FREE PRE-PUBLICATION COPY + LUNCH (in Downtown LA) TO 4 PEOPLE who comment after taking the test and commit to taking it again after reading LOVOLUTION (47,000 words) by March 1, 2020.
For the test Click Here: http://memoirandutopia.weebly.com/blog
Unless an established publisher grabs it I will self-publish LOVOLUTION in 2020. However, I need some help checking the validity and value of one element. LOVOLUTION includes the Levels of Love, a schema to help determine if your love relationship is real, and I'm asking folks test it, to try it out and send me results via comments on this page.
LOVOLUTION, Jesse Rhines, PhD
(500 word sample)
My eye began twitching like crazy now and the taste of cigarettes made me gag. Suddenly the lights blinked on and off and circles of luminous red, orange, yellow began to pop up before me. I grabbed my neck. I was hyperventilating. I needed air. I ran to the escalator. It was packed with lunchtime browsers moving up toward me. "Where's the down?" I think I screamed, and then I bolted down the up escalator, weaving between the bodies that stubbornly refused to give me room. I heard screams. I saw heads turn in my direction. I had to get out. I had to get out! I bounded the last few steps and spun round looking for the door. There was no air in my lungs and my whole face seemed to be bobbing up and down. "Police!" someone yelled. I saw an exit across the room. I ran for it and other legs ran behind me. I heard the crackle of walkie-talkies. I reached the door and pushed through it only to be pulled back by a dozen hands. In frenzy I fought. I fought them all. I leapt to my feet and pushed my way out. The double doors flew before me and the outside air smelled of the hamburger joint across the mall. It had replaced our coffee shop. My eyes burned as I sprang from the doors to be caught by what seemed to be a meandering rock group. I pushed through them as their mouths hung agape in surprise and indignation. And then the group grabbed me. I screamed. I fought them. I fought them hard, but they handled me in a way I'd never have expected mere musicians could. My arms flew every which way for a time but as I began to see the tops of shoes grow ever closer I realized that my thousands of punches had gone unreturned. These were punks! Yet before I knew it I felt the warm cement rub roughly against my cheek. It had the texture of hard, round, pointy goose bumps as my mouth drew into a distorted grimace, twisted and emitted both saliva and a hideous sound. The taste of blood was hushed by sensations of pain. Then, a thump upon my back and I felt my chest and abdomen squeezed so that I could feel the cement goose bumps even through my clothes.
They held me, flat, face to the ground, but stood blocking the onrushing rental police who reached out for me. One bum sat atop me. He was overweight, heavy and the stench from his apparently long unwashed body was like ammonia. It brought me back to the world. Their poses were martial and expert compared to the rental police. It was then that I saw the colors and patches of Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq wars emblazoned on their clothes. War vets! Still down on their luck after all these years. They'd saved me. They'd protected me. These were my heroes.
THE LEVELS OF LOVE
At Level One, Love Simmers, if it exists at all. Unconscious of the meaning of its surroundings an infant is biological mass with only pain, hunger, discomfort for emotion. Unrecognizing a parent, an object. Watchword: Unconscious
The child enters Level Two where Devotion sniffs the air. Fraternal feelings develop as nurture is recognized. We’re “used to” some people and things. Good times, together, often. Watchword: Fraternal
By and by recognition of self places others at arm’s length. Level Three finds one One-sided, selfish, often Obsessive. Fooling one’s self, the “I am the top self” makes one unknowingly Vulnera- ble to others’ wrath. Watchword: Selfish
At Level Four we are chastened and we begin to build bridges as the capacity for true love emerges. Longing becomes conscious. A bridge level of mutuality where Two people link across all the world’s dangers below. Watchword: Mutuality
Analysis haunts Level Five as horizons expand. Forced to question ourselves and those “others” Mistakes and insecurity threaten to ruin everything. This is the birth of introspection and self-critique. Watchword: Analysis
A Level Six seems to have skipped Level Five. One abjures the painful bits of the past and, rather, gives greater power of Level Two. The watchwords are Daddy’s Child. Self-centered. Acquisi- tive. Watchword: Self-Centered
At Level Seven, imagine two Level Sixes in loving embrace as hallmark. Mutual competition based in eternal one-upmanship. Competition as each vies for dominance. One is supremely, likely over, confident. Watchword: Competitive
Level Eight introduces the vagaries of fashion to love. What will garner attention now! What kind of love is in vogue or will cau- se greater commotion? Love is utilitarian, style, of the Moment. Vogue, all ego. Watchword: Fashion
Love at Level Nine is insular, jealous and fears outsiders. Love here stereotypes, excludes, defends to the point of offense and yet is, perhaps paradoxically, lasting. Watchword: Jealous
A person at Level Ten is shy and requires great care and reassurance. Unsure such that resistance to change and external in- fluence is endemic. Watchword: Shy
Asperger’s Syndrome and mental or emotional insight lives at Level Eleven where logic can reign to the extreme. Rationality and abstraction tussle with each other or stand rigidly to either side. Strangeness and security-in-strangeness via immersion. Watchword: Logical
Level Twelve reveals a field of stars where all things are pos- sible and at least attempted. Love lacks depth and is thinly spread even when long lasting. Omnivorous, one samples. Not quite warm, love is tepid. Watchword: Tepid
LEVELS OF LOVE TEST
Are you two compatible now? At a particular past time? Can you predict success?
Pre-reading game: Rate yourself and a lover accor- ding to the Levels of Love. More forms are at the end so you can Rate again after reading to see if you’ve learned to apply the Levels of Love. Add columns/rows as desired to track more personality traits. Four indices are indicated because I believe that too great a distance on four areas of major interest is enough to determine relationship viability.
LEVELS OF LOVE TEST INSTRUCTIONS
The most important thing for Levels of Love to be of value is that the “You” filing out the graph be introspective and honest in that introspection about his/her self and honest in evaluating the partner reviewed. One is also advised to break down indices ob- served into component parts. “Character,” for example, might de- volve to three components: honesty, trustworthiness and bravery.
Practice evaluating persons with celebrities’ well-known emotional situations before attempting analysis of your own rela- tionships: Bill and Hilary Clinton, The Sopranos couple, Oprah and Stedman, your parents, you and each sibling.
While astrology is objective and heralds personality over a life time, Levels of Love are subjective and posit personality traits for a single specific time. In both taxonomies, however, an individ- ual can, through great will power, change the everyday manifesta- tion of a trait. Such that a person whose astrological chart “natu- rally” leads to lascivious behavior might find god and give such be- havior up. A Level of Love taxonomy may indicate a person’s dis- trust of modern medicine in favor of supplements and natural prod- ucts but an unexpected bout of appendicitis might reverse such sentiment.
WARNING: Couples should take this test separately, not together. Remember, the LEVELS OF LOVE is a subjective, per- sonal, individual evaluation of a relationship. It is highly unlikely that any other person will agree with your evaluation. Each individ- ual must select INDEX items personally viewed as important in the relationship. DO NOT LIMIT SELECTION TO THOSE SHOWN HERE.
1. Identify your loved one
2. Select indices to measure (things you like or dislike)
3. Apply Levels to each index item
EXAMPLES
(Input your own ideas for the Obamas )
Unless an established publisher grabs it I will self-publish LOVOLUTION in 2020. However, I need some help checking the validity and value of one element. LOVOLUTION includes the Levels of Love, a schema to help determine if your love relationship is real, and I'm asking folks test it, to try it out and send me results via comments on this page.
LOVOLUTION, Jesse Rhines, PhD
(500 word sample)
My eye began twitching like crazy now and the taste of cigarettes made me gag. Suddenly the lights blinked on and off and circles of luminous red, orange, yellow began to pop up before me. I grabbed my neck. I was hyperventilating. I needed air. I ran to the escalator. It was packed with lunchtime browsers moving up toward me. "Where's the down?" I think I screamed, and then I bolted down the up escalator, weaving between the bodies that stubbornly refused to give me room. I heard screams. I saw heads turn in my direction. I had to get out. I had to get out! I bounded the last few steps and spun round looking for the door. There was no air in my lungs and my whole face seemed to be bobbing up and down. "Police!" someone yelled. I saw an exit across the room. I ran for it and other legs ran behind me. I heard the crackle of walkie-talkies. I reached the door and pushed through it only to be pulled back by a dozen hands. In frenzy I fought. I fought them all. I leapt to my feet and pushed my way out. The double doors flew before me and the outside air smelled of the hamburger joint across the mall. It had replaced our coffee shop. My eyes burned as I sprang from the doors to be caught by what seemed to be a meandering rock group. I pushed through them as their mouths hung agape in surprise and indignation. And then the group grabbed me. I screamed. I fought them. I fought them hard, but they handled me in a way I'd never have expected mere musicians could. My arms flew every which way for a time but as I began to see the tops of shoes grow ever closer I realized that my thousands of punches had gone unreturned. These were punks! Yet before I knew it I felt the warm cement rub roughly against my cheek. It had the texture of hard, round, pointy goose bumps as my mouth drew into a distorted grimace, twisted and emitted both saliva and a hideous sound. The taste of blood was hushed by sensations of pain. Then, a thump upon my back and I felt my chest and abdomen squeezed so that I could feel the cement goose bumps even through my clothes.
They held me, flat, face to the ground, but stood blocking the onrushing rental police who reached out for me. One bum sat atop me. He was overweight, heavy and the stench from his apparently long unwashed body was like ammonia. It brought me back to the world. Their poses were martial and expert compared to the rental police. It was then that I saw the colors and patches of Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq wars emblazoned on their clothes. War vets! Still down on their luck after all these years. They'd saved me. They'd protected me. These were my heroes.
THE LEVELS OF LOVE
At Level One, Love Simmers, if it exists at all. Unconscious of the meaning of its surroundings an infant is biological mass with only pain, hunger, discomfort for emotion. Unrecognizing a parent, an object. Watchword: Unconscious
The child enters Level Two where Devotion sniffs the air. Fraternal feelings develop as nurture is recognized. We’re “used to” some people and things. Good times, together, often. Watchword: Fraternal
By and by recognition of self places others at arm’s length. Level Three finds one One-sided, selfish, often Obsessive. Fooling one’s self, the “I am the top self” makes one unknowingly Vulnera- ble to others’ wrath. Watchword: Selfish
At Level Four we are chastened and we begin to build bridges as the capacity for true love emerges. Longing becomes conscious. A bridge level of mutuality where Two people link across all the world’s dangers below. Watchword: Mutuality
Analysis haunts Level Five as horizons expand. Forced to question ourselves and those “others” Mistakes and insecurity threaten to ruin everything. This is the birth of introspection and self-critique. Watchword: Analysis
A Level Six seems to have skipped Level Five. One abjures the painful bits of the past and, rather, gives greater power of Level Two. The watchwords are Daddy’s Child. Self-centered. Acquisi- tive. Watchword: Self-Centered
At Level Seven, imagine two Level Sixes in loving embrace as hallmark. Mutual competition based in eternal one-upmanship. Competition as each vies for dominance. One is supremely, likely over, confident. Watchword: Competitive
Level Eight introduces the vagaries of fashion to love. What will garner attention now! What kind of love is in vogue or will cau- se greater commotion? Love is utilitarian, style, of the Moment. Vogue, all ego. Watchword: Fashion
Love at Level Nine is insular, jealous and fears outsiders. Love here stereotypes, excludes, defends to the point of offense and yet is, perhaps paradoxically, lasting. Watchword: Jealous
A person at Level Ten is shy and requires great care and reassurance. Unsure such that resistance to change and external in- fluence is endemic. Watchword: Shy
Asperger’s Syndrome and mental or emotional insight lives at Level Eleven where logic can reign to the extreme. Rationality and abstraction tussle with each other or stand rigidly to either side. Strangeness and security-in-strangeness via immersion. Watchword: Logical
Level Twelve reveals a field of stars where all things are pos- sible and at least attempted. Love lacks depth and is thinly spread even when long lasting. Omnivorous, one samples. Not quite warm, love is tepid. Watchword: Tepid
LEVELS OF LOVE TEST
Are you two compatible now? At a particular past time? Can you predict success?
Pre-reading game: Rate yourself and a lover accor- ding to the Levels of Love. More forms are at the end so you can Rate again after reading to see if you’ve learned to apply the Levels of Love. Add columns/rows as desired to track more personality traits. Four indices are indicated because I believe that too great a distance on four areas of major interest is enough to determine relationship viability.
LEVELS OF LOVE TEST INSTRUCTIONS
The most important thing for Levels of Love to be of value is that the “You” filing out the graph be introspective and honest in that introspection about his/her self and honest in evaluating the partner reviewed. One is also advised to break down indices ob- served into component parts. “Character,” for example, might de- volve to three components: honesty, trustworthiness and bravery.
Practice evaluating persons with celebrities’ well-known emotional situations before attempting analysis of your own rela- tionships: Bill and Hilary Clinton, The Sopranos couple, Oprah and Stedman, your parents, you and each sibling.
While astrology is objective and heralds personality over a life time, Levels of Love are subjective and posit personality traits for a single specific time. In both taxonomies, however, an individ- ual can, through great will power, change the everyday manifesta- tion of a trait. Such that a person whose astrological chart “natu- rally” leads to lascivious behavior might find god and give such be- havior up. A Level of Love taxonomy may indicate a person’s dis- trust of modern medicine in favor of supplements and natural prod- ucts but an unexpected bout of appendicitis might reverse such sentiment.
WARNING: Couples should take this test separately, not together. Remember, the LEVELS OF LOVE is a subjective, per- sonal, individual evaluation of a relationship. It is highly unlikely that any other person will agree with your evaluation. Each individ- ual must select INDEX items personally viewed as important in the relationship. DO NOT LIMIT SELECTION TO THOSE SHOWN HERE.
1. Identify your loved one
2. Select indices to measure (things you like or dislike)
3. Apply Levels to each index item
EXAMPLES
(Input your own ideas for the Obamas )