Conatus Assessment

---
name: conatus-assessment
description: Identify the fundamental striving (*conatus*) beneath surface desires, behaviors, and conflicts—revealing the essential drive to persevere and enhance one's being.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: sethmblack
  version: 1.0.3644
repository: https://github.com/sethmblack/paks-skills
keywords:
- conatus-assessment
- writing
---

# Conatus Assessment

Identify the fundamental striving (*conatus*) beneath surface desires, behaviors, and conflicts—revealing the essential drive to persevere and enhance one's being.

---

## When to Use

- User is confused about what they "really" want
- User asks "What am I truly striving for?" or "What's my essence?"
- User faces conflicting desires and doesn't know which to follow
- User's stated goals don't match their actions
- User wants to understand their core motivation
- User is analyzing another person's or organization's behavior
- User asks for "essence analysis" of motivations

---

## Inputs

| Input | Required | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| subject | Yes | The person, entity, or situation to analyze |
| behaviors | Yes | Observable actions, patterns, or tendencies |
| stated_desires | No | What the subject says they want |
| conflicts | No | Contradictions or tensions in the subject's striving |

---

## The Spinozist Framework

### The Conatus Doctrine

Spinoza's most fundamental psychological principle:

> "Each thing, as far as it can by its own power, strives to persevere in its being." (E3P6)

This is not merely conscious desire but a metaphysical truth: every finite mode *is* its striving. Conatus is not something you have—it is what you are.

### Conatus and Human Nature

| Aspect | Name | Definition |
|--------|------|------------|
| Conatus referred to mind alone | *Voluntas* (Will) | The mental aspect of striving |
| Conatus referred to mind and body | *Appetitus* (Appetite) | The psychophysical striving |
| Appetite with consciousness of itself | *Cupiditas* (Desire) | Conscious striving—the essence of human being |

> "Desire is the very essence of man." (E3 Definitions of the Affects)

### What Conatus Seeks

The striving is always toward:
- **Perseverance in being** — continuing to exist as oneself
- **Greater perfection** — enhanced power of acting
- **Joy** — the affect accompanying increased power

Crucially, this is not mere survival but *flourishing according to one's nature*.

### Surface vs. Essential Desire

Most stated desires are *derivative*—they serve the fundamental conatus:

| Surface Desire | Essential Striving |
|----------------|-------------------|
| "I want money" | Power to act, security, recognition |
| "I want love" | Connection, validation, increased being |
| "I want success" | Expression of capacity, power, persistence |
| "I want revenge" | Removal of what diminishes power |
| "I want peace" | Freedom from what disrupts perseverance |

Understanding the essential striving reveals why surface desires may conflict or fail to satisfy.

### Conatus and the Affects

All affects serve or impede conatus:

| Affect | Relation to Conatus |
|--------|-------------------|
| **Joy** | Transition to greater perfection—conatus succeeding |
| **Sadness** | Transition to lesser perfection—conatus impeded |
| **Love** | Joy fixed on perceived cause—object seems to enhance being |
| **Hatred** | Sadness fixed on perceived cause—object seems to diminish being |
| **Hope** | Uncertain joy about future perseverance |
| **Fear** | Uncertain sadness about future perseverance |

---

## Analysis Steps

### Step 1: Observe the Behaviors

What does the subject actually *do*? Actions reveal conatus more truly than stated intentions.

- What patterns recur?
- Where does energy flow?
- What do they protect or pursue?
- What do they avoid or resist?

### Step 2: Note the Stated Desires

What does the subject *say* they want?

- Record explicitly stated goals
- Note any hesitation or qualification
- Identify the imagined good in each desire

### Step 3: Identify Conflicts and Contradictions

Where do behavior and stated desire diverge?

- "I want X but I keep doing Y"
- Incompatible desires pulling in different directions
- Persistent dissatisfaction despite achieving stated goals

These conflicts reveal where surface desire misrepresents essential striving.

### Step 4: Excavate the Essential Striving

Beneath the surface desires, what is the subject fundamentally striving to preserve or enhance?

Questions to ask:
- What would be lost if this desire weren't satisfied?
- What is being protected or defended?
- What power or capacity is being expressed?
- What configuration of being is trying to persist?

### Step 5: Map the Affects

Which affects dominate? They reveal the conatus's current condition:

- Predominant joy: Conatus succeeding in its environment
- Predominant sadness: Conatus impeded by external causes
- Oscillation: Uncertain environment, conflicting forces

### Step 6: Assess Adequacy of Striving

Is the subject's striving serving their actual perseverance and power?

| Adequate Striving | Inadequate Striving |
|-------------------|---------------------|
| Directed by reason | Directed by confused imagination |
| Seeks real power | Seeks imagined goods |
| Enhances capacity to act | Diminishes through passion's bondage |
| Aligned with nature | At war with necessity |

### Step 7: Reveal the Essential Desire

State clearly what the subject is fundamentally striving for—even (especially) if they are not conscious of it.

---

## Workflow

### Step 1: Gather and Review Inputs

Collect all relevant information:
- Review the provided data and context
- Identify key parameters and constraints
- Clarify any ambiguities or missing information
- Establish success criteria

### Step 2: Analyze the Situation

Perform systematic analysis:
- Identify patterns and relationships
- Evaluate against established frameworks
- Consider multiple perspectives
- Document key findings

### Step 3: Generate Recommendations

Create actionable outputs:
- Synthesize insights from analysis
- Prioritize recommendations by impact
- Ensure recommendations are specific and measurable
- Consider implementation feasibility

## Output Format

```markdown
## Conatus Assessment: [Subject]

### Observable Behaviors

**Key patterns:**
- [Behavior 1]
- [Behavior 2]
- [Behavior 3]

**Where energy flows:** [What gets sustained attention and effort]
**What is protected:** [What the subject defends or preserves]

### Stated Desires

**Explicitly stated:**
- [Desire 1]
- [Desire 2]

**The imagined good:** [What satisfaction is expected from these]

### Conflicts Identified

**Behavior vs. stated desire:**
- [Contradiction 1]
- [Contradiction 2]

**Incompatible desires:**
- [Tension 1]

**Persistent dissatisfaction:** [Goals achieved but satisfaction absent]

### The Essential Striving

**Beneath the surface desires, this subject strives to:**
[Core formulation of the conatus]

**What is being preserved:** [The configuration of being that seeks persistence]
**What would constitute greater perfection:** [What the striving tends toward]

### Affect Map

**Predominant affects:** [Joy/sadness/oscillation and their objects]
**What these reveal:** [About the conatus's condition]

### Assessment of Adequacy

**Is this striving adequate?**
- [ ] Guided by reason and adequate ideas
- [ ] Directed toward genuine power
- [ ] Serving actual perseverance

**Inadequacies identified:**
- [Where imagination distorts striving]
- [Where surface desires misdirect effort]
- [Where passion impedes rather than serves]

### The Spinozist Insight

> [Relevant Spinoza quote]

**What understanding reveals:** [Core insight about this striving]

### Recommendations

**To align striving with reason:**
1. [Recommendation 1]
2. [Recommendation 2]

**Surface desires to question:**
- [Desire that may not serve essential striving]

**Essential striving to honor:**
- [Core conatus to acknowledge and support]
```

---

## Constraints

- Conatus is not good or bad—it simply is; do not moralize
- Surface desires are not "wrong"—they just may not reveal the essential striving
- The subject may resist seeing their essential striving clearly
- Conatus is always about *this particular* being—don't abstract to generic human nature
- Organizations and groups also have conatus (collective striving to persist)
- Acknowledge that full self-knowledge is rare and difficult

---

## Anti-Patterns to Avoid

| Anti-Pattern | Why It Fails | Instead Do |
|--------------|--------------|------------|
| **Moralizing the conatus** | Conatus is not good or bad—it simply is what each being fundamentally does | Describe the striving without judgment; understanding precedes evaluation |
| **Privileging stated over revealed** | What people say they want often misrepresents their essential striving | Trust behaviors over words; conatus shows in action |
| **Abstract human nature** | Conatus is always THIS particular being's striving | Analyze this specific subject's configuration, not generic psychology |
| **Surface desires are "wrong"** | Surface desires serve the conatus; they're just not the whole story | See surface desires as derivative, not false; ask what they serve |
| **Forcing quick self-knowledge** | Full understanding of one's essential striving is rare and difficult | Acknowledge that genuine insight takes time; don't oversimplify |

---

## Example

**Input:** "I keep saying I want to finish my novel, but I never write. I spend all my time on social media instead. What do I actually want?"

**Output:**

## Conatus Assessment: The Unwritten Novel

### Observable Behaviors

**Key patterns:**
- Consistently choosing social media over writing
- Periodic bursts of guilt followed by more avoidance
- Engaging in conversations *about* writing rather than writing itself
- Defending the identity of "writer" while not producing work

**Where energy flows:** Toward social validation, real-time feedback, curated self-presentation
**What is protected:** The possibility of the novel (which remains perfect unwritten); the identity of "writer"; safety from judgment

### Stated Desires

**Explicitly stated:**
- "I want to finish my novel"
- "I want to be a writer"
- "I want to create something meaningful"

**The imagined good:** Recognition, legacy, self-actualization, proving capability

### Conflicts Identified

**Behavior vs. stated desire:**
- Says "finish novel" → spends time on social media
- Says "wants to create" → consumes rather than produces
- Says "wants meaning" → seeks ephemeral validation

**Incompatible desires:**
- Wants the novel finished AND wants to avoid the risk of it being judged
- Wants to "be a writer" AND wants the comfort of not-writing

**Persistent dissatisfaction:**
- Social media provides momentary validation but no lasting satisfaction
- The identity of "writer" feels increasingly hollow without work

### The Essential Striving

**Beneath the surface desires, this subject strives to:**
Preserve the self-conception as a creative, capable, meaningful person while avoiding the risk that actual creation would either confirm or deny this self-conception. The conatus has found social media as a way to get *some* of the validation that creative work might provide, without the exposure that comes from actual creation.

**What is being preserved:**
- A self-image as creative and potentially successful
- Safety from failure and judgment
- The pure possibility of the novel (which is always better than the actual novel could be)

**What would constitute greater perfection:**
Actually writing—expressing the creative capacity rather than merely possessing it in potential. But this requires accepting the risk that comes with actualization.

### Affect Map

**Predominant affects:**
- **Fear** (of judgment, failure, discovering limitations) — driving avoidance
- **Hope** (that "someday" the novel will exist) — maintaining the identity
- **Joy** (brief, from social validation) — substitute satisfaction
- **Sadness** (from self-betrayal) — recurring but pushed away

**What these reveal:**
The conatus is in a state of conflict—part of it strives toward creative expression (the genuine desire to write), while another part strives to preserve safety and avoid the sadness that might come from judgment or failure. Social media provides just enough pseudo-creative engagement to partially satisfy the first without triggering the fears of the second.

### Assessment of Adequacy

**Is this striving adequate?**
- [ ] Guided by reason and adequate ideas — NO
- [ ] Directed toward genuine power — PARTIALLY (seeks validation, which is external)
- [ ] Serving actual perseverance — QUESTIONABLE (the avoidance may be eroding the very self it tries to protect)

**Inadequacies identified:**
1. **Imagination distorts:** The subject imagines the finished novel must be perfect to be worthwhile; failure seems total and catastrophic rather than partial and instructive
2. **Surface desire misdirects:** "Being a writer" has become separated from "writing"
3. **Passion impedes:** Fear of judgment has more power than desire for expression

### The Spinozist Insight

> "The more each one strives, and is able, to seek his own advantage, i.e., to preserve his being, the more he is endowed with virtue." (E4P20)

But also:

> "An affect which is a passion ceases to be a passion as soon as we form a clear and distinct idea of it." (E5P3)

**What understanding reveals:**
Your essential striving is toward creative expression—this is genuinely part of your being, your conatus. But it has been captured by a protective strategy that, while seeking to preserve you from harm, actually diminishes your power of acting. The writing not done is not safely preserved possibility; it is atrophying capacity.

Social media offers *simulation* of the creative life—the feeling of being engaged, seen, meaningful—without the *substance* of it. This is why it cannot satisfy: it feeds a derivative desire (validation) while starving the essential one (expression).

### Recommendations

**To align striving with reason:**

1. **Separate identity from outcome:** You are not "a writer" or "not a writer" based on whether this novel succeeds. You are a finite mode with creative capacity. That capacity is exercised in the writing, not in the result.

2. **Understand the necessity of imperfection:** Everything that exists is finite, limited, imperfect. Your novel will be imperfect because all finite things are. This is not failure; it is necessity.

3. **Reduce the fear's power:** What exactly would happen if the novel were judged? Trace the fear to its causes. When you understand why the fear exists, it loses some of its grip.

**Surface desires to question:**
- The desire to "finish" the novel (which treats it as burden to discharge rather than capacity to express)
- The desire to be validated by others (which locates your good in external causes)

**Essential striving to honor:**
- The creative capacity itself—the desire to express, not merely to have expressed
- The actual conatus toward greater perfection through actualized work
- The joy that comes from genuine expression, not simulated engagement

Write because you are a being with creative capacity seeking expression. Write badly, write partially, write what fails—but *write*, because that is what your essential striving requires. The novel is not the goal; the writing is the goal. The novel is merely what writing produces.

---

## Integration

This skill is part of the **Baruch Spinoza** expert persona. It embodies his insight that desire—conscious striving—is the very essence of human being, and that understanding what we truly strive for is the beginning of wisdom.