Logical Levels can help reveal the true meaning behind sentences, as well as patterns in our thinkings. They break down the structure of sentences into seven catagories, all of which are either specified, missing or vague.
By filling out what the sentence really says we can then go on to more clearly identify where the problem may lie.
They are:
ENVIRONMENT (when, where)
BEHAVIOUR (what you/X do or don't do)
CAPABILITY (how)
BELIEFS/VALUES (why)
IDENTITY (who)
BEYOND IDENTITY (for who)
PURPOSE (what the sentence really says).
Takes this sentence.
"But I thought he was going to love me."
Environment: "thought"
(when, where?)
Environment can either be external (time, place) or internal (thoughts, feelings). It can include even social environment ('we' can sometimes be environment and sometimes be identity and sometimes be both, for example).
in the above sentence it all takes place in 'I's head.
So we change it to become: in my head I thought...
Behaviour: "love"
(what)
Love is what 'I' or 'he' is or is not doing in this sentence. In this case its he
So we change it to become: do love
Capability: "he was going to" vague
(How)
We can see that the speaker thought he was going to, but they don't say how. 'How' is missing and the capability to carry out the behaviour is therefore vague.
So we change it to become: some how he would
Beliefs and values: missing
(why)
So we change it to become: why, I don't know.
Identity: "I, he, me"
(who)
Having an identity in the sentence shows that the speaker associates with it and in this case associates 'he' with 'do love'. If it was missing it'd show no association which could be a potential problem and would require you to look out for missing identity in other sentences.
Beyond identity:
(who for)
the speaker wants 'he' to do love for 'me'
so we add: for me
purpose: In my head I thought somehow he would do loving me. Why, I don't know, but he'd do it for me.
Now the sentence is explicit it'll be easier to address the problem. Has the speaker made clear outside of their head their wishes to 'he'? Has the speaker any ideas on how he can show love? Does the speaker have a reason to want him to love them?
In the case of the person who this sentence comes from, though they insisted they believed they loved this 'he' and where heart broken to find it wasn't reciprocated, after using the logical levels to specify the sentence and going on to ask more questions, they found out they just wanted approval from him. Then they found out they could live without it.
