: The ability to perceive on succeeding ontological
levels of reality, on higher planes of existence
Flow states: The state of being fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus in
an active effortless process. A shift from self-awareness to pure awareness,
transcending the duality of self and object / activity, from a reference point
beyond space and time (non-dual)
Kosmic regulating force: Stages of different concepts relating to a transcendent
creative force
Level of specific methods for the treatment of psychological problems: The
treatment of psychological problems or blockades by different level specific
methods
Levels of happiness: The different sources of happiness on different levels
Meditative awareness: To be aware at higher stages / states
Non-dual states: While the non-dual state is not a developmental level, a
certain development is necessary to establish a stable non-dual state
Non – physical perception (visions and levels): The ability to perceive on
succeeding ontological levels of existence
Openness: The quality or state of being open
Religious faith: Inner attitude, conviction or trust relating man to a supreme
God or ultimate salvation
Spiritual development: A particular attitude or orientation, whereby the ‘self’ is
exchanged for ‘other’ is a result of a ‘vertical’ directedness towards the
highest levels of being and the expression of wisdom and compassion in the
world
Ultimate concern: The direction or movement toward the ultimate end-state
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Collectively, within societal development, there are also developmental lines that can also be placed within the five groups.
The collective aesthetic development includes:
Archetypical movies: Scattered throughout Jung’s writings are a few references
to the sequence of archetypes associated with stages of individuation.
These archetypes constitute the configurations of the unconscious at
various points in human development. The American Psychologist Clare
Graves spent his career charting the conscious stages of that development.
Taken together, they explain each other. The level specific development
which has different stages is expressed in movies.
Architecture: Transformative perspectives relating to multi-levelled and multi-
perspective aesthetics
Levels of beauty: A quality or combination of qualities that gives pleasure to
the mind or senses and is often associated with properties such as harmony
of form or colour, proportion, authenticity, and originality.
Museum: Organised displays of cultural artefacts.
Visual representations: Different levels of visual representations relating to
spatial dimensions, perspective and time
The collective Techno-economic development includes:
Analytical hierarchy process: A structured technique for organising and
analysing complex decisions, it was developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the
1970s. It has particular application in group decision making, and is used
around the world in a wide variety of decision situations, in the fields such
as government, business, industry, healthcare, and education.
Collective planning: The way in which groups anticipate the future
Communication systems: different technological levels of communication
systems.
Development of mathematics : Thompson related Gebser’s structures to
periods in the development of mathematics
Economic distribution: Resource distribution formulas.
Energy systems: Type of primary energy resources in society.
Gross Domestic Product: the market value of all officially recognised final goods
and services produced within a country in a given period of time, GDP per
capita is often considered an indicator of a country’s standard of living
Housing and basic facilities.
Innovation: The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or
service that creates value, in terms of the degree of novelty.
Knowledge or systems of thought with social and cultural factors.
Physics: Science that deals with the structure of matter and the interactions
between the fundamental constitutions of the observable universe.
Scientific enquiry
Standards of living: referring to the level of wealth, comfort, material goods
and necessities available to a certain socioeconomic class in a certain
geographic area.
Techno-economic base: The predominant way in which a group / society makes
its living.
Technological development: the application of knowledge to the practical aims
of human life or to changing and adapting the environment
Technological level infrastructure: The basic facilities, services and installations
needed for the functioning of a community.
The collective Social / communicative systems development includes:
Balance Work-Life: A balance including proper prioritising between work
(career and ambition) and lifestyle(health, pleasure, leisure, family and
spiritual development).Measured in the amount of hours spend at work in
a year.
Collective decision making: The nature of decision making in groups and
organisations
Communication: Level specific transferring of information.
Community engagement: The process by which community benefit
organisations and individuals build ongoing, permanent relationships.
Competitiveness: The ability and performance of a firm, organisation, institute,
(sub-)sector or country to sell and supply goods and services in a given
market, in relation to the ability and performance of other firms,
organisations, institutes, (sub-)sectors or countries in the same market.
Cultural development relating to communication technology
Health care systems: The organisation of people, people, institutions, and
resources to deliver health care services to meet the health needs of the
population.
Job creation The process by which the number of jobs in an economy increases.
Job creation often refers to government policies intended to reduce
unemployment
Levels of social organisation: Geographical span correlating with an increasing
level of social organisation and collective structuring with each new level of
consciousness.
Literature
Millennium Development Goals
Motives or clusters of ideas, practices and forms of knowledge that exist in any
particular time or space.
Music
Nutrition the intake of food, considered in relation to the body’s dietary needs.
Parenting strategies for a healthy enfoldment of maturation patterns and
structures.
Physical safety: specific attention to bodily concerns relating to avoiding
physical harm.
Political systems: The social institutions, or complex of social norms and roles,
that serves to maintain social order , to exercise power to compel
conformity to the existing system of authority, and to provide the means
for changes in the legal or administrative systems.
Public services: Services provided by the government to people living within its
jurisdiction.
Social safety net: Transfer programmes seeking to prevent the poor or those
vulnerable to shocks and poverty from falling below a certain poverty level.
Trust generating relationships: the expectation that arises within a community
of regular, honest, and cooperative behaviour, based on commonly shared
norms, on the part of other members of that community
World views: The way in which a member or members of a social structure
views and interprets the world.
The collective moral development includes:
Civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of
religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights and
rights to due process and a fair trial
Codes of law: Systems of standardised norm regulating human conduct,
deliberately established for the purpose of social control.
Dispute resolution system: specific ways of processing collective tensions.
Ethics: levels of ethical development related to those deemed worth of moral
consideration.
Freedom and self-determination: The positive exercise of rights, capacities and
possibilities for action, and the exercise of social or group rights.
Human rights
Prevention of violence: The aim to prevent the intentional use of physical force
or power, threatened or actual, against a person, or against a group or
community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in
injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development or deprivation.
Relief of suffering: The (precautionary) measures aimed at relief and
prevention of suffering.
The collective Spiritual / religious systems includes:
Existentialistic philosophy: A concern with ultimate issues and the meaning of
life.
Non – local resonance: Forms of communication, resonance, communion and
union which are non – local in character
Religious systems: Systems of social norms and roles organised about the need
to answer ultimate questions concerning the purpose and the meaning of life.
