As the creator of this framework, I’ve had to wrestle with a few of the big questions in moral philosophy. One of them is: is there such a thing as objective truth?
As a Christian, this question is very important to me, because our faith is built on the conviction that there is objective truth. So, when building SAF, one of my goals was to ensure I didn’t end up with a relativistic framework that drifts with the currents.
This is why one of the core requirements of SAF is that its Values must be “externally defined.” This is the non-negotiable step that anchors the entire framework in a fixed foundation.
For me, my values are anchored in the teachings of the Church. But I also recognize a fundamental truth about the human experience: our values are beautifully diverse. They change from culture to culture, organization to organization, and individual to individual.
To honor this reality, I made a deliberate design choice. In SAF, the values are an input, a “slot” to be filled by the user of the framework.
An organization can adopt SAF and load its mission statement and core values.
A religious institution can use it and load its doctrines and sacred texts.
An individual can use it for personal growth with his or her own cherished principles.
In this sense, SAF is both non-relativistic in its structure and agnostic in its content, making it a truly universal tool.
This design was a deliberate choice, because even though I personally believe that values are pathways that lead to universal truths, the paths to those ideals are not fixed. Everyone builds and nurtures a relationship with that higher order in their own unique way.
So SAF does not define your destination. It’s just a GPS to help you on the journey.
SAF and The Search for Truth
