• The need to increase the distance between the Self and something.
• The opposite of attraction.
See also: Attraction

A painful emotion designed to bring attention to the quality of a past choice when facing undesired circumstances. This attention supports either recognizing one’s responsibility for the outcome (enabling better choices moving forward) or recognizing one’s lack of responsibility (preventing misplaced guilt).
[Note: When coupled with attachment to how things “should have been,” regret becomes a source of misery rather than a learning tool.]
See also: Attachment, Choice, Guilt, Misery, Pain, Shame, Suffering

An innate nervous system function enabling it to respond to specific stimuli without deliberation or involvement of consciousness.
See also: Habit

A man-made recipe for conduct without consequences for non-compliance.
See also: Rule

A mode of operating in which one’s conduct is determined by assessment of external pressures or demands, leading to choices driven by self-protecting or self-promoting intent.
[Note: In Buddhism, this is sometimes referred to as “acting from the brain.”]
See also: Activity, Choice, Intent

• The perceived gap between the real and the ideal.
• An attribute (of an object, process, or idea) that expresses the difference between its actual state and its ideal state.
[Note: Quality’s magnitude is inversely proportional to the gap’s size. When actual state falls short of ideal (negative gap), quality is low; when actual state meets or exceeds ideal (zero or positive gap), quality is high.]
See also: Expectation, Perfection

• The design behind the meaning of something.
• A designed causality (i.e., the sequence of cause-and-effect) associated with a specific event or sequence of events.
See also: Design, Meaning

A series of events governed by a single rule (or a single set of rules).
See also: Rule

A pleasant sensation that follows the recognition of one’s own valuable accomplishment.
[Note: Contrary to popular belief, pride (unlike arrogance) is not a sin; it is a healthy brain function — a reward, designed to encourage making valuable accomplishments moving forward.]
See also: Arrogance, Pleasure, Respect, Self-Respect, Self-Confidence

• The time period (of varying duration) in which one subjectively experiences one’s life taking place.
• The duration that a given state of mind lasts.
[Note: These definitions address the psychological Present. The Present in physics (Planck Time: 5.39 × 10⁻⁴⁴ seconds) is the duration separating Past from Future — too brief for any neurological or psychological event, thus irrelevant to conscious experience.]
See also: State of Mind