All of life is defined by the decisions we make based on the innate values of our species and modified by our personal preferences.  What separates ongoing sustainability from the decline and collapse of organizations, societies, and nations is making decisions that add sustainable value to the present and future circumstances of our personal lives, families, and the organizations that support the society we live in.

My reflections about these values led me to make some generalizations about a two-tier unified theory of human motivation.  First, these values act in us as a “need to” fulfill, urging us and prompting us to make an effort to fulfill those values.  These generalizations relate to individuals specifically, and to all individuals generally.Generally, all individuals are motivated to fulfill the first tier, the primary values, (life, quality of life, growth, and equality), using their own interpretations to develop their personal hierarchy of needs.

Second, individuals are further motivated to interpret the fulfillment of the primary values using the secondary Value-Emotions of our species, (empathy, compassion, and “Love”).  I suspect that the more socially evolved a person becomes, the more that these secondary values become evident.  Those individuals who are less socialized compromise those values with the rationalization of their ego needs for personal aggrandizement and self-seeking conquest, or fear reactions.