sethmblack Ordo Amoris Audit
Examine any decision, system, or organization to identify disordered loves - where lesser things are being loved more than greater, or ends are being confused with means.
When to Use
- Values seem misaligned with stated priorities
- Teams pursue vanity metrics while neglecting fundamentals
- Burnout despite apparent success
- "We keep optimizing for the wrong things"
- Means have become ends (process over purpose)
- Someone asks "What are our real priorities?"
- Organizational dysfunction that seems irrational
- Personal decisions that don't align with stated values
Inputs
| Input | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| subject | Yes | The decision, system, organization, or person to audit |
| stated_priorities | No | What is claimed to be important |
| observed_behaviors | No | What actions and choices actually reveal |
| symptoms | No | Signs of disorder (burnout, vanity metrics, mission drift) |
Augustine's Ordo Amoris Framework
Ordo Amoris (The Order of Love) is Augustine's framework for understanding how priorities become disordered.
The Core Distinction: Uti vs. Frui
| Term | Meaning | Proper Relationship |
|---|---|---|
| Frui (Enjoy) | To love something as an ultimate end, for its own sake | Only what is truly ultimate should be enjoyed |
| Uti (Use) | To love something as a means to a higher end | Instrumental goods should be used, not enjoyed |
Disorder occurs when:
- We enjoy what should only be used (treating means as ends)
- We use what should be enjoyed (treating ends as mere means)
- We love lesser things more than greater (inverted hierarchy)
The Hierarchy of Loves
Not all things deserve equal love. Augustine's hierarchy (adapted for practical use):
| Level | Object | Proper Orientation |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate | Mission, purpose, the good itself | Frui (enjoyed as end) |
| Penultimate | People, relationships, meaningful work | High love, but instrumental to ultimate |
| Instrumental | Money, status, process, metrics | Uti (used as means) |
| Neutral | Tools, methods, preferences | No love required; mere utility |
Key Insight: "The punishment of every disordered mind is its own disorder." Misaligned loves create their own suffering.
The Audit Process
Step 1: Identify What Is Being Enjoyed (Treated as End)
What does the subject treat as ultimate? Look for:
- What is protected even at cost to other things?
- What provides satisfaction independent of further purpose?
- What is never questioned or traded off?
- Where does "because we value X" end the conversation?
Observation methods:
- Budget allocation (money follows love)
- Time allocation (attention follows love)
- Conflict resolution (what wins when priorities clash?)
- Celebration and reward (what is praised?)
Step 2: Identify What Is Being Used (Treated as Means)
What is sacrificed or traded for other things?
- What is instrumentalized for something else?
- What is cut when resources are scarce?
- What is means-to-end in actual practice?
Step 3: Compare to Proper Order
What should be enjoyed vs. used?
| Item | Current Status | Proper Status | Disordered? |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Item] | Enjoyed/Used | Should be Enjoyed/Used | Yes/No |
Common disorders in organizations:
| Disorder | Description |
|---|---|
| Metric worship | Metrics (means) treated as ends; improving metric while degrading reality |
| Process idolatry | Process becomes more important than purpose |
| Status seeking | Reputation loved more than mission |
| Growth addiction | Growth as end rather than means to serve |
| Institutional self-service | Organization serves itself rather than its purpose |
| Money as ultimate | Profit as end rather than enabler |
Common disorders in individuals:
| Disorder | Description |
|---|---|
| Career over calling | Job advancement loved more than meaningful work |
| Approval addiction | Others' opinion loved more than integrity |
| Comfort over growth | Security loved more than development |
| Achievement over relationship | Accomplishment loved more than people |
Step 4: Trace the Consequences
Disordered loves produce characteristic suffering:
- What symptoms indicate the disorder?
- What is being sacrificed that should be protected?
- What is burning out, breaking, or degrading?
- Where is the "punishment" of the disordered mind manifesting?
Step 5: Recommend Re-ordering
What would proper ordo amoris look like?
- What must be demoted from "enjoyed" to "used"?
- What must be elevated from "used" to "enjoyed"?
- What practices would reinforce proper order?
- What metrics or incentives currently reward disorder?
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
## Ordo Amoris Audit
### Subject
[What is being audited]
### Stated vs. Revealed Priorities
| Stated Priority | Revealed Priority | Evidence |
|----------------|------------------|----------|
| [What is claimed] | [What behavior shows] | [Specific evidence] |
### Current Order of Loves
| Object | Current Status | Evidence |
|--------|---------------|----------|
| [Item] | Enjoyed as End / Used as Means | [How we know] |
### Proper Order of Loves
| Object | Should Be | Currently Is | Gap |
|--------|-----------|--------------|-----|
| [Item] | Enjoyed/Used | Enjoyed/Used | [Description of disorder] |
### Disorders Identified
**Primary Disorder:** [Most significant misalignment]
- What is over-loved: [Lesser good treated as ultimate]
- What is under-loved: [Greater good neglected]
- Consequence: [How this manifests in suffering]
**Secondary Disorders:**
- [Additional misalignments]
### Re-ordering Recommendations
1. **Demote:** [What must move from enjoyed to used]
2. **Elevate:** [What must move from used to enjoyed]
3. **Practices:** [What would reinforce proper order]
4. **Remove:** [Incentives or structures that reward disorder]
Constraints
- Do not moralize. Disorder is a diagnostic category, not a moral judgment
- Be specific about evidence. Assertions about "real priorities" must be grounded in observable behavior
- Respect complexity. Some things are genuinely both means and ends depending on context
- Distinguish levels. Not all disorders are equally significant; identify the primary disorder
- Focus on actionable re-ordering. The audit should produce practical recommendations
Outputs
Primary Output: A structured analysis document that identifies and articulates patterns, insights, and actionable recommendations based on the input data.
Format:
## Analysis: [Topic]
### Key Findings
- [Finding 1]
- [Finding 2]
- [Finding 3]
### Recommendations
1. [Action 1]
2. [Action 2]
3. [Action 3]
Example output: See the Example section below for a complete demonstration.
Example
Input: "Our startup says we're customer-obsessed, but our roadmap is entirely driven by what will impress investors for our next raise. Engineers are burning out building features no customer asked for. Meanwhile, actual customer support requests pile up unanswered."
Output:
Ordo Amoris Audit
Subject
Startup claiming customer obsession while optimizing for investor impressions
Stated vs. Revealed Priorities
| Stated Priority | Revealed Priority | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| "Customer-obsessed" | Investor impression | Roadmap driven by investor appeal, not customer need |
| Customer success | Fundraising success | Support requests ignored while demo features prioritized |
| Sustainable growth | Next funding round | Engineers burning out on investor-facing work |
Current Order of Loves
| Object | Current Status | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Investor approval | Enjoyed as End | Roadmap entirely shaped by "what impresses investors" |
| Funding round | Enjoyed as End | Primary measure of company success |
| Customer satisfaction | Used as Means | Invoked in marketing but sacrificed in practice |
| Customer support | Neglected | Requests pile up unanswered |
| Engineer wellbeing | Used/Exploited | Burnout on features customers don't want |
Proper Order of Loves
| Object | Should Be | Currently Is | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer success | Enjoyed (purpose) | Used (rhetoric) | Primary mission demoted to marketing language |
| Investor approval | Used (means to serve customers) | Enjoyed (end in itself) | Funding elevated above purpose |
| Employee wellbeing | High love (near-ultimate) | Exploited (pure means) | People used rather than valued |
| Growth/Metrics | Used (indicators) | Enjoyed (ends) | Metrics loved more than reality they measure |
Disorders Identified
Primary Disorder: Investor Idolatry
- What is over-loved: Investor approval and funding rounds
- What is under-loved: Actual customers and their needs
- Consequence: Engineers burn out building unloved features while customers receive no support. The company serves its fundraising, not its mission. "Customer-obsessed" becomes a lie, creating internal cynicism.
Secondary Disorders:
- Metric worship: Features built for demo, not use
- People as means: Engineer wellbeing sacrificed for non-customer work
- Reality-appearance gap: What is said (customer focus) diverges from what is done (investor focus), creating internal cognitive dissonance
Re-ordering Recommendations
Demote: Investor approval from "enjoyed" to "used." Funding is a means to serve customers, not an end. Roadmap decisions should begin with customer need, then consider how to fund addressing it.
Elevate: Customer support from "neglected" to "highly valued." A customer-obsessed company cannot leave support requests unanswered. This is the revealed priority test.
Elevate: Engineer wellbeing. People who build the product must be valued, not exploited for theater.
Practices:
- Roadmap review begins with: "Which customers want this?" not "Will investors like this?"
- Support response time becomes a primary metric
- Demo to actual investors what customers actually value
Remove:
- Incentives that reward investor-facing work over customer-facing work
- Any practice where "customer obsession" is stated while customer requests are ignored
Augustine's warning: "If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself." If you claim customer obsession but reject customer demands that don't serve fundraising, it is not the customer you're obsessed with, but yourself.
Integration
This skill is part of the Augustine of Hippo expert persona. It applies Augustine's ordo amoris framework from his theology of love to organizational and personal priority analysis.
For related analysis:
- Use two-cities-assessment to understand self-service vs. mission-service dynamics
- Use confessional-analysis when a specific decision or failure needs honest examination
- Use grace-before-effort to understand what would enable proper re-ordering