stability.
I need existential security. (💙Blue Needs - Part 4/8)
Part of a series on:
security | clarity | purpose | duty | trust
After all the chaos of ❤️Red, 💙Blue swoops in to save us with its order!
Blue gives us a moral code to follow — laws, regulations, and “answers” to life’s big questions. It unites people on a societal level with shared rules and beliefs (💜Purple unites family/tribe, 💚Green unites the globe).
Because of Blue, people have a sense they should treat others fairly, play by the established rules (which allows us to trust people we haven’t met), give back to society, and be a responsible person.
Alas, the rule-following nature of Blue also makes it vulnerable to over-rigidity and totalizing thinking.
Blue STABILITY needs are about clarity and purpose. It is a need for existential order — that we can predict and “know” how things work and how we fit into society.
If my social word — my job, my school, my social groups — are all well-ordered and predictable, then I’m well on my way to having my Blue needs met. But I also want to know that all this matters, that I have meaning and purpose — I want to know why. Thus Blue stability is spiritual as well as physical and social.
The current meaning crisis is an indication that the spiritual 💙stability needs of modern society are not being met very well. We’ve 🧡dis-integrated story from science — fact from value — matter from what matters. While such distinctions can certainly be helpful, if they are completely pulled-apart, it leaves us like wandering zombies, with lost purpose, except to onsume others.
Our need for existential security is met when the world makes sense (has coherence), we have a purpose (goal), and we can continually grow (we can self-transcend) according to our current “level.”1
Note that the needs of the collectivist colors are all quite connected:
💜Purple home needs “stabilize” us in the family space, creating tribal “harmony.”
💙Blue stability needs “home” us into and “harmonize” us with larger society and our higher purpose.
💚Green harmony needs “stabilize” everyone’s connections (even with non-human life) and make the whole globe our “home.”
“Faith is stability in God.”
-Brother Roger of Taizé
Blue Check-Up Questions
You may want to give a 1-10 score for each of these.
Do you feel secure both physically and existentially?
Are you part of a social system you trust?
Do have faith that things will be ok in the end?
Do you have the self-control to sacrifice your wants now for the future good?
Do you have ethical clarity?
Does the world you live in make sense?
Do you feel like you are doing your duty to others, and they are doing their duty for you?
Do you have an orienting goal, purpose, or set of values for your life?
Next article in series (5/8): 🧡achievement.
You can see that video games tap into our desires for these things.