Existential Attitude: Fear of enslavement
Instinctual Perception: Love/hate
Body association: Circulatory system
Living Question: “Who am I with?”
Reason: Analytical
Ego: Image
Instinct: Relation
Psychic Poison: Hatred
Super Form: Good
The Relation Instinct is our instinctual need to relate to our society in order to survive, which produces an emotional persona or ego; it is our relations with other human beings upon which our emotions depend.[3]
The Relation Instinct develops the Existential Attitude of the terror of enslavement, which is the origin of our lower existential anger and anxiety. The higher Existential Attitude becomes the search for a realized Consciousness, where we find the real morality of The Good that can transform the anger and anxiety of the lower Existential Attitude
The Relation Instinct triad, with the numbers 2, 3 and 4, is concerned with living in society, and is known as the Living Group. This Instinct cares about finding the Good Man and the higher moral, ethical person. Thus, the problems of the Relation Instinct are ethical.
Instinctual Perception[3]
The emotional Relation Instinct perceives its reality in terms of love or hate and, in general, emotional attachment or aversion.
Another is the relation instinct, and it is the expression of the circulatory system. Human beings are not capable of surviving alone in nature for the simple reason that they are without defense. They learn slowly[1]
The relation instinct asks the living question, 'who am I with?' We have to know who we are with, whether they are friendly or unfriendly. In human society this instinct has been refined to the extreme. The Unity that tells us how we are connected to other human beings is the interpretation of Dionysus.[1]
Our emotions are the outcome of how well we cover our relations with other people. The instinctual innate question of this Instinct is "Who am I with?" The answer to this question, "Am I with a friend or a foe?" triggers the primary emotions of love or hate.[2]
The living question of the relation instinct is manifested as analytical reason. It is essential for human relations. Without analysis, we cannot really have a thought. With analysis, we find that things are composed of elements. When we find the elements, we know what things are composed of, and we understand how things function. In the same way everyone wants to understand everyone else by making a constant analysis. Relations between human beings are this kind of struggle. The function of this reasoning is permanently analytical. For example, in our primitive life, man had to know which animals surrounding him were friends or enemies. We have the watchfulness of suspicion because we are poorly defended. Our security depends on our ability to recognize who we are secure with. We are not tigers; a tiger has no opponents. For humans, even a mosquito is an opponent and a serious one[1]
From analytical reason the image-ego emanates. We invent an image about ourselves, and we try to represent that image-ego in our relations with others. The ego of the image functions only for himself, and wants everything to function that way. This ego is tremendously preoccupied with what others think about him. He defends his image more than anything else"[1]
This emotional Center of Attention develops an ego interested in our human relations, how we appear to others and how others appear to us. This ego is known in the Arica Integral System as the "Image Ego" because it is always playing a social role, a 'persona' in accordance with our own image.[2]
The Relation Instinct is disrupted by the duo of idiotic gaiety (yang) and tricky delight (yin).[2]
This ego will become infected with the psychic poison of hatred, which may be interpreted as a sort of self-hatred for not being up to the standard of the perfect image. This poison then transforms into three separate poisons. The first is envy, which transforms the Image Ego into Ego-Flattery (Over-Independent), the second is hatred, becoming Ego-Go (Over-Efficient), and the third is Jealousy, becoming Ego-Melancholy (Over-Reasoner).[2]
The second triad, the Living Group, is based upon the Super Form of Man and the 'good life.' This triad has to be studied from the point of view of ethics or the Supreme Good, where point 2, Divine Will, is the action (proceeding); point 4, Divine Origin, is the reaction (returning); and point 3, Divine Harmony, is the result (sustaining).
The triad of the Living Group is the manifestation of the Super Form of the Good Man. The Good Man produces the 'good life' and the 'good life' promotes a Good Society. It is upon the Good Man that it is possible to make a Good Life, and we find that this consists of a virtuous life, for only in virtue is it possible to find The Good. Thus the triad of the Living Group, as a manifestation of the Super Form of the Good Man which is found in the virtuous life, is an ethical triad and, therefore, all three Divine Forms reflect profound ethical concepts that are to be found in the higher Illuminative Mind (Sphere 6), whose content is the Enneagram of the Integral Virtues.
The triad of the Living Group is composed of Divine Will (point 2), Divine Origin (point 4), and Divine Harmony (point 3). In the internal function of this triad, Divine Will (point 2) is the action point, Divine Origin (point 4) is the reaction point, and Divine Harmony (point 3) is the resulting point. The function of the triad is the Super Ethical Form of the Good Man. The triad of the Living Group has the three Divine Forms that are the basis of all ethical concepts. The Form of Divine Will, which is found only in Perfect Freedom, is the basic concept of the ethics of Kant and his 'doctrine of Practical Reason,' by which real will is found only in Perfect Freedom. It is only in this freedom where the 'will of God' can appear as a categorical imperative or a complete demand to be followed by the acceptance of a free consciousness. Thus, the Kantian concept of duty has to be taken and accepted freely. Therefore, Divine Will is the manifestation and the action (proceeding) of the Divine Form of the ethical force of the Good Man. Next, Divine Origin (point 4) is the reaction point that goes back to the authentic source of the ethical Good Man. Divine Harmony (point 3) is the resulting (sustaining) point of the triad, and it harmonizes Divine Will and the freedom of its manifestation with Divine Origin, the Source of all, which dictates its own Absolute Will as Creator. This becomes harmonized by the Form of Divine Harmony or Divine Law which produces the unity between the freedom of man and the necessity of Divine Providence.
As in the triad of the Divine Forms of the Living Group, in which the function is the Super Form of the Good Man, in the correlative Enneagram of the Fixations, the function is the Relation Instinct which deals with the interrelation and communication of a human society. As an Instinct, it is fundamental for our survival, since we obviously cannot survive without our society. The Instincts are directly influenced and conditioned by the Polar Preconception of finding a rejecting, wicked and deceitful world, which is then answered by the warlike and aggressive preconception of the Spiritual and Sexual Poles acting through the manifestation of force and vitality to conquer or attract this wicked world. The Polar Preconception manifests in the Relation Instinct as the Existential Attitude of being Angry and Anxious with the world. A person with this Existential Attitude appears to have a "chip on their shoulder," and they are ready to be disappointed and to react angrily, while living constantly in a state of anxiety provoked by projections toward other human beings. This Existential Attitude of the Living Group will trigger the manifestations of the fixated points with the consequent loss of the Divine Forms.
Integral Philosophy establishes that when a Divine Form is lost, all the Divine Forms are lost at the same time. Consequently, when a fixated point becomes established, the entire set of the Ego–Fixations becomes present and active, replacing the Divine Forms. More specifically, this movement happens three times, once in each triad, thereby forming the new triadic system of the Ego–Fixations or the Trifix. The anger and anxiety that are so clear during childhood and adolescence become in adult life a neurotic system that has, as a Defense Mechanism, Aggression by word or deed, and a constant attitude that "I know better." In this way the Existential Attitude blocks the Divine Form and produces the obscuration of the Form of Divine Will, which is the actual observance of Reality with its homogeneous Laws and forces, and instead the Divine Form is replaced by an attitude of independence, defiance and mistrust, in the form of the Ego–Fixation of the Independent (point 2). The Form of Divine Origin is replaced by the fixated Reasoner (point 4) who, instead of looking directly to the Divine Origin of all, rationalizes everything, finds superfluous causes, and in this way loses the view of the big picture; and finally, by the Existential Attitudes of Anger and Anxiety, the Form of Divine Harmony with its profound sense of justice and equality is lost. It is replaced by the Ego–Fixation of the Displayer (point 3) who, instead of looking for the harmony of the Laws, presents themself as the model and the law with their superior pretentiousness of facing the world, with the accompanying attitude of having a "chip on the shoulder" and a readiness against the constant wrongdoings of all humankind and society.