THE GUIDEBOOK

To understand and interpreting the meaning of the scores on the Result Forms that you receive after taking a profile, you will need the book entitled Developing Your Spiritual Potentials: The Religious and Christian Value Profiles, with a Guide for Interpretation and Improvement, authored by Rem B. Edwards, David Mefford, and Vera Mefford.
You may contact the authors of this book as follows:
Rem B. Edwards: Phone: 865-693-3635; e-mail: remb@utk.edu
David and Vera Mefford: Phone: 423-585-5890; e-mail: veraax@aol.com
This book tells you how to interpret the meaning of your results and provides you with important guidelines, exercises, and readings that can contribute significantly to your spiritual development.

Guidebook Summary

This book is designed to help all religious persons better understand and apply spiritual values in their own life.  It is not intended to cover all spiritual topics, but the insights you gain from the content should greatly benefit your overall quest to develop your spiritual potentials, to grow your own spiritual branches higher and your roots deeper.
    In addition to developing a clearer understanding of spiritual responsibility, we actually need to be spiritually responsible. This means putting our religious principles into practice.  Specific exercises and recommendations are provided for further spiritual development in all dimensions: conceptually, by increasing and improving your religious knowledge and understanding; practically, by putting your spiritual understanding into positive action; and intrinsically, by developing a closer and more intimate personal relationship with God and more love and compassion for your fellow human beings.
    People who have developed a firm faith, grounded in understanding, and rooted in daily practice, are generally much better at coping with adversity than those who have not.  Applying the teachings of your own religion in your daily life is most important, and this means much more than just attending churches or temples.  Also, religious teachings are of little value if they remain at the intellectual level and fail to penetrate the heart.
    Our sincere efforts to transform ourselves spiritually makes us genuine religious practitioners. Conversion alone will not make us better persons; we will not automatically become more informed, disciplined, compassionate, or warm-hearted.  We must concentrate on transforming ourselves spiritually through the practice of restraint, virtue, love, and compassion while remaining firmly committed to our faith.  Ultimately, our religion should facilitate and enhance our love, compassion, forgiveness, patience, and other moral and spiritual gifts.  If we neglect these, religion will be of little help to us.  Until we put our own spiritual teachings into practice, and this includes setting a good example, we will never taste abundant living.
    Time passes quickly, and we cannot turn back the clock and start over.  All we can do is use the present wisely and well. Then, when our final day on earth comes, we should be able to look back and see that we have lived full, productive, and meaningful lives.  We appeal to our readers to make the rest of their lives as meaningful as possible. Do this by engaging in spiritual practices sincerely and with persistence.  Then, with God’s help, your habits and attitudes toward inner peace, godliness, happiness, compassion, and kindness will be reordered and strengthened.
    Chapters 3 and 4 in Developing Your Spiritual Potentials contain exercises and meditations that will help you set working goals, actualize more of your spiritual potentials, and achieve better balance among the various dimensions of your spiritual life. You can further benefit from reading the relevant scriptures at the end of each section.  Chapter 5 is designed to help you recognize and distinguish varying degrees of evil more clearly, just as the preceding chapters help you better understand varying degrees of goodness and Godliness. This understanding will help you to avoid evil, and as you better grasp the meaning of evil, you will also become much more aware of spiritual goodness.
    Other chapters like Chapter 6, “Being and Becoming All That You Can Be Before God,” discusses how spiritual living is more abundant living. It gives broad guidance for setting, developing, and reinforcing your spiritual goals.
    Chapter 7 explains the value theory underlying the Profiles and gives the correct ordering of the religious value items on the Profiles.
    This book works well as a personal spiritual guidebook, but is also highly recommended for use in religious classes, adult or teenage Sunday school meetings or retreats, and spiritual group discussions of any kind.

The book costs $20.00 plus shipping. You may order this book in either of two ways:
(1) from either of the authors by sending a check for $22.50, which includes shipping, to either:

Dr. Rem B. Edwards
8709 Longmeade Drive
Knoxville, TN 37923

or to

Dr. David Mefford
2620 Old Highway 25-E
Morristown, TN 37814

OR ELSE

(2) from its publisher, Xlibris press, at: http://xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=28631

(You are likely to get faster service by ordering from one of the authors.)

To better inform you about the contents of this book, here is its Table of Contents. Don't be disturbed by the seeming complexity of the contents of Chapter 1;  those headings just tell you exactly where to go to match your Result Forms with the more detailed analysis given in that chapter.


CONTENTS
Preface ....................................................13
Steps To Take In Using This Guide...........................15
CHAPTER ONE: The Profiles And Result Forms .................19
I. The Profiles ............................................19
The Christian Value Profile, Part I ........................21
The Christian Value Profile, Part II .......................23
Religious Value Profile, Part I ............................25
Religious Value Profile, Part II ...........................27
II. The Result Forms .......................................29
CHAPTER TWO: The Profiles and What They Mean ...............35
A. Three Dimensions of Value and Valuation .................36
(1) Three Kinds of Valuable Things or
Value Objects (What We Value) ..............................36
(2) Three Kinds of Valuation (How We Value) ................38
Part I: Social or External Religious or
Christian Values ...........................................39
1. Social Religious/Christian Values
Judgment Capacity, (Dif1),
Result Form 1, Line 1 ......................................39
2. Devotional Focus, (Dim-I1),
Result Form 1, Line 2 ......................................42
3. Intrinsic Orientation, (Dim-I1%),
Result Form 1, Line 3 ......................................44
4. Practical Focus, (Dim-E1),
Result Form 1, Line 4 ......................................46
5. Extrinsic Orientation, (Dim-E1%),
Result Form 1, Line 5 ......................................48
6. Conceptual Focus, (Dim-S1),
Result Form 1, Line 6 ......................................51
7. Systemic Orientation, (Dim-S1%),
Result Form 1, Line 7 ......................................53
8. Dimensional Harmony, (Dim1),
Result Form 1, Line 8 ......................................56
9. Stress /Tension (Dim1%)
Result Form 1, Line 9 ......................................59
10. Spiritual Clarity, (Dis1),
Result Form 1, Line 10 .....................................61
11. Spiritual Balance, (Dif1%),
Result Form 1, Line 11 .....................................64
Part II: Personal (Internal) Religious/Christian Values,
Result Form 2 ..............................................66
1. Personal Religious/Christian Values
Judgment Capacity, (Dif2),
Result Form 2, Line 1 ......................................67
2. Being/feeling Focus, (Dim-I2),
Result Form 2, Line 2 ......................................70
3. Intrinsic Involvement, (Dim-I2%),
Result Form 2, Line 3 ......................................72
4. Doing/acting Focus, (Dim-E2),
Result Form 2, Line 4 ......................................75
5. Extrinsic Involvement, (Dim-E2%),
Result Form 2, Line 5 ......................................77
6. Thinking Focus, (Dim-S2),
Result Form 2, Line 6 ......................................80
7. Systemic Involvement, (Dim-S2%),
Result Form 2, Line 7 ......................................82
8. Dimensional Harmony, (Dim2),
Result Form 2, Line 8 ......................................85
9. Stress/Tension (Dim2%),
Result Form 2, Line 9 ......................................87
10. Spiritual Clarity, (Dis2),
Result Form 2, Line 10 .....................................90
11. Spiritual Balance, (Dif2%),
Result Form 2, Line 11 .....................................93
Part III: Combined Values, Result Form 3 ...................95
1. Social/Personal Religious and/or
Christian Values, (Dif1 / Dif2),
Result Form 3, Line 1 ......................................96
2. Intrinsic Harmony (Dim-I1 / Dim-I2),
Result Form 3, Line 2 ......................................99
3. Extrinsic Harmony, (Dim-E1 / Dim-E2),
Result Form 3, Line 3 .................................... 101
4. Systemic Harmony, (Dim-S1 / Dim-S2),
Result Form 3, Line 4 .................................... 104
CHAPTER THREE: For Your Further Spiritual Growth and
Development, Part I .......................................107
I. Exercises for Part I, Compositions .....................111
1. Devotional Triad .......................................111
Overvaluation ............................................ 111
Undervaluation ........................................... 112
General Religious Exercises .............................. 113
Christian Exercises ...................................... 118
2. Practical Triad ....................................... 124
Overvaluation ............................................ 125
Undervaluation ........................................... 126
General Religious Exercises .............................. 127
Christian Exercises ...................................... 130
3. Conceptual Triad ...................................... 134
Overvaluation ............................................ 134
Undervaluation ........................................... 135
General Religious Exercises .............................. 136
Christian Exercises ...................................... 142
CHAPTER FOUR: For Your Further Spiritual Growth and
Development, Part ........................................ 147
Exercises for Part II, Compositions ...................... 147
1. Being/Feeling Triad ................................... 147
Overvaluation ............................................ 148
Undervaluation ........................................... 149
General Religious Exercises .............................. 150
Christian Exercises ...................................... 154
2. Doing/Acting Triad .................................... 162
Overvaluation ............................................ 162
Undervaluation ........................................... 164
General Religious Exercises .............................. 165
Christian Exercises ...................................... 168
3. Thinking/Believing Triad .............................. 172
Overvaluation ............................................ 172
Undervaluation ........................................... 173
General Religious Exercises .............................. 175
Christian Exercises ...................................... 179
CHAPTER FIVE: Negative Values: Overvaluation and
Undervaluation .......................................... 185
I. CVP and RVP Part I, Transpositions
(Negative Value Combinations) ............................ 185
1. Negative Devotional Triad
(Social Intrinsic) ....................................... 187
Overvaluation ............................................ 188
Undervaluation ........................................... 189
Social Intrinsic Evils ................................... 190
2. Negative Practical Triad
(Social Extrinsic) ....................................... 193
Overvaluation ............................................ 194
Undervaluation ........................................... 194
Social Extrinsic Evils ................................... 195
3. Negative Conceptual Triad
(Social Systemic) ........................................ 197
Overvaluation ............................................ 198
Undervaluation ........................................... 198
Social Systemic Evils .................................... 199
II. RVP and CVP Part II, Transpositions
(Negative Value Combinations) ............................ 202
1. Negative Being/Feeling Triad
(Personal Intrinsic) ..................................... 202
Overvaluation ............................................ 203
Undervaluation ........................................... 203
Personal Intrinsic Evils ................................. 204
2. Negative Doing/Acting Triad
(Personal Extrinsic) ..................................... 207
Overvaluation ............................................ 208
Undervaluation ........................................... 209
Personal Extrinsic Evils ................................. 209
3. Negative Thinking/Believing Triad
(Personal Systemic) ...................................... 212
Overvaluation ............................................ 213
Undervaluation ........................................... 213
Personal Systemic Evils .................................. 214
CHAPTER SIX: Being and Becoming All that
We Can Be Before God ..................................... 217
I. A Believable Concept of “All that We
Can Be Before God” ....................................... 218
A. Some Help from Hartman’s Theory of Value .............. 220
II. Achieving Three-Dimensional Self-Development.......... 227
A. Our Systemic Selves ................................... 227
I. Systemic Value Objects ................................ 227
II. Systemic Valuation ................................... 230
B. Our Extrinsic Selves .................................. 231
I. Extrinsic Value Objects ............................... 231
II. Extrinsic Valuation .................................. 235
C. Our Intrinsic Selves .................................. 240
I. Intrinsic Value Objects ............................... 240
II. Intrinsic Valuation .................................. 241
III. Hartman’s Own “How to Develop Our Self ” ............ 249
CHAPTER SEVEN: The Structure of the Religious and
Christian Value Profiles.................................. 261
I. A Bit of Value Theory.................................. 262
1. Three Kinds of Valuable Things or
Value Objects (What We Value) ............................ 262
2. Three Kinds of Valuation
(How We Value) ........................................... 263
3. The Hierarchy of Value ................................ 264
II. The Composition and
Structure of the Profiles ................................ 265
1. Ordering the Profile Items ............................ 267
The CVP, Part I .......................................... 269
The CVP, Part I .......................................... 270
The RVP, Part I .......................................... 272
The RVP, Part II ......................................... 274
III. Axiologically Structured Selfhood ................... 276
1. The Systemic Self ..................................... 276
2. The Extrinsic Self .................................... 277
3. The Intrinsic Self .................................... 278
IV. Axiological Stages of Religious Development .......... 281
Endnotes ................................................. 289
About The Authors ........................................ 295