Self-Examination - the 7 Fundamentals in Life
1) Q21 is a self-examination exercise that clearly identifies the seven foundational themes of life and how well a person is dealing with them. For ourselves or another, we can quickly and easily see where to direct attention to resolve important issues. The 21 questions access the deeper dimensions of personality and can trigger unconscious processes of self-expression that normally remain dormant. 2) The underlying philosophy is explained most fully by Sufism’s 7 Planes of Consciousness. However in a simplified version of this, the 7 Words System identifies the 7 realms of life experience with 7 primary words: No Hello Thanks Goodbye Please Sorry and Yes. When we master each of these – which we can see as archetypes – then we manage our lives effectively and progress to greater levels of creative self-expression wherein we enjoy a widening of horizons, abundance and joy, meaningful involvements and shared visionary goals, and we learn from our mistakes how to live with greater spiritual awareness. Use as a Counselling Tool3) Using Q21 as a counselling tool we must centre ourselves in the heart and always remember to maintain empathy with the client. This requires excellent listening. Firstly we hear the specific words that are offered yet additionally we have to be very sensitive to the hidden meaning within them. And of course the scores are very revealing. Someone who enters a very low score is clearly identifying and issue they want to talk about. This is probably a difficult topic for them yet we can raise the subject much more easily by discussing it as a number – ‘I see you have put a 4 for this question can you say more about that? This begins a conversation that needs to be handled very tactfully and with kindness. 4) Q21 brings realizations and in an awakening person this will lead to a decision. It is not necessary to push hard for such a decision yet a gentle suggestion can be very helpful sometimes. ‘Do you need to join a club? Do you need to establish stronger boundaries? Might you get along better with your children if you showed the appreciation you feel? Gently done and without judgment, this can be a powerful turning point. 5) Other questions can support self-improvement, such as: ‘You scored 8 here, what needs to change for that to be a 9?’. This will create an attitude of mind that is directed to find creative ways to improve. Or, more generally: ‘What do you feel you can do differently to improve one or more of these scores?’ Dealing with Issues6) We need to consider the limitation of the questionnaire. It is a generalised overview of personality at a given moment in time and is self-referential so entirely subjective. A week later some of the scores will be different, and if we specified a given context – at home, at work, with friends, with strangers – the scores would differ significantly. Yet there will always be an underlying trend that indicates the general contours of the personality. These indicators change over time, especially if the exercise is repeated say weekly or monthly, wherein improved scores are to be expected. This occurs slowly and the underlying pattern usually does not change very much.
7) Most people stumble along with little or no willingness to engage in serious self-reflection, perhaps in the belief that ‘Things are not too bad and life isn't meant to be a bed of roses.’ Yet when they see and accept clear written evidence of their own self-appraisal scores, they may think about what the inner voice is saying. Usually one or more of the scores indicates sincere dissatisfaction. Happily this can be addressed when it is identified – but only when - and this is made possible with Q21.
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Social Contract
Elven Star Point 1 From our first breath, when we ourselves start to become responsible for maintenance of the physical body, we have to come to terms with our involvement with others. This is a stern lesson which, to learn fully, takes at least 29 years and probably a lifetime. We must not only respect the wishes of others; we also have to resist any attempt that they might make to disrespect our own requirements. To do so means that we must become clear about what these needs are, and rather firmly claim authority to respond to them, especially by the development of a mature and seriously influential atmosphere of being. This claim goes hand-in-glove with our duties to add support to build and maintain an effective, sustainable community, which often means aligning with strangers with whom we have no empathy or rapport. Elven Star Point 2 The manner in which we transact will not be tolerated unless it closely conforms with the particular code of behaviour that defines our set. When significant differences arise, tensions are likely, and we then have to explain our point of view, and of course also listen to the other person explain theirs. Reconciling two different viewpoints inevitably requires negotiation, compromise and tolerance, and yet emphatically must never lead to our self-betrayal. If there is no common ground to be found then we must part ways and find a more suitable community setting that accommodates our authentic expression of self. Elven Star Point 3 Parenting primarily, and schooling secondarily, (notwithstanding their other functions), are the principal agencies of social training, and both love and education are sometimes given a hard edge. Having stern parents can make us colder and less affectionate later in life, and officious teachers leech the joy out of learning. However, often grandparents have had the time and experiences to become wise enough to show us by example how to be both kind and disciplined, modest yet well-boundaried. ResponsibilityElven Star Point 4 Following this long training period, we choose to take on scenarios and projects, not only to serve but also in order slowly to develop maturity, and even gravitas, by extending our depth of authenticity and range of character attributes. This typically includes commitments sincerely made within the structure of our career, plus various tasks of stewardship over possessions and shared activities, and also to a partner and children as we build our own family. Elven Star Point 5 Some people can be trusted to hold to contracts and vows; these people tend to end up in positions of high authority. They are a small minority who finish what they start and almost always keep their word, whatever the cost. This quality transfers into the ability to project authority, to determine what will be done, and therefore to make manifest what they choose to have happen. Elven Star Point 6 Saturn-types therefore become officers with positions that influence social policies and supervise the application of justice, law and order, imposing penalties and giving definition and voice to the otherwise unspoken general social conscience. ReflectionElven Star Point 7
Paradoxically, and perhaps ironically, because of the corrupting power of position, power-possessors tend to be swayed into the abuse of authority; they relax their self-discipline whilst overdoing the imposition of control upon others. The more advanced spiritual type will be more capable of fairness and humility, and possibly withdraw more into solitude in order to reflect upon the control and reduction of their self-indulgences in pleasures, laziness and silliness, which they enjoyed in youth. Eventually they take up the important social roles of advisor, elder and even perhaps, in time, as sage.
The 7 Mysteries of LifeChoice of Perception The volume of sensory data available to us in any moment is way beyond what we can consciously absorb; we need to filter out most of it to focus our attention on what we choose to register. Then, what we perceive is interpreted according to our entrained attitudes learned from others, our remembered experiences, and our personal preferences and philosophy. No two people experience reality the same way and we create our own unique life experiences from our choices. Experience Our experiences are life’s input material of our lives, arising according to how we direct our attention. Learning This comes not only from the exercising of mind, it requires the deepening of engagement to develop enthusiasm and love. Action Evidence of significant change, arising from what we have learned from our ‘good’ and ‘bad’ choices, comes through taking steps to begin, to further, or to end a particular involvement. Growth People grow in consciousness when their lives enact their learnings through collaborative projects, ideally in symbiosis so that our vision is furthered as we further someone else’s. Reflection Outwardly, life circumstances mirror our inner condition; inwardly the mind deepens wisdom by reflecting upon events. Transcendence and Forgetting. To rise above worldly concerns in order to know of cosmic realities requires us to let go of our investment in self, to forget who we are. Paradoxically in Sufism this is a practice called remembrance. Training the Mind to Perceive 7We have chosen to adopt the number 7 as the most mystical symbol of all numbers and decided to examine its qualities in depth. By doing so we train the mind to shape its perceptions accordingly and find that it is meaningful to look for, and find, that each and every dynamic system is well understood as having 7 components which are each necessary and together sufficient to describe and define it. The mind is central to all of our perceptions and experiences so, as we increasingly employ this methodology of 7 in our thinking process, we tend towards creating a life of mystery and fullness. Also we learn to think more clearly and strategically, and so improve our understandings and our attainments. We can quickly and easily grasp an amorphous bundle of data, opinions, feelings and aspirations and bring this confusion and potential overwhelm into a clear and familiar form of the 7 archetypes. This offers a specific path of analysis and planning and often exposes errors of omission. The more frequently we employ this system of perception, the more it becomes embodied within us and informs our intuitive responses. Having our strengths and weaknesses identified and named promotes the furtherance of balance and personal growth so we progress both spiritually and in worldly competency. These two polarities then tend to marry up more closely and we learn that excellence in earthly attainment promotes spiritual growth and vice versa. Also the fact that we study all this in the company of kindred spirits is extraordinarily helpful – a real boon. Correspondences, Landscapes and QualitiesWe will find great value from the study of correspondences. We think here of 7 Planes of Consciousness, the 7 Words System, the Elven Star of each of the planets of astrology, also applications within the Sabian Alchemy Process, 7 Ages of a Seeker, 7 Life Principles, 7 Steps of Soul Resonance, and a good number of q21 topics as questionnaires which can immediately identify our own points of optimal personal inquiry and the primary issue to discuss with any client.
We go into greater depth as we learn to see the 7 archetypes as 7 realities, worlds with landscapes and qualities, which we both feel and understand conceptually. Our purpose is to stretch the mind to embrace more variables than it usually does. As we become competent in the application of these 7 principles, we will evolve spiritually, develop a sharper ability of analysis, and relax into a sense of self expressing much more richness, subtlety and depth. |
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January 2026
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