Prologue

Septemics, noun:

1. A philosophic system based on the fact that many phenomena related to Human Beings occur in a sequence of seven levels.

2. Literally, of, or pertaining to, seven.

3. A collection of scales or sequences, each of which breaks down some human phenomenon into a hierarchy of seven steps.

4. A descriptive science, like botany or astronomy.

5. A new way of looking at human interactions and functions, so as to better understand them.

6. The patterns of life-as-we-know-it, in a wide variety of applications.

7. A philosophical science.

8. A form of mathematics adapted to human behavior.

9. A conceptual technology which facilitates the resolution of human issues.

10. An especially useful hierarchical system.

This book comprises a revolutionary and elaborate system for accurately analyzing, assessing, predicting and managing the behaviors and characteristics of groups and individuals. It is a textbook about a new philosophical science called, for lack of a better term, Septemics, which consists of thirty-five scales, each of which delineates the exact sequence and patterns in which human beings actually behave and manifest in various contexts. Each of these scales describes an axis upon which individuals, and/or groups, advance or decline.

This book would generally fit into the literary category of Psychological Philosophy. Since Septemics is a philosophical science, it has characteristics of both science and philosophy. Consequently, it requires the dispassionate analytical prowess of a scientist, and the insightful literary prowess of a philosopher.

It is often said that anything worth doing is worth doing well. In the case of studying this work, doing well means knowing the correct meanings of the words used. The concepts will be clear only if the words are understood. The author has been careful to adhere to the standard meanings of words as conveyed by a proper lexicon. If you find any part of this work confusing or unclear, find out the meanings of all the words used, in which case, you may be surprised to find how many definitions you either did not know or misconstrued.

This writer has attempted to mitigate the ineluctable vocabulary barrier by providing a glossary for each chapter, but in order to prevent this book from becoming a vocabulary text, I have limited the glossaries arbitrarily, although the glossary for the introductory chapter is longer. You should read the glossary before the corresponding chapter, so that you know precisely which definition of the word is being used.

The glossaries are cumulative, i.e., no word appears in a glossary more than once in this book. Accordingly, it is advisable to read the book from beginning to end, without skipping sections, in order to ensure that when you come to an important word in the text, you will have already clarified it in the glossary. Since words do not repeat in the glossaries, some crucial words are defined in glossaries which appear earlier in the book than a chapter in which the word is used. The main concern in the glossaries was to define the terms used in the scales themselves.

There is an almost irresistible temptation when confronting a new subject to attempt to put it into the context of a familiar subject. Please make an effort to resist that temptation when studying this subject, as it is not a form of something else. It is, rather, a new way of viewing human activity. Were that not the case, this writer would not have had to coin the term “Septemics.” Having tried for some time to fit this work into some other framework, it was not my intention to invent a new subject when I began writing this book. However, Septemics is a new and separate set of data, notwithstanding the fact that many of its data fragments predate this work. If you attempt to understand Septemics as a version or aspect of another subject, you will fail to grasp it.

Having said that, this work is, in a limited sense, of the same general nature as the writings of Oswald Spengler, in that it comprises a precise and serious analysis of human activity. This similarity is much more true of the Group Scales than the Individual Scales, as Spengler’s work addresses collective human phenomena.

Viewed from a different perspective, this work might generally be compared, in some limited sense, to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychological Association, although there is no effort here to diagnose anyone, nor to present statistical data. Nor does this work purport to be a part of the psychology establishment, which has its own domain and standards, into which this work does not intend to intrude, even if it might do so inadvertently, in isolated places. What this work does have in common with the DSM is that both works provide specific, reliable data about human behavior, albeit in very different contexts and ways. Although the DSM is superior to this work in voluminousness and documentation, this work is superior to the DSM in that this work addresses both positive and negative human traits, while the DSM heavily emphasizes negative traits, which is appropriate in light of the fact that it is used primarily for diagnosing mental disorders. This work, in contrast, presents a spectrum for each axis (i.e., scale), which considers both positive and negative aspects, in the same way as a good psychological test, such as the MMPI.

In some sense, this work is to psychological philosophy what the Periodic Table is to chemistry: an alignment of valuable and disparate data into a useful and efficient format.

Be all of that as it may, if status is more important to you than knowledge, you might be better off studying some “mainstream” or “conventional” subject, so that your “knowledge” will be “accredited.” You can then place a formidable concatenation of letters after your name, which will be useful in getting much of populace to kowtow to you. On the other hand, if you actually want to understand human nature to the extent that you can do something about it, read on.

Again, when you study this subject, please make liberal use of a dictionary. If you do not, you may fail to fully comprehend this subject, as each level of the scale must be fully grasped in order for that scale to make sense. Since the scales are constructed of words, you had better take care to define those words as carefully as the author selected them. You cannot overuse a dictionary.

Inasmuch as these scales represent, in most cases, concepts which are new and/or different, the greatest challenge in writing this book was to convey an unknown subject with known words. In some cases, this necessitated a less-than-elegant, and somewhat unconventional, usage of language. Regrettably, grammar, style and diction must occasionally be sacrificed in favor of clear communication of the concepts.

Septemics may be thought of as a form of mathematics adapted to human behavior. In order to comprehend or apply it, you must think with the clarity of a mathematician, while demonstrating the verbal skills of a linguist. However, the intellectual mastery of human affairs made possible by this subject is well worth the investment in study.

Once you learn to think with both sides of your brain simultaneously, as it were, in approaching this work, you will find your powers of insight into people have increased markedly. The ideal Septemicist would be a cross between Einstein and Shakespeare. If you eschew either the Humanities or the Sciences, you will find Septemics difficult to master. It is, after all, an attempt to conceptually embrace most of human phenomena. A “one- legged” approach to this subject will not work.

This writer has always been somewhat perplexed and dismayed at the one-sidedness or narrow-mindedness of most persons. This issue was resolved at an early age by having different groups of friends, who were no more successfully mixed than oil and water. I would go to math and science lectures with one group, plays and museums with a second, sporting events with a third, and so forth. My avidity for the “feminine” subjects did not diminish my avidity for the “masculine” subjects, nor vice versa. The only problem was finding enough time to do it all. Polymathy is a rigorous way of life. There is no such thing as a lazy Renaissance Man.

Septemics transcends Eclecticism by reducing human phenomena to their lowest common denominators. This is not obvious in the subject. The author spent decades extrapolating, and/or interpolating, data to ever more fundamental data before finding the framework in which all the data aligned, namely, these hierarchies. This is not to suggest that all human data are aligned by these scales. However, it was possible to deduce these scales only after a great deal of refinement and alignment of data about human phenomena, always working in the direction of more fundamental, so as to be more embracive.

There is a natural preselection built into this subject. Less than ten per cent of the English-speaking population are potential Septemicists at this time. How many of those will actually master the subject: one in a hundred perhaps? So you would enjoy a huge advantage over ninety-nine percent of the population if you were to master this intellectual technology.

Some might criticize Septemics for being inegalitarian. With all due respect to the estimable Thomas Jefferson, all men are not created equal. I agree wholeheartedly that we should all enjoy equal civil and human rights, but if we were all created equal, we would all be able to sing like Linda Ronstadt, paint like Monet, and write like Shakespeare, when, in fact, no one else can perform like any of those luminaries. These scales are based on Natural Law, and Nature is definitely not egalitarian.

Actually, no two persons are created equal, as each person is unique. If that is not obvious to you, go out and carefully observe people. If you can find even two who are created equal, you will have made the discovery of the millennium. Even identical twins raised together have significant differences.

In actual practice, all people employ hierarchies of one kind or another. These scales comprise an especially useful hierarchical system because it empowers the user to better utilize his resources. Septemics is a deus ex machina, not only for the human development practitioner, or self- improvement enthusiast, but also for the entrepreneur, the go-getter, the person who wants to get ahead, and make one’s mark, and stand out from the crowd, and for someone who wants to be able to understand people better, so as to succeed more easily.

The only prerequisites to mastering this subject are the ability to read English well, and the desire to improve oneself and/or others. The bad news is: that eliminates most people, believe it or not, because, in the first place, comparatively few persons are genuinely interested in improving themselves or others, even though many will disingenuously assert they are. Many such individuals are fooling themselves, as well as attempting to fool others. However, if you are one of the growing number of self-help or human-potential enthusiasts in the developed societies, you are way ahead of the pack, and this subject is for you. Secondly, not many persons have enough desire and/or time to study this work, but the good news is: no one can cut you from this team but yourself.

You may find some of the points made in this book to be familiar to you. In fact, many of these data were known for many decades before this book was written. In that sense, this book is perhaps as much a codification and extension of knowledge as an explication of new material. The power of these scales lies in their potential to assist you in aligning large bodies of data into a usable form. This book represents an attempt to lift human society out of the quicksand in which it has been mired for at least 6000 years.

So welcome to Septemics. This is a new subject for you, but for the author, it is an old subject indeed, as I had been dealing with this material long before it had a name. I hope it will contribute to your success.