“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” –Oscar Wilde 

It seems a bit pessimistic, doesn’t it? As if we are all a fraud somehow, deriving all that we are from someone else in an attempt to be more or better than we are in reality.

Could it be true? Mr. Wilde does have a reputation as a keen observer of humanity. As it turns out—yes, but probably not in the way Oscar meant it.

Work in the Taxonomy has revealed something called “Model Beings.”

These “beings” embody the perfect and complete form of what we, ourselves, are. They exist in our imagination’s ivory towers and we hold ourselves up against them to see where we stand in relation to perfection.

This idea is not at all new. Plato advocated the same thing with his forms, but rather than imagining perfect beings, he imagined perfect values. Nietzsche constructed a model being around power and domination with his Superman. And Jung’s archetypes are similar in that they are imagined entities representing parts of ourselves.

The difference is that the 7 model beings discovered in THEE represent the perfect version of each of the 7 Primal Quests. (For a blog about the quests, see here how The Beatles’ George Harrison manifested quite a few of them.) Suffice it to say, we’re all on a quest or two, from which we derive the purposes of our respective lives.

But in doing so, something must exist to guide us on our quest. That’s where Model Beings come in. And, as divinity is a part of the human imagination, this is the part of the Taxonomy where divinity shows up. It can seem a bit “out there.” Believe me, I get it. Purpose of Life? Divinity? Perfection? Even WK, THEE’s creator and foremost researcher, has expressed certain reservations, shall we say, about getting into things like divinity. It can be a contentious topic.

I tend to try and explain things I learn in THEE to my wife—she’s mildly interested, plus it helps me to get a fix on what I don’t understand. Consider this conversation:

Me: “Think about the creative quest, right? What’s the ultimate creator?”

Her: “An artist?”

Me: “No, not just art, creation of everything. You know, a creator.” (I’m laying it on pretty thick at this point.)

Her: (Getting slightly impatient.) I don’t know. What?

Me: “God. God created everything, God’s the ultimate creator? You know, ‘Let there be light' and all that.”

Her: (skeptical) “What?”

Me: “No, no it’s not that God necessarily exists out there in space or something, it’s that people on a creative quest see the ‘ultimate creator’ as a model being. It’s just to, like, compare yourself.”

Her: “And you’re on a creative quest, then.”

Me: “I think so, yes.”

Her: “So, you compare yourself to God?”

Me: (Trapped) “Oh dear.” Her: “I knew it!”

 The model being for those on a Salvation Quest is similarly fantastic. The classic example (at least in my culture) is Jesus:

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. –John 3:17

What better model for someone on a Salvation Quest—someone who’s sense of purpose comes from helping others, saving others—than Jesus Christ? In this case, the Model Being is labeled “World Saviors.”

There are 5 more Model Beings. Not all of them quite so divine, shall we say, but some of them even more so. For those of us on a Pleasure Quest or a Meaning Quest, we don’t have to look far for our Model Beings. They could be a celebrity or within our self. It is simply us… just better, which is perfect considering the framework within which these Model Beings can be found is called Your Better Self.

These figures, these Model Beings, have always existed via mankind. They are presented in mythic tales, stories around the campfire, moral platitudes, bedtime stories, films, literature, academia, thoughts, actions—everywhere you look. The rub is that they are different for everyone. Each individual has their own, nuanced take—which might explain the contention between religious groups, sects and denominations, even within the major religions.

 Clearly, this begs the question: What is your model being?