Adaptable universal template1—covers dimensions of being2. SourceThe way of being (http://www.horizons-2000.org).

 

Item

Time frame

Dimension of being and transformation
Footnotes have details and means

1.     

 

Being in the world3—Dimensions (a) Pure being (b) Community (c) Retreat for experience of the real.

2.     

 

Ideas4—Dimensions (a) relation, knowing (as relation to the world); reason and art (b) acting (effectively, creating the real). Means—reason, yoga (meditation), and the real metaphysics in the essential way of being, site design, and tentative talks.

3.     

 

Becoming

i.       Dimension5: nature as catalyst to the real. Animal being and devolution—observation, situational empathy, defocus, reason.

ii.     Dimension6: society. Civilization as vehicle and path to the real. Transformation via psyche—by immersion in social groups as place of being and catalyst to the real.

iii.   Dimension7: artifact. Civilizing the universe (especially technology as enhancing being in the universe)—universe as peak consciousness via spread of sapient being.

iv.   Dimension8: universal, incompletely known. The common way from self to Being (Atman to Brahman), via the block universe9 and extended secular worlds consistent with experience of and in the world10.

4.     

 

Being in the universe—Dimension11: universal. Realizing Peak Being (Brahman) in the present. Said to be rarely achieved in ‘this life’ which is a beginning that is continued beyond death. Outcome of items 1 to 3. The means are in the previous dimensions, the everyday template, and open.

Endnotes

1 Most individuals and groups whose emphasis is realization, will follow items 1, 3 (iv), and 4; they will make selections from the others; they may make additions of their own choosing. For meditation and yoga, see the everyday template.pdf.

A note on the sources in print versions—to access the sources below, follow the hyperlinks in the online version, universal template.pdf.

2 Summary. Being-in-the-world—pure, community, retreat. | Ideas—reason, metaphysics, action. | Becoming—nature, society, artifact, and beyond (the incompletely known universe) as catalysts and path to the real. | Being-in-the-universe—realizing Peak Being in the present or beyond death—means: the previous items (being, ideas, becoming) the everyday template, and open.

3 Details. (a) Pure being here and now… being as if timeless and without restriction to place in the present—means: everyday (everyday template) process is bridges the immediate-ultimate (b) Sangha or community—a spiritual home and sharing community (home and community are ground to truth which gives back to normative truth in Sangha) means: building community and civilization (c) Retreat for vision quest and experience of Being.

4 Explanation. Ideas are the first—and final—place of being, significance, and action; and are instrumental in realization.

5 Details. Nature, psyche, and their interactions; immersion in nature as a place of being and catalyst to the real. Effect on culture and understanding of the universal.

Sources. Nature as ground for the real and renewal—with focus on nature as gateway. Beyul, quest for the real, as in Tibetan Buddhism.

Explanation and details. Nature is inspiration as essential place of and portal to Being, catalyst to meditation and ideas. Life in nature exemplifies being (a useful reflection is—on the Being of land, plants, and animals and to know that Being is illuminative of self and attained not just by meditation but also in immersion). Meditation (yoga) is an intrinsic way to centered and transformative attitude in this world and shedding limitations (bondage) of self and growing into the universal.

6 Details. Civilization and society as vehicle and path to the real (culture and its dimensions; instrumental and immersive politics and economics). Transformation of individuals via psyche—by travel and immersion in social groups, informal and institutional or formal, as place of being and catalyst to the real. Informal—self, family, community, and world. Institutional aspects—(i) accessing the range of social and cultural institutions of society (from earlier: political, economic, technological, military, academic or research and education, artistic and religious) (ii) building specific institutions for realization and community.

Sources. The system of human knowledge, reason, practice, and action—is a guide to secular and transsecular elements of local through global action. Meditation is (self) guide to shedding bonds of self and to action. For instrumental transformation of society see political and cultural economics.

Detailsimmersion. The individual does not stand outside the world as just objective observer and commentator. The individual as experiential-relational being is key. Engagement may begin at any point in a cycle of self and social awareness > speaking one’s truth and action > group action and Sangha > re-form (self, other, world). Self and world awareness are essential to the cycle and an effective place to begin—

Detailsattitude. Awareness of self and limitation—and to openly aim at the highest in this life and beyond (and recognition of poverty of exclusively secular and exclusively dogmatic). Cultivation of attitude in meditation-yoga-practice.

Detailsproblems, challenges, and opportunities of the world. A crucial problem is that of the nature of the world. The real metaphysics is true and illuminating. However, since there are so many views, many held passionately, there will be natural resistance. One default that may be found acceptable is a limited secular view. This, however, presents a paradox—because world views are in conflict, it promotes the least of them. A resolution is to hold to the real metaphysics but speak it where effective; this is perhaps the minimal resolution consistent with truth. Thus, the truth may illuminate the world of problem and opportunity. Another problem is to identify the problems and opportunities. Some common approaches identify only the material problems such as war, hunger and so on). Such approaches are limited (a) in identifying only material problems, but not the entire range of challenges and opportunities, material and other (b) in not identifying the world political-economy as key to resolution of the issues and therefore a problem-opportunity in itself. Approaches to political-economy are (i) the way politics and economics are done (ii) the science and practice of politics and economics (iii) related philosophy, not ideological per se, that identifies the nature or kind of thing (referent) that politics-economics is (iv) immersion via reflection, meditation, and action in politics-economics by the individual.

Sources. For problems etc, see challenges and opportunities in journey in being.

7 Explanation. Artifact has potential as sapient being, reservoir of our being, and auxiliary in our search for intrinsic and instrumental being (e.g., the spread of ideas and civilization).

Details. Artifactual being as realized being and as adjunct (science and technology of advanced civilization on the way to the ultimate; use of computation and networking in realization—as adjunct and as independent identity). Address of pain via modern medicine and therapy, supplemented by what is good in the traditions, is important to individuals and realization by civilization—either in part or in whole.

Sources. See system of human knowledge, reason, practice, and action, for artifactual being.

8 Explanation. The path to Being. Where secular and transsecular paradigms visualize completeness or impossibility of completeness, there is neither completeness nor impossibility. This action is on the way to the ultimate.

Details. Transformation aimed at the universal deploys catalysts and ways and their conceptual and experimental development under the real metaphysics, for the transformation of being-civilization. The use of the catalysts and ways is in everyday process, renewal, knowledge, and technology.

Sources. See dynamics, catalysts and catalytic states, and ways and catalytic states.

9 The block universe, here, is a description of the universe as a block over all change. From the real metaphysics, there are many histories intersecting at each being. It is via these converging and diverging histories that the beings merge with Being and one another.

10 Via the real metaphysics it is shown that the universe as Being and individuals as beings are essentially and not just contingently experiential. It is the experientiality that merges and diverges as describe in the previous note. And it is thus, that identities merge with Being and communicate across lives and deaths.

11 “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”—T.S. Elliot.