When I was in high school, we had this course about society. Pretty boring most of the time, since we had to learn who was in the government, what they did etc. But there was this one day which I’ll never forget in my whole life. That day we had a guest teacher. But not just any guest teacher. A former criminal, with a serious history of organized crime.
This person had something to tell. He told his story of how he became a criminal and that while he made tons of money, it wasn’t worth it in the end. Not because he got busted. But because his life just didn’t have any true meaning.
Now the big question was, what made him turn around his life? Because he not only gave up crime, he was putting in a big effort to stop others from becoming criminals. This question has fascinated me for a long time. And recently I learned the answer…
Bateson Model
The answer to why the criminal changed lies in personality levels. These were identified and put into a model by Bateson. There are six levels, which are divided into two groups. Spirituality, Identity and Values are in the upper group. These are less tangible levels than the other three, Knowledge, Behaviour and surroundings, which make up the bottom group.
Bateson Model
The idea behind the levels is that change in a level affects all the lower levels, but not the other way around. In other words, if you make a change in one level, the upper level is unchanged. And it will thus be hard to maintain that change. This is more easily explained through some examples.
Surroundings
Your surroundings are the things around you. This is the material world so to speak. A good example of your surroundings is your desk. If you have a cluttered desk and I am annoyed by it, I can clean it up for you. This changes your surroundings. But without any behavioral change, it is going to be messy within a short while again.
Behavior
The behavior you have basically constitutes your habits. You habitually make a messy desk, therefore your desk is always messy. If you can change your behaver, you automatically change your surroundings. If you become a neat person, your desk won’t be a mess.
Knowledge / Abilities
Your knowledge and abilities allow you to change your behavior. You can force yourself to clean your desk, which effects your surroundings. But if you were to know for a fact that a clean desk would lead to a more healthy life, you would be more inclined to change your behavior and thus your surroundings.
Values
This is the first level of the upper tier. The upper tier are less tangible levels than the lower tier and the first level is values. Your values present a very powerful way of changing your knowledge, behavior and surroundings. If one of your values is ‘freedom’ for example, this can lead you to pursue a career as an entrepreneur (knowledge), which in turn affects your behavior and your surroundings.
Identity
The level of identity is a bit harder to grasp. Identity is what makes you you. One thing which falls in this level and is a good example is religion (religion is NOT a spiritual level thing). Your religion may very well influence your values and thus in turn your knowledge, behavior and surroundings.
Spirituality
This level is the hardest to grasp. Spirituality is all about your life goals. This is where the example of the criminal comes back. The only way you can change everything about yourself, is if you have a spiritual epiphany. The other levels follow the change effortlessly. The criminal had a criminal identity, his values were money oriented, his knowledge allowed him to function in the criminal world, his behavior was of course criminal and he surrounded himself with other criminals.
After the spiritual epiphany he had, everything changed. He was no longer a criminal in identity, but someone trying to help other people. He no longer had the values of a criminal, but instead his values were to prevent others from straying to the criminal path. His knowledge expanded, to the degree where he knew how to help those people. His behavior changed dramatically and finally, his surroundings were completely different. Where he wasn’t allowed near schools as a criminal, schools now welcomed him as a guest teacher.
August 14th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Hi, glad to see something like this written for self improvement. I also believe that your surroundings play a very significant role in the decisions you make, such as peer pressure and third party influences. whatever it is, you really need to start somewhere if you want change to happen. great post, thanks.