42. The Answer Key

Last week's article ended with:

"In order to continue to explain Dr. Ackoff's predictions, we are going to need a very powerful tool that can instantly bring clarity to all of life's biggest issues. We are going to cover this powerful tool next week so we can bring this book to its powerful conclusion."

The tool is the Conjunctive and it is presented above.

WARNING: Before I explain a Conjunctive, I want you to know I have been using this tool since the beginning of this book, so if you want to discuss more examples than what are presented in this chapter, please read the previous chapters (especially the links). Also, this tool covers EVERYTHING in the Universe, so I'm trying to keep this article as short as possible realizing the most important examples are still in the ensuing ten chapters. (They are big topics and I can only explain them by overtly using this tool.) However, this article is twice the size of my typical articles. I believe this article is an excellent reference to guide people through their lives, so I want to keep all the information in one place. I'm publishing this on Thursday with an "Intermission" break so people can take time to digest it.

A Conjunctive is made up of a Freedom/Benefit AND a Limitation/Punishment. The diagram above essentially identifies four regions:

-IN the Conjunctive: Freedom and ONE Limitation (I tend to underline the limitation)

-Limitation Half ONLY: More than one Limitation

-Freedom Half ONLY: NO Limitations

-Outside the Conjunctive: Destruction/Evil (People tend not to recognize this region.)

So, the area of overlap represents the Truth.

Remember, I'm an expert modeler and possibly the only Synthesis modeler in the world. I have a model for models. This tool allows a person to become an expert modeler. To help you grow in modeling, there are the first two things you ought to know about models.

1. A non-contradictory model has one (and only one) Qualitative measure and one (and only one) Quantitative measure.

There are only four types of models and the non-contradictory type is the only one that doesn't ultimately fail. We called the non-contradictory type "Vitamin C" (from the Scurvy video). The ONLY way to have a non-contradictory model is to have ONE (and only one) Qualitative measure and ONE (and only one) Quantitative measure. A Qualitative and Quantitative measure can't contradict! Having a second Qualitative/Quantitative measure either contradicts or limits the first Qualitative/Quantitative measure!

2. There are ALWAYS four (and only four) Contexts to every model.

Do you remember this model from "So You Want to Be an Inventor?"

Truth -> Principle -> Application -> Result

This corresponds to:

Conjunctive -> Four Contexts -> Limitless -> Four

The ONE Conjunctive is made up of two measures that result in four Contexts. Why? Because each measure has a "Yes/High" or "No/Low" setting resulting in four Contexts. If a person has less than four Contexts, they are forgetting or ignoring a Context. If they have more than four Contexts, they are expanding a Context and presenting it in more detail.

This is all the proof you need that personality tests aren't the Truth! However, we've already seen every personality test is based on a model called "The Four Temperaments" and the inventor of this model (Hippocrates) said whenever he saw one of four behaviors come out of a person (Control, Perfection, Peace, or Fun) he knew the person was UNBALANCED! They had too much or too little blood, bile, black bile, or phlegm. This is NOT who a person IS. The word personality comes from persona which means "mask". The "personality" is one of the four behaviors a person hides behind when they are UNBALANCED!

Our Driver & Car Model shows who you ARE is the mind/soul and the Context is set by one of the four thought processes used by the brain leading to behavior and healthiness!

YOU -> Brain -> Behavior (Personality) -> Healthiness

Truth is a contextless principle. A principle is dependent on the Context. Truth is Moral. Principles are Ethical. Another way to see this is:

HOW -> WHY -> WHAT -> Profitability

The HOW is the specific explanation of HOW something works - the non-contradictory definition. The WHAT isn't "HOW you do it"; it is "WHAT you do". Notice, even though there are infinite applications/approaches/flavors, there are really only one of four results you can get in the long term:

-Generative: More than what you originally had

-Sustainable: Not losing anything (but one catastrophic event away from Unsustainable)

-Unsustainable: Less than what you originally had

-Destructive: Destroying what you do have

Okay, modeling class is over. It's time to use the Conjunctive! Let's look at a relatively simple and extremely important example: Liberty (Freedom) and Justice (Limitation) for all

We could all get along forever if everyone stayed IN the Conjunctive. It would be Generative. (In fact, we are going to see in a couple of weeks that your brain CANNOT get used to being IN the Conjunctive! You could be happy forever. However, everywhere else can be "habituated" to, like building a tolerance to a drug.) So why can't we ALL live IN the Conjunctive? What happens? Someone (usually the "king" or Boss) decides, "I would be happier if I had NO Limitations!" and they move to the Freedom Half. What does that do to EVERYONE else?

EVERYONE else has TWO Limitations: Justice and NOT Justice for the Boss. The Boss just PREVENTED EVERYONE from being IN the Conjunctive!!! The Boss intentionally moves to a mental state that is ultimately unfulfilling, and his deception results in everyone else having to move to a mental state that is unfulfilling.

Not to worry, understanding a Conjunctive gives you a way to defend your thought process from the Bosses we all have due to the Leadership gurus of the past forty years. Conjunctives measure Truth! If the person states more than one Limitation, I look for the contradiction. There will ALWAYS be a contradiction. In fact, teenagers are brilliant at spotting (and complaining about) the contradiction when they are given more than one Limitation. If the person states NO Limitations, I unconsciously confront the bully by flipping the pronouns: "Would it be okay if I had NO Limitations?"

Worse, a Conjunctive shows you the real problem in the world! First, you have the people saying, "Use your head. You are hurting yourself. I have the Truth and you would too if you did the following ten rules (Limitations)..." The people they are arguing with respond with, "You have no heart. You don't have the truth because you have contradictions, in fact, no one has the Truth. And I may be hurting myself, but I'd rather do that than what you are doing. You are hurting other people."

What if a person would state the Truth? What would happen if a person stated a Freedom with ONE Limitation? The first people would see him as "one of those people" because they have a heart and they don't have a lot of Limitations. However, the second people would see him as "one of those people" because he stated a Truth and he had a Limitation. The first and second people would actually JOIN forces to destroy the person who stated Truth!!!

Problem with the World: 99% of people are wasting our time arguing over everything OTHER than Truth AND this same 99% JOINS forces to destroy those who speak the Truth.

Look around! Everyone who isn't IN the Conjunctive is either hurting themselves or other people. The ONLY Safe and Creative place is IN the Conjunctive.

We have been looking at the System of Education. The Self-esteem movement was in the Freedom Half of the Conjunctive: "You are awesome!" (Where's the Limitation?) The result was a generation who wanted affirmations (Benefits) without a cause. Twenty years ago, we moved to the Limitation Half: Achievement by imposing Limitations so the students deny their Uniqueness and resemble Robots/Computers. Yes, the students are scoring better, but our schools are no longer Safe. To the person who doesn't understand a Conjunctive, it looks like the ONLY two choices are students hurting themselves (NO Limitations) or students hurting others students (more than ONE Limitation). Now you can see how last week's article used a Conjunctive to achieve Safe and Creative. Self-esteem is "confidence in your Uniqueness." The Self-esteem movement believed the definition was "confidence" and that it could be achieved externally.

If we were Robots/Computers, we would LOVE the Truth. In fact, our behavior would change in response to the Truth! However, Truth hurts peoples' feelings and causes them to lash out...and I can't stop pursuing the Truth. The history of science is filled with people who stated a Truth and were killed. Truth drives people nuts and a Conjunctive shows who actually doesn't believe and/or doesn't want an objective Truth.

One of the proofs of my superior modeling ability is that I can present models as a Truth, which means I can't patent them! No one creates Truth. Everything you can patent is something that was created and it is NEVER the Truth. I have the only non-contradictory model for the mind-brain, which means I can't patent it. Why? Because I didn't create the mind-brain. How am I going to stop you from applying Truth? An even better question is: Why would I try to stop you from applying Truth?

The reality is people fight over tangible things they created that aren't the intangible Truth.

When it comes to Truth, the only intellectual property a person can claim relative to the Truth is their presentation (copyrights and trademarks). These Conjunctive presentations are how I identify Truth Savants: "those who are compelled to state the Truth AND cannot answer even one question about what they've stated without contradicting themselves and/or becoming frustrated." My understanding of Conjunctives instantly exposes people who state a Truth and it also identifies the question I can ask that frustrates the person!

In that article, I spoke about Ayn Rand. I even stated how I like to frustrate her fans. Her final novel ("Atlas Shrugged", which we are currently living out) contained numerous Conjunctives and her fans don't know what to make of them: the freedom of release and the tension of purpose, causeless affection, unearned wealth, childishly blatant, helplessly crude, reticence and intimacy, quiet fury, serenity and suffering, a smile of pain, joy and solemn, reluctant compassion, anger at enjoyment, fierce and purposeless intensity, effortless control, chuckle devoid of amusement, contemptuous smile, either you are virtuous or you enjoy yourself, sad amusement, courteous sternness,...and the three heroes majored in Philosophy AND Science. Her fans will point to her emphasis on Freedom, however, she was a huge proponent of Justice: "There is no escape from justice, nothing can be unearned and unpaid for in the universe, neither in matter nor in spirit – and if the guilty do not pay, then the innocent have to pay it."

(INTERMISSION: Feel free to walk away and let the previous information sink in. This tool is the OPPOSITE of how we naturally think, so it needs to "click" and when it does, you will see the world with complete clarity. Again, this is the length of all my other articles, so please consider taking a break. You may want to see if you can spot Conjunctives stated by others as practice! The rest of this article is going to cover a lot of material in a short space.)

The most powerful implication of a Conjunctive is the journey to Truth!

The reality is 99% of people think Truth either doesn't exist (Freedom) OR it is at the end of a one-dimensional line (Limitations). This means everyone who is pursuing the Truth ought to be going the same direction. So all "good" Limitations people think: "If someone isn't going my direction, they can't be pursuing the Truth and I need to tell them they are wrong!"

The Truth is in the center. (Notice, this is NOT compromise. Compromise is OUTSIDE the Conjunctive: neither Half is getting what it wants.) Since each of us is Unique and begins from a Unique place, each of us has a Unique journey pursuing the Truth and that can look wrong to other people. This brings up the two most general paths to Truth.

Colin Stevenson is a Westerner (Scotland) and like all good Limitations people, he went into the most limiting organization in the world: the military. In order for Colin to pursue the Truth, he needs to progress towards Freedom, the Intangible - the Spiritual. So, Colin does this and his culture constantly tells him he is WRONG. People tell him to stop, to do nothing, which we saw last week is an error of omission and the cause of the downfall of every organization (and person). These Limitations people are hurting Colin. Instead, Colin continues his pursuit of the Truth and embraces errors of commission.

Swarup Roy is an Easterner (Thailand). He worked for three consumer products companies and got his MBA. This man raised in a culture that emphasizes Synthesis, Freedom, Intangible, and Spiritual had a Physical trauma that left him with Tangible scars. His pursuit of the Truth is focused on Analysis, Quantitative, Science, and Limitations and he is made to feel incredibly uncomfortable by his culture.

John Lenhart is a Westerner. He worked for three consumer products companies and got degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. This man raised in a culture that emphasizes Analysis, Limitations, Tangible, and Physical had a Spiritual trauma that left him with Intangible scars. His pursuit of the Truth is focused on Synthesis, Qualitative, Philosophy, and Freedom and he is made to feel incredibly uncomfortable by his culture.

Swarup Roy and John Lenhart are heading in the exact OPPOSITE direction AND they are both making progress pursuing the Truth. Truth is not at the end of a one-dimensional line. Truth is in between two OPPOSITE natural thought processes. Progress requires each side to break through a barrier. However, without a measure for Truth, a person is more likely to break through the barrier to Destruction than Truth and then convince themselves they were better off NOT making progress (an error of Omission) leading to our current state of the world.

I pursue Truth Savants by asking people their definition for a keyword. If they attack me, I know they are Destructive. If they avoid answering (like 95% of people), I know they are Unsustainable. When they do answer, I can see how they respond to the Conjunctive definition of their word. Remember, everyone's unconscious brain knows the non-contradictory definition for every word a person uses, so if they respond positively, I know they have a good conscience and they are a Truth Savant. I've been doing this for almost a year on LinkedIN. Colin and Swarup are the only two people who have responded this way. However, there is another group I appreciate: those who can handle the Tension of the exchange and that's why my goal isn't 30,000 followers. I'm happy with 300 people who can handle the Tension well enough to become Generative. Look again at some definitions:

-Leader: facilitates the purpose and progress of another

-Love: giving without expecting anything in return

-Truth: a right what (fact) with a right how (which includes the right why by default)

-Purpose: your Uniqueness towards the mission of the System

Notice, living out your truth is actually "your Purpose". It isn't the Truth. It is how the Truth of your Uniqueness comes out in your Purpose. (A non-contradictory definition of Truth would instantly clear up the confusion between "Truth" and "my truth" and prevent people from continuing to hurt themselves and others.)

We are going to cover Happiness in a future article. Looking at the other two words IN the Conjunctive with Truth (at the top of this page), we find "Flow" and "Dissolve".

Your body craves dopamine and endorphins. If you spend an hour getting only one, your body will drag you, against your will, to get the other chemical! For example, a study showed the students who get "A's" are the ones who are drinking alcohol and using marijuana, both drugs that provide a Release from living in Tension.

Flow provides both dopamine and endorphin at the same time, which is why it is Generative and you can't habituate to it. It has been called the most pleasurable, meaningful, and addictive experience a human can have. It is one of the few activities that releases all five pleasure chemicals simultaneously. (I'm sure you can think of another activity that does this through Tension and Release, however, a person can Flow indefinitely.)

As for Dissolve, I wrote an article (including an example) for how Dissolve is the only way to approach human problems because the Solve approach to human problems causes three more problems (law of unintended consequences) and the overall stress from the Solution is worse than from the original problem, but let's look at a real world example: COVID-19.

What is the issue? A specific group of people are more susceptible to dying from COVID-19 AND if they all get it at the same time, people will die from the lack of treatment.

(Notice, everything else that is stated about the virus itself is a complete distraction and hinders our ability to address this problem in a healthy manner.)

The response? Isolation in an attempt to "flatten the curve". (The support for this contrasts how St. Louis and Philadelphia handled the 1918 flu pandemic.)

Well, you have the tool. What approach is this?

It involves Limitations and trying to address a tangible cause: SOLVE, which works for Robots/Computers and when applied to Humans results in three more problems AND bigger issues than the original one. Is that what we are seeing?

"What do you want us to do? Nothing?" No, that is Absolve and killing the infected would be Resolve. However, the fact that you think there are ONLY two extremes (St. Louis and Philadelphia) is PROOF that you don't have a clue what a Conjunctive is! In fact, if we don't learn what a Conjunctive is, we will ALWAYS have to settle for the government taking control and enforcing Limitations. (I appreciate a good conspiracy theory like the next person, however, when the person is completely unable to understand a Conjunctive then THEY are the one causing the government to have to take control!)

First of all, Dissolve would have addressed this prior to the pandemic. Working on your immune system would limit your ability to have symptoms that require hospitalization (which, remember, is the issue). What are the two things that weaken your immune system the most? Lack of sleep and anxiety. Sleep and Flow are the two things that build your immune system the most and they both require you to be IN the Conjunctive!!!

As for what we should have done after the pandemic, I think a Conjunctive answer will be found in hindsight. Again, I'm not a doctor and I don't have all the facts, so if I was forced to come up with an approach in the moment, I would have used a Conjunctive: quarantine the ones who are endangered and then have a dedicated person looking after each quarantined location. EVERYTHING we have in place right now to "ease" the strain could have been applied to the quarantined. We would have flattened the curve enough that people would be able to get treatment and we wouldn't have damaged our economy. Worse, we wouldn't have emotionally scarred a generation of children by having their parents have to educate them while continuing to worry about work. How do you think that generation is going to view all of us once they get in charge? (I'm going to address these issues in future chapters.)

For now, all of this can be seen as a practice exam to determine how balanced you are relative to the Tangible and the Intangible; to see how close you are to being IN the Conjunctive. How are you doing?

I will give you a little hint, your maturity is in direct proportion to how much you embrace ONE Limitation, but we will cover that in future chapters.

Practice exams are meant to serve a Benefit! If you are growing in energy, you are going to pass the future final exam. If you are having to constantly make an effort to not lose energy, there are some areas you may want to brush up on before the final exam. If you are failing, you haven't learned the material, but there is still time to get help and find a tutor! Here is what you need to know:

There is Truth. It exists. None of us created it. None of us owns it.

A Conjunctive is the "equation" of Truth. It proves to you who doesn't have the Truth. However, it doesn't help you get to the Truth. Next week's article is going to give the four (gasp!) principles that lead you to Truth.

Next Chapter: Do You Really Want World Peace?

Table of Contents

Are you one of the 1% of people who WANTS the Truth? These articles are forming a book on Generativity: the ability to apply Tension without Abuse in order to Replicate. (A nested Conjunctive!) If you are interested in going on this journey of Generativity, the first chapter is here:?Do You Really Want To Improve Mental Health?

The following is intended for people who either say they base their life on the Bible or know people who say they base their life on the Bible...

In the Bible, God ONLY spoke in Conjunctives, especially when He gave His commissions.

-Be Fruitful and Multiply

-Walk before Me and be perfect

-Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;?but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it?you?shall surely?die.”

Notice what Eve said:

We may eat the?fruit of the trees of the garden;??but of the fruit of the tree which?is?in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you?touch it, lest you die.’

Two Limitations is a strategy created by a human, so it is not the Truth. Whenever people add a Limitation, they are trying to control the outcome. Whenever people add a Limitation to God's commission, not only are they creating religion, they are saying God didn't get it right!

The most famous Conjunctive is:

-Therefore,?whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for?this is the Law and the Prophets.

My favorite Conjunctive to talk about from the Bible involves two Conjunctives:

-Six days you shall labor and do all your work,?but the?seventh day?is?the Sabbath of the?Lord?your God.

Conjunctive #1: Do whatever you want for six days as long as you don't break the Law.

Conjunctive #2: Do whatever you want for six days and on the Sabbath, only do what the Law tells you to do.

Not only don't religious leaders understand this today, the Pharisees didn't understand it during Jesus time! (with commentary)

At that time?Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to?pluck heads of grain and to eat.?And when the Pharisees saw?it,?they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

But He said to them,?“Have you not read?what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:?how he entered the house of God and ate?the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him,?but only for the priests??Or have you not read in the?law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple?profane the Sabbath, and are blameless??(If no one is allowed to work on the Sabbath as a straight rule, then how do the priests work? I found a contradiction so your interpretation must be wrong!)?Yet I say to you that in this place there is?One?greater than the temple.?But if you had known what?this?means,?‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.?For the Son of Man is Lord?even of the Sabbath.” (I am telling them to do it and I'm greater than the Law...so they are guiltless AND they are keeping the Sabbath!)

Religious leaders today...Pharisees then...is there really a difference?